Lighting your Western North Carolina or Georgia Retirement Vacation Home

Lighting your Western North Carolina or Georgia Retirement Vacation Home

We may get wiser as we get older, but we also have a harder time seeing the light quite literally. At age 60, most people need four times more light to see as well as they did when they were 20. Fortunately, the lighting industry offers a wide range of design friendly options to satisfy the needs of senior eyes.

You don't have to completely remodel your house to see well. Lighting solutions can be tailored to fit your unique lighting issues, budget and structure of your house. American Lighting Association experts Dan Blitzer and Monty Gilbertson, certified lighting consultants with Lighting Designs by Wettstein, offer the following tips on lighting your home for ageing eyes:

Lighting your Kitchen, Bed and Bath

Kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms are areas where people generally want more light as they get older, Blitzer says. For kitchens, Gilbertson suggest under cabinet lights. These can be as simple as fluorescent tubes hidden under cabinets to direct the maximum amount of high quality light down onto the countertops where you will be preparing meals. This solution requires minimal construction.

In the bath avoid fluorescent, Gilbertson advises. instead, opt for 100 percent color rendering light bulbs, positioned on either side of your bathroom mirror. Consider installing a dimmer on bathroom lights. Research shows that very low level regular light, or light in the red spectrum, maximizes night vision while minimizing the disruption of circadian rhythm, Blitzer says.

Use Track and Recessed Lighting

Another option for your kitchen is to install recessed lights overhead, just in front of the cabinets. this allows the maximum light to fall on both of your work area, as well as inside the cabinets when the doors are open. Recessed lighting can be effective anywhere in the house that you require more light. But, cautions Blitzer, be sure the face of the bulb is installed well above the ceiling to eliminate glare. "Glare is a serious issue for older eyes, " he notes.

Track lighting is also a good solution for putting light exactly where you need it most. modern track lighting is available in a wide range of design friendly styles, including flexible tracks and beautiful pendant lights.