Get Ready, Get Set, Get Efficient

Courtesy of Hubbardton Forge

Don't waste energy or time by working in a dim space. A task area, whether for cooking, office work or laundry, is more efficient when illuminated properly. Prepare your work space by providing three main layers of light:

· Portable: When working on a detailed task or at a desk, a portable lamp usually provides the main source of light.

· Overhead: While usually providing a secondary source of light, overhead lighting - such as a chandelier, pendant or ceiling fan - is essential at night or other dark time of day.

· Ambient: Create a cozy, comfortable feel in a work area by utilizing ambient lighting to light bookshelves or accent artwork.

Visit any of our two showrooms to see the latest lighting products for your home.

Lighting Ideas for Your Bedroom

It’s time to refresh, especially if your entire bedroom is illuminated by a single light fixture.

Courtesy of Tech Lighting

Today, our bedrooms have more use than simply sleep. This space is typically used as a television room, as a reading or study room, and most usually as a dressing room. The lighting in this room ranges from essential to daring; dimmed to dramatic.

But…the question is: what’s the proper lighting for the bedroom?

This week, Farrey’s experts will share with you great lighting tips for this special space. Keep reading!!

Lighting your bedroom is very essential because you want to create a space of relaxation while providing illumination in specific areas for reading and other activities.

Before purchasing any bedroom lighting it is very important to measure the room and know the outlet locations. It is also crucial to know the height of the ceiling. Typically bedrooms have 8 or 9 ft ceilings, so it is a good idea to choose flush-mounted fixtures or semi-flush-mount fixtures since you will be able to install it closer to the ceiling surface to interfere less on the room.

Courtesy of Lutron

Location is very important when you are talking about lighting your bedroom. Chandeliers, fan lights, recessed downlights or wall sconces can provide a great illumination to dress and see into drawers and closets.

Keep in mind that too much light in one place is unpleasant. It’s better to use more light sources of lower wattage.

A bedroom with a great dose of ambience is vital. Installing dimmers gives you the flexibility to fluctuate the light to suit different moods and activities.

Lights placed directly over the bed are not a good idea because you will have a tendency to look up at them while you are laying in bed. Instead, choose to have a soft light that is less disturbing and can be obtained by lighting your artwork located on top of the bed.

Courtesy of Sea Gull

There is nothing more frustrating than a dark closet. Closets need good light. Recessed or close to the ceiling fixtures give you good general lighting without taking up a lot of space. Installing in your closet an occupancy/vacancy sensor can be very convenient since this sensor automatically turn on and off the lights every time you enter or exit your closet. This sensor is also very useful inside kid’s closets since they always forget to turn off the lights.

Portable lamps can provide you plenty of light for reading. Replace your bedside portable lamps with a set of hanging pendants or swing-arm wall lamps. You will help draw the eye upward and free up table space.

When you are buying reading lamps make sure that they are well-shielded so you don’t see the bulb and you are able to read without bothering your sleeping partner.

Courtesy of Lutron

Wireless control systems are a brilliant plan. They will allow you to control all the room’s light fixtures from the comfort of your bed. They also help you reduce energy costs while creating a comfortable living space.

Now, get ready and use these ideas for the most relaxing, romantic and practical lighting scheme. But… if you need more ideas, visit any of our two showrooms, our experts will show you all the options available according to your lifestyle and needs.

Lighting Tips for Your Dining Room

Courtesy of Quoizel

A dining room is one of the most important areas of the house because it is used for many activities such as eating, reading and entertaining. That’s why it is essential to have beautiful and functional lighting.

Today, we are going to give some quick lighting tips on how you can renovate this space and create an immediate impact.

Having various layers of lighting is essential since it offers multiple lighting options to the room. This can be done by mixing ambient, task and accent lighting.

Having a chandelier is essential since it often becomes the central point of your dining room. A chandelier serves as a decorative element providing task lighting for the table and accent lighting for a centerpiece.

When we are talking about chandeliers, size matters a lot.

Choose a chandelier that is 12' narrower than the width of the table it's hanging over. Your chandelier should hang about 30" from the table surface in an 8' ceiling.

You also can add a visual interest and drama to your dining room with lighting fixtures that include shades.

Courtesy of Crystorama

But…if you are looking for a clean contemporary look, a few pendants over the dining table can work perfectly. Mixing pendants shades with different colors of glass or different shapes of glass in the same color can also add a touch of creativity and beauty to your dining room.

Dimmers are very useful in this area of the house because the mood often flows between intimate and animated. If you have an intimate dinner, then dim the lights; but if your children are working on their homework or you are doing some type of work, then bring up the wattage. Dimmers also give you the option of having full brightness, especially at the moment of cleaning up.

Courtesy of ALA

Adding LED recessed lights is an excellent way to accent the illumination, color rendering, texture and depth of your dining room. Choosing higher lumens per watt, offers brighter light but consumes fewer kilowatts. This is an excellent way to reduce energy consumption and be more eco-friendly.

Recessed lights, wall sconces, and picture lights are very useful because they can complement the style of your chandelier, highlighting displayed pieces located inside your china cabinet or on the wall.

If you want more bright ideas to light up your home, visit any of our showrooms; Farrey’s experts can walk you through the options to create a dining room just for you!

Learning LED Language: The New ABC of Lighting

Technology is evolving more and more every day. Emails, text messages, mobile applications, and tablets have become part of our lives and new way of living. Checking emails from our cell phone, text messaging our friends, and searching for our favorite restaurants around the area using a mobile application has become a daily routine. The reality is that we are living in a global world lead by technology and is moving forward every day more and more.

This new evolving technology has caused many industries to begin creating products and services that can be adapted to this new life trend; being able to satisfy a very demanding consumer generation.

The lighting industry is one of the industries that have evolved enormously in the last few years, developing a new technology that has changed completely the concept of illumination.

Boring lighting fixtures and regular light bulbs have already become part of the past, and LEDs have become the new language of light.

Lumens, watts, correlated color temperature, and color rendering index are some of the terms we constantly hear when we visit a lighting showroom or when we read a light bulb label; but do we really understand what these terms mean? Are we really familiar with the new lighting language?

Today, let’s learn about the new language of light.

What are Lumens?

LUMENS = THE AMOUNT OF LIGHT PRODUCED. IT MEASURES BRIGHTNESS.

Lumens measure brightness. The higher the number, the more light is emitted.

For years, we have bought light bulbs based on watts, believing that more watts is more light. The truth is that wattage only tells us how much energy a bulb uses; so it’s no longer a reliable source to determine a light bulb’s glow.

What about Watts then...

WATTS = AMOUNT OF ENERGY USED.

The lower the wattage, the less energy used.

Lumens = brightness
Watts = energy


CORRELATED COLOR TEMPERATURE (CCT) = MEASURES LIGHT COLOR. The warmer or yellow the light is, the lower the color temperature, and the more bluish the light, the higher the temperature. Color temperature is measured in kelvins.

“Cool” colors have higher Kelvin temperatures (3600-5500 K)


“Warm” colors have lower color temperatures (2700-3500 K)

COLOR RENDERING INDEX (CRI) = MEASURES COLOR ACCURACY. Any number higher than 80 is considered acceptable, so make sure to check this number when reading a light bulb label.

Ok... Now we have reviewed all these different terms, and there is no excuses for not getting an LED light bulb. We are absolutely sure that these terms won’t look awkward to you anymore...But if you still have questions and need a detailed answer, come in to our showrooms, Farrey’s experts are here to help you to choose your right LED light!