Lighting Stores

Perhaps one of the more overlooked and underappreciated areas of home decoration – lighting. In fact, the wrong lighting, poorly placed lighting, or flat out ugly lighting fixtures can kill an otherwise great ambience. We’re going to get into the best lighting store options here but before entering said stores there are some things to flesh out.

First, to find the right lighting one must first define the function of the room. Is it meant to illuminate the room as a whole, a specific section, perhaps even a specific thing – a piece of art or architectural feature? How you use a room will in turn define the type of lighting you need. Also, when you use the room is key. Some folks don’t step foot into certain rooms in their homes for example during daytime hours. This could be because they’re working and are physically not there or because the room serves a more nocturnal purpose.

Lighting can be broken down into three categories: accent, task and ambient. The first highlights a certain focal point (a piece of art, for example). The second, task, is meant for a specific task such as reading or writing. Finally, ambient lighting is what we are mainly seeking, lighting to light up the ambient space of the room. In a living room one might have a mix of all three, while in the dining room ambient lighting is most common. In the kitchen, ambient and task lighting are used due to specific cooking related tasks that require focused light. Like the kitchen, the bedroom is also principally a mix of ambient and task while the bathroom is nearly 100% ambient, but a softer ambient light.

Now that you’ve gone through the lighting crash course and have a better idea of what light you need per room, on to the showrooms! If you find yourself in southern California, or in the greater vicinity, Lightwave Lighting, Premier LED Lighting, Optimum Electrical, Lamps Expo and George’s Lighting Plus should be your first stops. Moving up north to the Bay Area, be sure to drop into Eichen’s Lighting, Solano Lighting, Ideal Solar, Lighting & Electric, Berkeley Lighting Company or Walnut Creek Lighting Company.

Moving east, Denver has some fantastic lighting store options with Denver Drop Ceilings, R&A Enterprises of Denver, Colorado Lighting – Denver, FUSION Light and Design, Galleria Lighting and Urban Lights. Pop over to Chicago and you’ve got CM Electric, Good Guys Electric, Chi Renovation & Design, Horton’s Lighting, Hangout Lighting and Crest Lighting. Down south in Atlanta the lighting extravaganza continues with Platinum LED, Rejuvenation, Kool Runnings Electric, Illuminations Lighting Showroom and Lighting Loft. And finally, NYC brings to you Design MACS, Royal Window Treatments, NYKB, The Light House and Canal Lighting and Parts.

Wherever you find yourself you can be sure lighting is right around the corner.

For your reference, see what Riffbuddy users are saying about popular lighting stores: Riffbuddy - Lighting Stores.