What lighting to use?

[Quincy]

The lighting used in your home can often make or break the mood of a room.

When you think about it, there are a lot of different types of lighting, from little lamps to great big ones, to ceiling lights and grand chandeliers to modestly shaped wall shades. Then there is natural light and the effect that might have on the room.

We have seen in our recent discussion on listing photography, how much lighting can impact a photo and attract a potential guest to book your listing.

With all these different things to consider, where do you start? What have you gone for in your listing?

It would be great to hear your lighting tips and feel free to share any photos you have.

Quincy 

[Lawrene0]

What I love about it, @Quincy, is that it shows the hardships as well as the fun. If only we could post videos on our listing sites! The frozen toothpaste scene alone could replace all of my this-is-camping warnings! But then I would need to install the light string and explain that three big lads will fit only if they are dedicated filmmakers...

[Robin4]

@Quincy

How are you struggling along without Lizzie? Mate I know she thinks she runs the forum but, you and I know better, don't we!!!

Quincy, the most important thing about lighting is....that you actually have it!

Living in a heavily wooded hills area we are subject to power backouts on odd occasions.....what on earth is a blackout I hear most of you say! It's when a tree falls over a power line in the district, It's when the wind speed gets up to the point where tree branches will start impacting on power lines and the authorities shut the grid down. It's when the electricity authority has to load share because there has been a turbine failure on Torrens Island power station!

It doesn't happen often but, nothing is worse than being in a strange environment at night when the power goes out!

For that reason I have three different power sources so that guests can be assured they will always have an adequate supply of light not matter what.

Apart from the mains.....no further comment required,  I have a concealed battery array that supplies the kitchen bench. Being an LED track I only have to charge the battery pack about once every six weeks and the light is more than adequate to light the whole studio area.

Mozaic work (I might add) by yours truly!

And of course if all else fails I make sure there is a reasonable battery in the torch!!!

Cheers......Rob

[Rachel0]

@Rob229 -  I know only too well what a blackout is!  I remember the miners' strike back in 1972 when the electricity was on for 3 hours, off for 3 hours etc etc for weeks and I gave birth to my second son  in the middle of it all.  In early 1973 me, the (now) ex husband and our two very small boys went off  to live in Tanzania as part of his PhD research and discovered why Africa was often referred to as "The Dark Continent."  I think it was so called because where we lived, the electricity supply was sometimes so sporadic that we had to rely on candles and lighting was a luxury!  

Please shut that fridge door - it's driving me mad ....

[Quincy]

Hi @Robin4,

I'm so lonely without Lizzie *cry*, but luckily I have @Kirstie around and of course all of you :-). Robin, there was a major blackout a couple of weeks ago in my area, I couldn't find my flashlight but luckily some candles did the job.

You are well prepared! I like your setup, but those delicious biscuits and cheeses you have there seem to distract me! 

[Robin4]

@Quincy

Of all the things I have done, the cheese plate is a stand out winner Quincy. A guest in the presidential suite in a Hilton would feel happy to receive a cheese plate and yet here it is in a humble little converted garage in the back blocks of nowhere. It is not the expected thing!

And Quincy, it is also not just the cheese/pate plate! Combine those cheeses with some of the fruit in the fruit bowl....the grapes, apple slices and then add the crackers, the bread and butter cucumber rounds in the fridge and the almonds and cashews and it's more than just a cheese plate mate! It's almost a statement piece....and it's for free, and in almost all the reviews guests make some sort of mention of it. 

It costs me 'bugger all' to supply that cheese plate Quincy, but gee has it brought me any business!

With the sheer volume of Airbnb/Homeaway/Stays/Holiday Lettings/Tripadvisor listings about these days you have to have a gimmick that makes you stand out from other hosts.

I can't have an Island like @Fred, I can't have a 'cute as cute' treehouse tucked away in paradise like @Lawrene. I can't have a stylish apartment in London like @Huma0, I can't have a Greek Island seafront hideaway like @Βασίλης & Ann

But I have my bed and my cheese plate, and like you Quincy that proves to be a pretty good distraction for many guests!

Cheers......Rob

[Huma0]

@Robin4, I know you said you get the cheese cheaply from your local supermarket, but I still don't understand how you can put together that kind of cheese plate for $1. Is it a wholesale thing?

[Robin4]

@Huma0

It's an 'almost out of date' thing Huma!

In fact cheeses don't have a use by date, they have a 'best before' date and there is a big difference. But supermarket shoppers don't seem to realise that! They see that 'date' on the cheese and they bypass it until it just gets thrown in the bin. 

Julie at the local Woolworths has been really great here. Woolworths in this country have always been great charity supporters and I developed a relationship (purely professional)  with her through Meals on Wheels and I followed that through with my listing. If a cheese gets close to it's 'best before date' she has an option, let me have it for a nominal price and help her cause and mine because, I recommend all guests shop there....or throw it in the bin.

No cheese ever costs me more than 30c AU ....one third of one dollar...and to be honest Huma, if it did I would still do it because things like this attract guests.

I have said elsewhere I never spend more than $6.50, per guest night but for that amount I can turn on a relatively lavish experience.

Cheers......Rob

[Huma0]

@Robin4

Okay, that makes sense. That wouldn't really work here though as the supermarkets already sell the almost out of date produce at a reduced price. There is normally a special shelf for it and anyone can buy it, but you never know what they will have on there from one day to the next. Funnily enough, they very seldom have cheese!

[Fred13]

That's right, @Lizzie won't be back for another week. Trust you are surviving @Quincy.

On lighting and again borrowing from my interior-decorating sister: she is always harping on indirect lightning to accentuate features and/or specific areas only in rooms, special lightning (desks, under cabinets, etc) and definitely at-an-angle natural light coming from the outside. Never can someone be able to see a bulb directly.

She harps on two pre-contruction things: the size of windows and ~where~ switches are place in the entrances to control lightning in an instant, as to set mood (and depth) easily, not having to run across a room turning light on individually.  This can also be added post construction of course. Oftentimes lightning should be adjustable as to intensity.

P.S. She tends to go postal on overhead lightning. 

[Robin4]

@Fred13

Fred, what in the hell are you on about?

The one I really love is the sensor light I have in our ensuite. When I get up in the middle of the night when that bottle of red or two has taken it's toll, all I have to do is walk into the ablution area and presto, there is light....at that time of night I am not really fussed if it is concealed, overhead or even interegatory style, as long as I can see where the porcelain is, I am happy!

Cheers....Rob

[Fred13]

  Yes, yes, totally forgot about the auto 'goes-on-when-enter-room-light'. I also forgot the clapper option so hip a few years ago. In fact, why not put both all over the house and one could easily tell what room people are running through by either illumination or clapping. If everyone spreads out evently the whole house should become 'perfectly' lit, at least till everyone gathers in the kitchen.  

[Kimberly54]

@Robin4, check this out:

https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/illumibowl-never-fall-motion-activated-toilet-night-l...

You can also get it through Amazon (I don't know how you Aussies do this).

Truly.  Any color, and your potty becomes a lovely night-light when you walk in!

Best,

[Robin4]

@Kimberly

Well I never!!! I would worry about what that light colour would do to the stream o.......oh never mind! (*@#*)

I am glad the light generating mechanism is up on the wall where it will not be subject to...... 'substance abuse'!!

You've done again Kim!

Cheers......Rob

[Kimberly54]

@Robin4, you can pick your own color, but I must imagine that the stream would also be influenced.

And no, you hook the thing onto the inside of the toilet.  The censor hangs on the outside.  Really, click on the link and check it out.  Quite elegant, and sort of a delight when you walk into the bathroom in the middle of the night and don't want to be blinded.

Get one.  Batteries are cheap. Enjoy life!

*)

[Bruce43]

actually, I couldn't have said it better chap. @Robin4

ironic as I have my colonoscopy next Thursday.

just saying 

cheers.