Wooden it be nice to brighten up my wall

WE'VE just moved into a new cottage, where the living room has one wall which is wood-panelled. Any ideas on lightening up this dark area? - Meg White, by email.

ZENA SAYS: The obvious answer is to paint it. As you're in a cottage, it might be suitable to use a heritage shade. Try Crown's new Vintage range - 30 flat matt emulsion colours covering the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s (www.crownpaint.co.uk). If you don't want to permanently cover the wood, I'd use some wall art to brighten it up, either one large framed image or several smaller ones grouped together. Make sure your furniture is colourful enough not to blend into the background and add a table or floor lamp for more light in a dark corner.

Save or splurge?

Shaggy circle rug (120cm) pounds 50 (www.tesco.com, 0845 600 4411)

Gold sun mirror (49cm diam) pounds 45 (www.marksandspencer.com, 0845 603 1603)Floral canvas (30x30cm)pounds 21 (www.littlewoods.com, 0844 822 8000)Champagne sun mirror (75cm diam)pounds 149 (www.ayersandgraces.com, 01582 536760)Rutherford whitewash low storage cabinet (W148 x H61.5cm)pounds 454 (www.artisanti.com)TOTAL pounds 1,041.98TOTAL pounds 4,114Sheerwood table lamp pounds 35 (www.wilko.co.uk, 08456 080807)Catlin green loop cushion pounds 25 (www.johnlewis.com, 08456 049049)Designers Guild shaggy rug (200cm)pounds 550 (www.heals.co.uk, 0870 024 0780)Farmhouse ivory six-drawer chest (W148 x H61cm) pounds 329 (www.cotswoldco.com, 0844 984 0003)Canvas (20x20cm) pounds 8.98 B&Q (www.diy.com 0845 850 0175)Felted wool origami cushion pounds 105 (www.brightonpod.com, 01273 890990)?Emerald table lamp with silk thread shade pounds 95 (www.chandeliersandmirrors.co.uk, 01322 437112)

TOTAL pounds 4,114

What Every Homeowner Should Know About Minimum Lighting Requirements

A 1620 Plymouth Pilgrim transported in time to the future in 2009 would be pleasantly surprised to find - not the all-purpose Betty lamps lighting up homes, but lights that not only seem to issue from nowhere, and which become brighter or darker as if by magic, but lights of many kinds illuminating rooms in a variety of tones and intensities. Indeed, there's so much available in the market today that the Pilgrims of five centuries ago might be, in a sense, lucky. Having only the Betty lamp, they have a much easier task lighting their homes than any modern man.

A relatively low-watt, glare-free ceiling fixture is recommended for the bedroom which is used not only for sleeping, but also for reading, writing, and sewing. Small bedrooms should make do with 40-watts, while bigger ones need 100-watts. Mirrors and dressing tables might have bracket lights. A wall candle holder on each side of your mirror or dressing table would also be perfect. It'd also be good to have retractable 100-watt reading lights on a three-way switch. This reading lamp should be installed 12 inches from the bed , level with the reader's shoulder. Use a 100-watt recessed in closets.Study Rooms or DensWall-mounted bracket lights should be enough to illuminate the area outside the door to enable those inside to see the person outside. Back entrances should be similarly lighted.BedroomsA 15-watt floodlamp recessed into the ceiling should be enough to light up a 75-square foot space.In the laundry or home workshop, either fluorescent or incandescent light may be used over the work area or workbench; same with the garage.Incredibly, chandeliers are best placed in dining rooms. The chandelier and the dining table are a veritable visual feast and are the piece de resistance in some homes. Of course, the chief piece of furniture, the table, has to be lighted. Do this by having low-wattage recessed downlights on either side of the chandelier or pendant. Round everything off to perfection using candles on the table, placed high enough so that the diners don't have to look through the flame. Often, the dining table doubles as a study table or a work surface, so illumination from either the center fixture or other lamps must be increased. Pendants must be 30 to 36 inches from the table top, and must have at least 150-watts.The average-sized living room must have at least four table or floor lamps of between 100- and 150-watts for table lamps, and between 150- and 500-watts for the floor lamps. To give enough background light and to eliminate shadows when using task lighting, each wall must have around 200 watts. Lamps tasked with lighting up an entire corner should deliver at least 200 watts.Have a central light of at least 150-watts for general illumination. To avoid the potentially dangerous shadows a single central light brings, the stove, sink, and counter tops have to be illuminated separately with at least 40-watts each.In spite of that, it remains doubtful whether anyone would exchange places with the Pilgrims and their Betty lamps. In the area of home lighting, as in probably all other areas of endeavor, modern man never had it so good. Here are a few more things you, the modern home decorator, needs to know about lighting:Entry HallsThe mirror is an important lighting center in the bathroom, and is illuminated using either bracket lights or encircling light of 60-watt incandescent. Often this should be enough in a small bathroom, although recessed ceiling lights of 100-watts should be had as well. If yours is a big bathroom, consider a pair of wall candle holders bracketing your bathroom mirror.HallwaysEntranceKitchenLiving RoomsThe average hall can be lighted using 40- to 80-watt incandescents recessed into the ceiling every 10 feet.BathroomsLaundry, Workshop, GarageDining Rooms

These receive the same lighting provisions as the living room if as big.

Author: Jessica Ackerman

Decorating with Tiffany Lamps

Tiffany lamps add elegance to any room in your house. There are many types of tiffany style lights ranging from floor, hanging, and table lights. Tiffany lights make wonderful gifts for anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, engagements and even for Christmas!

When hired as editorial associate in 1980, I was told by my predecessor, Stewart Trisler, that I wouldn't be coddled. I was in so over my head, professionally, that I quaked over everything. A sideways glance from the boss was the worst. When I fessed up to that, Betty Lou purred, "Why I'm just a little pussycat." This was in the Landmark Building at Third and Liberty, which had once housed the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times. Earlier in her career she'd worked the crime beat for that paper, the first woman ever to do so.In the '70s the now-defunct Old House restaurant was her luncheon habitat, where she dined and drank with the city's businessmen. (By the late '80s it had been replaced by the Galt House.) None of those guys likely downed more martinis than she did.Her husband Junie taught psychology at the University of Louisville. He also was straight out of a Tennessee Williams play - a beatnik with a goatee who wore sandals and was as laid-back as Betty Lou was intense. They were married for 60 years. When I knew them best, they lived in a huge apartment in the Mayflower on Ormsby Avenue, where dinner parties were as colorful as the hosts were. Betty Lou loved to entertain, and the guest list was always diverse - her French dressmaker, Junie's university colleagues, East End grandees, Old Louisville bohemians.

Tiffany style floor lamps come in different types. There are pedestal lamps that would add a romantic flare to your bedroom. These beautifully crafted stained glass panel lamps are wonderful and come in Butterfly and Victorian designs. They are square or round in shape. Torchiere tiffany style lamps are floor lamps that are shaped in torch styles. Floor lamps would light up any dark corner in your house. Whatever your choice, make it for you. These lamps are all beautifully crafted with the highest quality of materials. You will not be sorry when you choose to decorate with one of these wonderful lamps.

Author: Carol Beisel

Modern Lighting Design is still inspired by Tiffany

Create period ambience with amber Tiffany table lamps.

In the years since her retirement we wrote one another from time to time, had lunch occasionally, and then lost touch almost entirely (in part because an ocean separated us). This past New Year's Day I called to let her know I was thinking of her. She broke the news that Junie had died a few weeks previously. Conversation was stilted. There were things I would have liked to have told her, thanks I would have liked to have given. But she was not a sentimentalist.He started experimenting with glass during the 1870s in New York. By 1880 he had patented his revolutionary ideas and went on to form the Tiffany Glass Company in 1885. In its heyday the factory employed more than three hundred people including designers, artists and glass blowers; however it wasn�t until 1895 that the first commercially produced lamps were sold. Tiffany is famous for its lampshades but in fact the company designed and manufactured a wide range of products including vases, perfume bottles, stained-glass windows and tiles.The different styles range from the classical Victorian to the modern Mission style. You can also get them in fun designs like Flowered and Peacock. These lights are beautiful and add elegance and style to your house.The name Tiffany is synonymous with stained glass lampshades. Luis Comfort Tiffany was born in 1848 the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany the founder of Tiffany & Co, the highly successful retailer of silver and jewellery. And although Charles wanted his son to succeed him in the business Louis preferred to train and work as an artist.Betty Lou died at 86 on April 24 of this year. This magazine is her legacy.

Stuart Richardson - www.lampsandlighting.co.uk

Author: Stuart Richardson

Tribute to a Titan

During many of the years that she edited this magazine, Betty Lou Amster wrote a monthly column signed "Bla." But blah could not have been further from the truth about Betty Lou. She was a Tennessee Williams character. Though not a natural beauty, she nevertheless made a significant physical impact. She wore hats long after doing so was fashionable, not only on the street, but at her desk, frequently stopping while out of the office to buy another. She smoked cigarettes - sometimes cigarillos - through a long silver cigarette holder. Her big corner office was always dark; she preferred to keep the lights off except for one dim lamp, and presided over editorial meetings in that office at an antique steamboat captain's table. Smoke swirled. So did the conversation.

From the moment they first appeared Tiffany lamps have been style icons with a wide spread appeal throughout the world. You can find Tiffany shades in the grandest stately mansions but also in more modest modern homes. However the original Tiffany lamps are now difficult to find and very expensive, so modern Tiffany-style lamps have started to be produced which are more affordable and readily available, allowing you to create a period, bohemian look without breaking the bank.Tiffany style floor lamps come in different types. There are pedestal lamps that would add a romantic flare to your bedroom. These beautifully crafted stained glass panel lamps are wonderful and come in Butterfly and Victorian designs. They are square or round in shape. Torchiere tiffany style lamps are floor lamps that are shaped in torch styles. Floor lamps would light up any dark corner in your house. Whatever your choice, make it for you. These lamps are all beautifully crafted with the highest quality of materials. You will not be sorry when you choose to decorate with one of these wonderful lamps.Tiffany style table lamps could brighten up any room in your house. They have beautifully crafted stained glass shades and come in many different designs. These could go with any d�cor of your liking.Some reproductions are of such high quality that many have fooled dealers and collectors. In the 21st Century the admiration and desire for Tiffany has not diminished. Lighting designers and manufacturers continue to produce designs in homage to Louis Tiffany. A wide range of colours and styles are now available and manufactured to modern lamps and lighting standards. There is a particular fashion for Amber Tiffany Table Lamps, and no home should be without one. Tiffany-style �bejewelled� lightshades create a soft ambience that�s perfect for cosy nights by the fire or relaxing dinner parties.Betty Lou left the C-J to work in advertising, and from advertising joined Louisville, then published by the Chamber of Commerce. She was the magazine's second editor, a classic of the genre, imperiously rejecting stories or designs from the art department with little more than a wave of her hand. She had good taste in writing and graphics, knew what she wanted, and usually got it. She also knew talent and how to woo it - freelancers like historian George Yater and former Courier writer Bill Woolsey (whom she ingeniously commissioned to write a monthly cooking column), along with photographers Bill Strode (who for most of her years as editor shot the covers) and John Nation (the backbone of the magazine for the last 30-plus years). It's also worth noting that since she retired, two of her proteges have served as editor, most recently Bruce Allar, and that the current senior editor, Jack Welch, began his work at the magazine during her reign. Not a bad recruiting record.As if all of that weren't enough, one of her eyes didn't track (there were rumors that it was glass), and this otherwise fearless woman had a magnificent fear of thunderstorms. She knew when one was coming long before it arrived and, fast as a flash of lightning, was on her way home - in a taxi; Betty Lou never drove. She never had a license.

Betty Lou died at 86 on April 24 of this year. This magazine is her legacy.

Author: Oppel, Jim

Plug-In Table And Standard Lamps Can Be Positioned Just Where Needed

There�s nothing quite so attractive as a room lit by the warm, comfortable blow of a table lamp. Positioned on low sofa tables, on shelves, a chest, or a sideboard, a table lamp can be used to illuminate a collection, brighten a dark corner, or provide a pool of light for reading. Table lamps come in all shapes, sizes and styles, so it is easy to find something to suit your room. Lamps, which beam light downwards and sideways, usually fitted with a wide-based shade, are useful if you want to light a table top, or a corner.

Website of the week YOU can now use your Nectar points to buy easyJet tickets. Every 500 points is worth pounds 2.50 to spend and you can pay any outstanding balance as cash. See nectar.com for more details...Scoop up this sundae bargain ? SERVE up your summer ice cream in style with these bold sundae glasses, which are just pounds 1.28 each at Wilkinsons. They come in either red or teal and are available instore and online. Order at www.wilkinsonplus.com Top tip Unused airline ticket? You might be able to get a refund on the tax. Not all companies are helpful but it's always worth asking. An admin fee may apply, but you could save pounds 12 on a single European missed flight, or up to pounds 85 long-haul.

A table lamp with conical shade beams light down, adding instant interest and comfort to a corner. This type of light is the ideal way to illuminate a collection of small boxes, plates or figures arranged on a table, or on a display cabinet. The perfect bedside lamp beams light over just half of the bed, so that one partner can read while the other sleeps. Lamps should be tall enough so that the light falls in exactly the right position for reading but not so that the beam hits the reader in the eye.

Author: Roger King