Basic Skills by Margarett DeGange, M.Ed.

Editor’s note: This is the ninth article in our Decorating Crash Course series. The text is written so that you can easily use it to put on a customer seminar on lighting in home decor. It can be presented “as is” but you should add additional elements to give your seminars a personal touch as outlined in the December/January 2007 issue of FURNITURE WORLD Magazine, “Simple but Sensational Seminars: Keys to a Memorable Presentation,” posted to the article archives on www.furninfo.com. Decorating seminars are a fantastic way to get quality leads and referrals. They help customers to solve decorating problems, and they position you as a home furnishings expert.

SAMPLE SCRIPT FOR
YOUR LIGHTING SEMINAR

Who wants just an ordinary home? Most of us want extraordinary homes, and the truth is we can certainly have them. The first step to an exceptional, bright and happy home is to have peace and harmony with ourselves and the people we live with. The next way is to use interior lighting in a strategic, aesthetic, and functional way to support harmony and to create the lives we love and want in our homes.

Lighting is a Key Component of the Decorating Plan:

Lighting is a very important component of the overall decorating plan. It provides illumination for a variety of tasks, and adds warmth or coolness, definition, depth, and an array of moods to a space. Learning basic lighting principles will help you to build a lighting plan to complete your home interior.

When deciding on a room’s lighting, you must take into account all of the elements that will go into the design, and all of the factors that will affect your lighting. Having a plan in place up front will guide you to select the right lighting sources for your home.

Lighting Basics

Lighting in an interior is either functional, decorative, or both. Before you begin shopping for or selecting any lighting products, you can follow a few simple guidelines, which we will share with you today, to ensure that each of your choices will serve a deliberate and specific design or functional purpose within the space.
There are five important factors to consider when planning for and choosing your interior lighting.

Five Things to Consider When Creating a Lighting Plan for Your Spaces:

1. Natural light coming in.
2. Color or temperature of light.
3. Type of interior lighting.
4. Fixtures.
5. Placement.