Despite are expensive and don’t light a room well but are still a popular lighting option.

MOST homeowners – whether their house is small or large – take the utmost care with the interior and exterior design of their house but many still neglect lighting, an essential element of design. The effect you are trying to achieve and which types of lights you will require all needs to be considered, both inside the home and in the garden.

U Mg Mg Zay Lin, manager of Zealmen Decoration in Kyauktada township, says that, for example, shop owners will want the lighting in their showroom to create an effect not necessarily suitable for the home.

“Gold shops and watch stores often use a yellow spotlight to highlight their goods and make them look more imposing and grand. But this kind of light uses a great deal of energy and can trouble the eyes, so it is not so suitable for the home,” he said.

He said that many homeowners opt for a pearl light, which gives the room a soft, cool glow, lighting the details of the home’s architecture while saving energy. But such lights are not suitable for every room in the home.

“We need more light in the kitchen – if the kitchen is poorly lit we might cut our hand while preparing food. So we should use a downlight or hanging fixture directly over the counter and also put a light directly above the stove.”

“To save energy and lower electricity costs, homeowners should reduce their use of bright lights outdoors in the garden. Some people want to show off how beautiful his garden is, maybe with a fountain and grotto so they use dazzling exterior lights. To light the exterior of the house in low light and in the evening it is better to place small downlights in the ground at the corners of house,” he said.

U Mg Mg Zay Lin said another popular lighting option – the chandelier – was costly and did not light a room well. He said chandeliers were mostly used by wealthy people to show off their prosperity but you can’t even buy a real crystal chandelier in Myanmar. Instead, the chandeliers here are made of plastic and cost between K100,000-400,000.

He advised that if you absolutely must have a plastic chandelier make sure you have it installed in a room with a high ceiling.

“If the owner wants to hang a chandelier in a low-ceiling apartment, at a reasonable price, they could buy the factory-made chandelier, which costs about K100,000 each.

U Mg Mg Zay Lin says both the size and the décor or style of the room should largely dictate what kind of lighting is suitable.

“In an office, hall or colonial-style building, which all generally have high ceilings, light specialists suggest hanging white downlights that produce a very bright light. But in most homes, which usually have low ceilings, fluorescent lamps are better because the light is dispersed more widely and evenly over the room, so the light isn’t glaring,” he says.

“In an office or work area, the designer will think about the height and width of the ceiling – if the room has a low ceiling, they will generally use overhead, ambient light to brighten the entire room because a single light often causes eyestrain. When there is plenty of light it is much easier to read and perform office tasks.”

He says that because light affects feeling, designers consider not just the building style, colour and height but also what the role the owner wants the lighting to play.

“Having a designer come in to light a building is becoming very popular and business people in particular are spending a lot of money to create the right effect. For example, in a crowded place like a shopping centre, hospital, club or hotel, the exterior lights should be bright and vivid to attract the pedestrians’ attention,” he said.

He said the interior of fashion shops, restaurants and clubs, in particular, often use blue lights, for a variety of reasons. A blue light can create the illusion of beauty – a girl in a club that seems beautiful might not really look so hot in natural light, U Mg Mg Zay Lin says. He says a dress can be made to look finer under a carefully installed blue light, which can also hide scratched furniture and stains on the floor from guests.