Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-15
The Selection and Location OF
Electric Fixtures.
BY GENEVIEVE HENDRICKS.

The lighting Of our living rooms is
Of fundamental Importance. This is
true of all rooms as well. but it is
especially true of the rooms where
we do most of our reading and spend
most or our leisure at home
No matter how well we may have
planned our rooms, how lovely our
furniture may be. how charming our
color scheme or how satisfying the
materials we have chosen, if orr
lighting is bad our room is a failure.
For with unsatisfactory lighting we
oan lose both the effect and comfort
ka~ which we have striven.
our study of The amount of light
we will need and of the location and
type of our electric fixtures should
start when our houses are being,
built. The cost and trouble Of I'm.
stalling fixtures is, of course NOT
nearly so great then as later after
the house is completed. IL we are
pullulng our homes and are follow
ing their construction stem nv stem
and if we have with FORESIGHT dra,,tn
up the ultimate furnishing plans Of
our rooms, we can place our fixtures
just where they should be in relation
10 our furniture as well as if our
rooms were completed and furnished
Designs Follow Ancient Lamps.
Although electricity is a COMPARE
tlVely recent discovery and electric
lighting a decidedly modern conven.
fence, many of our fixtures today are
designed in copy of the lamps of the
ancients. The Greeks and Romans
and Egyptians used oil lamps and
torches of bronze or other metals.
The influence of these classic models
may commonly be seen.
During the Renaissance candles
were introduced and from that date
to the present have justified their
popularity. During the first century
OF their use, when design was at it's
best. many beautiful fixtures were
produced which have been copied and
wired for our modern electrical use
The electric bulb is, of course, sym
bolical of the candle fame The mod
ern oil lamps We're developed during 4
period when design was poor How
ever, the glass oil lamps of our grand
mothers days offer pleasant table
lamps for certain colonial houses.
Lighting fixtures, or to be more
exact, electric lighting fixtures. suit
able for our living room fall into
three general closes: Ceiling lights.
side lights, and table or standing
lights.
Three Types for Ceiling.
For ceiling lights three types are
used: Chandeliers bringing the lights
down into the room, semidirect or
inverted lights, and lights attached
directly at the ceiling
1t is a great mistake to use chande-
Tiers in the average size living rooms
that most of us know. For one thing,
our walls are none too high and we
viii want to increase rather than de-
crease their apparent height. Coming
down into the room as they do, chan
deliers very decidedly lower our rooms.
Also chandeliers call attention to
themselves because of their bulk, and
this, in our medium sized rooms, we
can i'll afford. Then, too, they break
our vistas and by so doing diminish
the apparent width and length of our
rooms.
In the larger homes of Colonial de-
sign, with higher ceilings and greater
wall spaces, we can use with great
charm and satisfaction crystal chan
deliers, that can be had either in the
original or in reproduction of the type
used for candles in Colonial days.
Also for such houses we can use silver