Mood Lighting

What advice did your grandparents or older people in your life always have to impart upon you? My grandmother always told me to turn on a light when I was reading. Dim lighting never bothered me: I figured if people had been reading by windows for hundreds of years, it was good enough for me. A lifetime later, my eyes are just as good as they ever were.

I guess I have always felt more comfortable in dim, romantic lighting. But candles make me somewhat nervous, and I'm not one for all that good-smelly stuff anyway. A good friend of mine had a huge house fire from a candle, so I like to keep open flames in the house at a minimum.

As a rule, I absolutely despise overhead lighting. Turn one on, and I react like a creature coming out from under a rock: lots of squinting and grumpiness usually ensues. I can tolerate recessed spotlights, but a light fixture in a ceiling fan is completely wasted on me.

Don't even talk to me about fluorescents.

So Mike surprised and indulged me in one of my Christmas gifts early - dimmer switches! He installed them all over the house, and I love them. The bedroom, the foyer, living room, kitchen, dining room, all have sparkling new switches that have back lighting to them when they are not lit. That's especially nice: just the other day when coming in from a soccer game, we were able to find the light without fumbling around in the dark.

Currently my favorite two applications are dimmed lighting during dinner and while watching movies. The spotlights in the living room look just like the lights at a movie theater when they're dim, and coupled with the big-ass TV, it feels like we're having our very own private viewing of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

I am glad I listened to my grandmother when she told me to marry Mike. He is too good to me.

Photo courtesy of Wakadiume.