Recessed lighting can be an exciting option for your bathroom, kitchen or living room. However, using it properly involves understanding some of the common pitfalls that can occur if they are not used properly. In this article, I will provide some tips for getting the most out of your recessed lighting.

Tip #1: Beware of Shadows One common mistake that people make when using recessed lighting is to rely on it too heavily when lighting a room. As a result, people's faces will have dark shadows cast from above. The result of this is to make people look significantly older, which is unattractive in any space where people are intended to congregate.

Tip #2: Using Them For Tasks When using recessed lighting for tasks, the trick is to make sure that you don't generate shadows over the work area. If you do, then people will be constantly dodging their own shadows in order to write, cook or (dangerously) preparing food in the kitchen. Instead, make sure that the beams come from behind the work surface. In this way, you can perform tasks without those shadows.

Tip #3: Illuminate Your Walls One of the most powerful uses for recessed lighting is to do what is called "wall washing". When canisters are sufficiently close to a wall, they will "wash" that wall, by casting light downwards. This is especially nice if you have textured walls (like stone or wood), since it brings out those textures. Even if you do not, however, you will make your rooms look bigger, pushing the walls back and opening up your entire space.

Tip #4: Use Them for Accents Often, people will use halogen bulbs to illuminate their paintings and other art work. However, you can mix wall washing with accents by putting artwork on places on your wall that are wall washed. This provides quality accent lighting that blends in with your overall lighting design and is easier to install.

These tips will provide you with some fun ideas for using recessed lighting.