| | Mood Lighting
 As we saw in the first installment the first thing to consider in planning lighting for a room is the room's function.
But there's much more to lighting a room than just determining whether you have enough light for your sewing project. Using the Sheffield Guidelines for Interior Design � function, mood, and harmony �we'll move next to discussing the mood created by different kinds of lighting in a room.
As you're probably aware, in addition to being purely functional, lighting can also influence the mood of a room, in three different ways.
First, the general illumination can strongly influence the mood of a room. A brightly lit room projects a positive, upbeat mood. A darker room is more intimate and romantic. One mistake many people make in lighting their homes is to have only one extreme or the other: so much light that you need sunglasses, or just a dim candle.
 Second, the lighting fixtures themselves express a mood. Some fixtures are traditional, some contemporary. Some are lavish and ornate, some are starkly simple. As with the furniture you select, the style of the lighting fixtures should be suitable in mood to the rest of the decor.
Third, you can provide accents of light in specific parts of a room for no functional reason, but simply because they will add a dramatic touch. For example, you might shine light up through the foliage of a tropical plant, producing an interesting interplay of lights and shadows.
In our next installment, we'll look at how you can use lighting to provide harmony to a room. �Sarah Van Arsdale
Courtesy of Sheffield School of Interior Design
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