What to Expect When Shopping for Home Lighting

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Did you know that your home lighting directly impacts your ambiance, mood, and overall well-being? A lighting design expert can help you customize your space to create a powerful, mellow, cozy, or productive atmosphere. You’ll get countless benefits if you opt for a home lighting system. Not only do home lighting systems allow you to save energy, but you can program them to come on and off at a time that’s convenient for you.

No matter what type of home lighting you have, you may be wondering exactly how a lighting designer achieves the effect of matching your room to your mood. By the end of this guide, you’ll be able to answer the questions: what does a lighting designer do, and what can you expect when shopping for home lighting.

Ready to find out? Keep reading to learn exactly how a lighting designer will transform your space. 

Lead Your Private Guided Showroom Tour

At Porter Lighting, our designers will accompany you through a showroom appointment. They’ll walk you through room by room and discuss the latest styles and technology trends in lighting. Everything from metal finishing to energy efficiency will be covered.

If you know exactly what you’re looking to buy, our showroom is a great place to experience your desired lighting in real life. After your initial showroom appointment, you and your designer will discuss your lighting goals. If you are still trying to decide your lighting style, our experts can guide you with our ample resources and their experience to make your house a home.

Personalized Room to Room Shopping

Porter lighting designers are skilled in room-to-room design. A lighting designer will tailor your lighting needs based on the use of a particular room while maintaining a consistent design throughout the entire residence.

For example, the home lighting in your kitchen and bedroom doesn’t have the exact needs. You’ll need plenty of overhead light situated strategically above your island, countertops, and stove in the kitchen. In your bedroom, you might want dim lights for the evening and bright lights for the daytime accompanied by some reading lights or wall sconces. 

What does a lighting designer do beyond ensuring the function of your lighting designs? They make sure lighting is practical and durable for the intended areas, especially outdoor lights.

Your outdoor space might have overlooked lighting. Outdoor lighting, such as landscape lights and post lights also helps boost your curb appeal. Outdoor lights provide safety from predators and animals and create the perfect ambiance for your summer barbecues and movie nights.  

Reawaken Your Design Preferences

Despite what the dated lighting options surrounding us might tell you, lighting can be fantastic! Your home lighting can be your focal point. Whatever design you imagine, lighting designers will help you bring it to life. Pull from our existing library of lighting or create something entirely your own. 

We have an expansive line of home lighting products in our showroom. They come in all colors, shapes, and sizes. Our Porter lighting designers can advise you on which lighting product best meets your needs. We have bathroom fixtures, chandeliers, directional lights, accent lighting, flush mounts, lamps, bulbs, switches, pendants, sconces, recessed lighting, and specialty items! 

Your lighting will impact the design of your space and the productivity and ambiance. Our lighting designers can help you choose suitable structures and bulbs to create your perfect room!

Present You With Infinite Customization

If you’ve already dreamed up your ideal lighting or are not seeing something you’re looking for, we’ll make it for you. In addition to our showroom, we can help you create custom lighting. Beyond custom design, many technical aspects of lighting should sometimes be customized. 

The length of fixtures will depend on ceiling height, table placement, intended use, and lighting location. You’ll need to adjust chains or fixture length to fit your space perfectly! Our lighting designers can tackle everything from home office lighting to kitchen lighting. They’ll consider other things, such as fixture weight,  the voltage used, and the color, size, and space for canopies and backplates. Canopies and backplates are the fixtures used to stabilize your lights in a wall or ceiling. 

With lighting customization, you’ll be able to see the lights digitally before you commit. This way, you know what you’re getting, and there isn’t any discretion after the fact. 

Oversee Your Lighting installation

Now you finally have your perfect home lighting; how on earth do we go from concept to conception? Your lighting designer is in liaison with Porter’s skilled installation team. Your residential space should be assessed before lighting is installed. The lighting designer can optimize lighting performance based on your square footage and your budget. Why install lights if they won’t serve a purpose?

You can expect your lighting designer to create an individualized lighting design for each room. From there you’ll review. Then when it’s time, our installation team will hook everything up exactly how you imagined. The installation will make sure everything is wired properly and looks seamless. Your lighting vision will become your lighting reality! 

What Does a Lighting Designer Do for Your Home Lighting?

In short. Everything!

Now you know precisely what a lighting designer does from start to finish. They see through your entire home lighting process from inspiration to ideation and installation. They will be with you every step of the way. Lighting designers have an expansive knowledge of colors, voltage, hardware, and architecture. They’re here to listen to your lighting goals while opening you to the extensive lighting library. 

Before jumping into a lighting project yourself, visit our Porter Lighting Showroom and see how we make the impossible possible. Our team reimagines lighting, intertwining practical solutions and exquisite design. At Porter, our designers are here to light up your world! Contact us today to learn more.