Categories Lighting

14 Lighting Upgrades That Brighten Small, Dark Rooms

lighting upgrades

Studies have shown we respond well to light. Dark rooms are best for sleeping, but during waking hours, light can literally brighten our moods. Lighting upgrades don’t necessarily need to be electrical. You can uplift the mood of a small, dark room in several ways.

Mood-Uplifting Electrical Lighting Upgrades

When you ask someone – anyone – what’s great about the winter holidays they almost always say “the lights!” We express our joy by adding lights in December, but why not create happiness year-round?

Here are 14 lighting upgrades to brighten spaces, especially small, dark rooms:

  1. Burst chandeliers – They are called “burst” or “dandelion” designs and are dramatic focal points for any room.
  2. Desk lamps – Explore the décor options of these small, multifunctional lamps. Desk lamps don’t have to be limited to lighting desks or tables…
  3. Floor lamps – You can also buy compact floor-lamp tables that offer surface space in small settings.
  4. Flush chandeliers – These have the attraction of chandelier light fixtures but hug the ceiling for more headroom.
  5. Flush-mount ceiling lights – A dark closet was conformed to a cinematic event with 6 of these light fixtures.
  6. Glass lamps – These open themselves and a room to take advantage of space.
  7. Long-neck lamps – These are truly “uplifting” because they take lighting higher than traditional table lamps.
  8. Pendants – There are unlimited designs and features but keep them in sync with room size and headroom.
  9. Recessed lights – Recessed lighting is an old standby but always effective.
  10. String lights – They aren’t tacky or childish; they’re great. Would you like a flameless fire pit? What about a lightweight, creative way to divide a room? String lights are the way to go!
  11. Table lamps – Industrial, rustic, retro, or linear…Table lamps add form and function to every room.
  12. Under-cabinet lights – Highlight a small bar or refreshment area or even better, increase utility lighting in kitchens and hobby rooms.
  13. USB lamps – Small homes can have functional charging stations hidden in table lamps and end tables themselves.
  14. Wall sconces – Limited wall space is no problem with attractive sconces.

Interior Design Hacks to Brighten Rooms

There are many reasons to work with your local electrician for complex electrical installations or upgrades. Safety first, but you can also void warranties and risk property damage with DIY (do-it-yourself electrical lighting upgrades.

If you want to add light and action to small, dark spaces, try these tips:

  • Add white-based multicolored rugs
  • Consider 2700K LED bulbs
  • Eliminate dark lampshades
  • Get rid of heavy curtains
  • Include bright artwork
  • Incorporate metallic furnishings
  • Keep windows sparkling clean
  • More mirrors, mirrors on the walls
  • Paint flooring white
  • Refloor with light woods
  • Use high-gloss paint for ceilings
  • Use shades of white room designs

TIO Electric Lighting Upgrades for Phoenix, Tucson, AZ

Arizona homeowners literally take ownership of their homes’ upkeep. We do what we can to enhance property values and maintain a better quality of living. The smartest homeowners know when to seek professional assistance.

If you request any kind of home service in Maricopa County, you expect knowledgeable, professional guidance. You deserve honest and accurate information. That’s why Turn It On Electric is the Phoenix area’s premier electric service company.

We’ll provide industry-best electrical solutions for your home repairs or renovations. We take ownership of our work. If you have questions about lighting upgrades for your home or office, contact TIO Electric.

Categories Lighting, Outdoor, Residential

Pool Lighting Ideas to Transform Your Outdoor Space

pool lighting

Your swimming pool lighting can be so much more than a white light at the deep end! Phoenix is our country’s leader in backyard swimming pools. We are also the flagship for pool lighting creativity! Here are lighting ideas that will enhance the beauty and pleasure of swimming at home.

5 Landscaping and Pool Lighting Upgrades

Did you know…?

When it comes to lighting pools and pool areas this year, less is not more. Some pool owners are abandoning the sole underwater light under the diving board for exciting illumination. You can install rows of lights along the sides and/or both ends of the pool, for example.

The types of pool lighting options are:

  • Fiber optic – Safer because they attached to a “dry” power box, but lighting effects may be lessened
  • Halogen – For a very large pool, halogens are initially low-cost but need frequent changes and can get hot
  • LED – Brightly travel long distances underwater for the most energy-efficient lighting option
  • Solar – Not a permanent pool lighting option, but a nice add-on

Swimming pool lights can be categorized as:

  1. Feature lighting – We install halogen or LEDs to dramatically highlight one area. Your slide, a waterfall, or what about a landscaping arrangement of rocks and plants? Feature lighting “spotlights” focal points and areas of interest.
  2. Floodlighting – We recommend flood lights to illuminate even larger areas of your swimming pool area. LEDs conserve energy, last longer than halogen, and replacement bulbs are easy to find. Halogen flood light bulbs are cheaper but won’t last as long as LED.
  3. Flush-mounted lighting – Flush-mounted lights are the most popular option for pool wall lights. These LED or halogen “seamless” lights are a bit more complicated to install but they’re worth it. The illumination is amazing.
  4. Pool garden lighting – Garden lights won’t illuminate your pool area but emphasize the beauty of nearby nature. They can be subtle or pop with look-at-me! drama.
  5. Surface-mounted lighting – LED or halogen surface-mounted underwater lights are attached to the interior surface of the pool’s edge. The downside is, that they break easily because kids tend to climb on them to get out of the pool. That’s why we often recommend flush-mounted lighting.

Pool lighting upgrades will increase your property value, but even if you don’t plan to sell, the enjoyment factor makes them a great home improvement choice. However, you can add floating LED lights that are battery-powered. These are fun and safe alternatives to a pool lighting investment.

Turn It On Electric: Pool Lighting Electricians in Phoenix

Working with electricity around water is never something any homeowner should attempt. All pool lighting options must be installed by a licensed, trained electrician. A pool lighting project in Phoenix is fun and affordable. Let’s explore your options! Contact Turn It On Electric.

Categories Lighting

Landscape Lights: What Is Uplighting?

landscape lights

As you consider landscape lighting options, you’ll love the choices. But you might be puzzled by similarities in various types of landscape lights. For example, flood lighting is one thing. Spotlights are not the same as flood lights. Uplighting is something else entirely. What’s the difference?

Uplighting, Spotlighting, Floodlighting, and Landscape Lights

Uplighting, Spotlighting, and floodlighting are 3 categories of landscape lights. All three lighting options accomplish different objectives.

  • Floodlights – These are usually shorter beams. Use floodlights when you want to illuminate a wide area.
  • Spotlights – These landscape lights can travel longer distances. They’re used to highlight sky from the ground in advertising and ground from the sky when searching for people on the run, for example. Spotlight beams are narrower than floodlights.
  • Uplights – Spotlights and floodlights can be mounted at different levels, but uplights are always mounted on the ground. The beam is shorter and narrow. This concentrated landscape lighting makes it easier to control exactly where and what you want to illuminate.

Ways to Use Uplighting in Phoenix Landscaping

Most property owners know that uplighting will emphasize – highlight – a portion of your home or yard. It’s also a security feature. What homeowners don’t know is uplighting creates shadows. And shadows add subtle, attractive drama to your landscaping.

In addition to highlighting landscaping or creating dramatic shadows, uplighting can be used for:

  • Backlighting – This is a way to create a silhouette. As an example, one landscaper says using uplighting to backlight begins with an interesting tree, shrubs, or a fountain. Rather than positioning the uplight in front of you, install it behind the object. “There are endless options for silhouette garden lights,” she says.
  • Wallwashing – This is the effect created when spacing several uplights in a way that emphasizes the texture of exterior walls. This is becoming extremely popular because modern exterior materials are more versatile and exciting. Draw attention to your home’s limestone, poured-in-place, or textured concrete outside walls… One Arizona architectural structure has a rammed earth exterior.

Types of Uplighting

For a special event, temporary uplighting can be strategically placed. Yes, it’s a bit tricky and yes, the light fixtures have a tendency to fall over if not positioned correctly. You can rent special-event uplights for landscape lighting.

The overall best investment is wired landscape lighting for your home using LED bulbs. LED uplighting is best for outdoors because they burn cooler and last longer. Because they generate less heat, they use less power. If you’re planning an event, you can change the colors, too.

Phoenix, Tucson-Area Landscape Lights Installation

Landscape lights are a fun, elegant way to provide additional security and beauty to your outdoor space. Turn It On Electric has specialized in landscape lighting solutions for Arizona for over 10 years. We’re here for you now and we’ll be here when you need us. To learn more about landscape lighting in The Valley, contact TIO Electric.


Categories Electrical Wiring, Lighting, Residential, Tucson

Relocating a Ceiling Light Fixture

Lighting Upgrades

Terry and LaShonda had lived in their home for two years. When they moved there, they thought the dining room chandelier was amazingly beautiful. It was easily the room’s focal point. But eventually, LaShonda saw a problem. The beautiful ceiling light fixture was hanging in the wrong place.

The previous owners had installed it off-center. That might have worked for the former residents’ dining room furniture arrangement, but it didn’t look “right” for the new homeowners.

How Hard Can It Be? Moving a Ceiling Light Fixture

Relocating a ceiling light fixture – even a foot or two – requires professional help. There are a lot of steps involved and as always, putting your safety at risk is never a good idea.

Contact your local Arizona electrical pros before you dive in. It may be cheaper than you think, and it will certainly be much faster. And easier. And less messy.

One DIYer (do-it-yourselfer) said she just aimed a drill where she wanted the ceiling light fixture to be mounted. Then she began drilling through the drywall. She hit something important, and the lights went out in half the house and wouldn’t turn on. “The repair cost more than having the electrician do the job right the first time,” she mourned.

The most important thing you need to know is this: What’s on top of the ceiling? Before we provide a quote for relocating a ceiling light fixture, we need to know if the ceiling is part of your attic.

  • Does the attic have a floor? Many don’t.
  • Which way do the room’s joists run?
    • If the fixture is mounted running in the same direction as the joists, it’s not that complicated to feed the wiring.
    • If the wiring needs to cross the joists, we may need to drill into the ceiling. The ceiling will need to be repaired or patched.

If the ceiling is not part of the attic, a hole will likely need to be drilled to re-install the housing and the light fixture’s wiring. The site where the wires all connect is called the “junction box.” The junction box protects the wiring types:

  • Grounding – Returns electricity to the circuit breaker where it is then channeled to an outside rod
  • Hot – carries electricity from the circuit breaker to the light source
  • Neutral – Channels unused electricity back to the circuit breaker box/panel

The wires are color-coded.

Did you know approximately 300 million people are color-blind? A recent survey revealed more women are likely to DIY a home improvement project. This could be a good thing because one in 12 men is color-blind.

Another important consideration is the wall-mounted light switch. The chandelier in Terry and LaShonda’s dining room had a basic on/off switch. (Most dining rooms have dimmer-light switches.) A dimmer light changes the flow of electricity every time it’s used.

  • You need to know the type of voltage your ceiling light fixture requires.
  • You need to know what kind of outlet box you have.
    • End-of-run
    • Middle-of-run

Turn It On Electric For Lighting Upgrades

Terry and LaShonda now have a beautiful dining room setting that in her eyes is perfect. Moving a chandelier is a lighting upgrade that improved her quality of life.

That’s what lighting upgrades do. They reinforce home safety or enhance your lifestyle. If you’re considering any home improvement; moving a ceiling light fixture, installing security ground lights, or any renovation that requires electrical upgrades, contact TIO Electric.

Categories Commercial, Lighting, Outdoor, Residential

Phoenix landscape lighting installation

Phoenix landscape lighting installation

Landscape lighting offers the best of three worlds. Most of us add landscape lighting to enhance appearance. The security that comes with landscape lighting is a huge benefit. When you line sidewalks and paths, it becomes a safety feature. Phoenix landscape lighting 2022 trends include low-voltage options for every residential and commercial property.

2022 Phoenix Landscape Lighting Trends

Arizona is a “destination” state for so many people. Phoenix has year-round beauty and comfortable weather almost every day. We spend a lot of time outdoors. That’s why landscape lighting is a must for most Arizona property owners.

You don’t want less-than-safe yard lights. Proper landscape light fixtures will resist moisture without overheating.

This year in particular has been one of rebuilding and renewed hope. What better way to celebrate than by opening our hearts and homes to friends and family? Here are six 2022 Phoenix landscape lighting ideas that will brighten your life in 2022:

1. Deck Lighting

The versatility of deck light fixtures and lighting options is amazing. Choose from:

  • Deck – Attach these to posts or rails.
  • Downlights – These are placed overhead, maybe in trees to spotlight an area.
  • Recessed – You can use these for dramatic floor lights (ceilings too).
  • Spot/well/uplights – These highlight one feature, like a tree or waterfall.
  • Step – Step lights are valuable walking aids, and they look terrific. You can use surface mounted or recessed.

2. Energy-Efficient

Low-voltage and long-lasting LED lights can last up to 100,000 hours or longer. As always, the upfront cost may cause you to take a step back. But the investment pays off; you’ll get returns in longevity and monthly energy bill savings.

3. Entertainment

Entertainment lights are bolder; brighter than path lighting. Path lights accentuate footfall. Entertainment lighting is placed further away from seating scenarios and aimed to illuminate a larger space.

4. Path Lighting

No one wants to stumble and/or fall. Your need to protect older and younger loved ones never change. And traditional path lighting will never go out of style.

5. Timeless Sustainability

You can choose from designs that won’t date your property. Timeless landscape lighting designs are tasteful features. But choose materials that have longer-lasting durability too. Consider brass, copper-free aluminum, and corrosion-resistant metal fixtures.

6. Tree Lights

No need to wait for winter wonderlands in December! If they’re wonderful in December, why not have that beauty and excitement all year? Tree lighting can also be adjustable for low-lighting or moonlighting.

Solar vs. Electric Phoenix Landscape Lighting

Solar is another landscape lighting trend. It has several advantages: It’s cheaper and low maintenance. Your Phoenix-area electrician appreciates how easily and quickly solar landscape lights can be installed. But…

  • Solar landscape lights won’t last as long. You’ll need to replace the lights about every 3 years.
  • The light color tends to be pinkish. Some people are delighted with that. Some people find it off-putting.
  • You have no control over brightness and on-off settings. When they’re on, they’re on. When they’re bright or dim, it is what it is.
  • Your illumination is compromised if you have several cloudy days. In fact, when it’s cloudy and dark and you need outdoor lighting most, solar lights may fail.

Hardwired-electrical outdoor lighting is a better investment for your home (and your wallet). A professional electrical landscape light installation will provide the safest possible placement.

  • Electric landscape lighting lasts about 10 years or more.
  • They work during bad weather and cloudy days.
  • You have complete control. Turn off the lights you don’t need. Turn on the lighting fixtures for entertainment. Out of town? Turn off the sidewalk lights and put the spotlights on a timer.

The biggest disadvantage to hardwired landscape lighting is if installed incorrectly, they are easily disturbed. That’s why we discourage DIY (do-it-yourself) Phoenix landscape lighting. It won’t save money if a bad installation fails.

Plan Your Landscape Lighting Project

We have many ideas for outdoor lighting that increase your property value. Let’s put together a plan that will do wonders and work with your budget. Contact Turn It On Electric.