By: Cath McIntyre
You may not have thought too much about the lighting in your home office but wondered why some days you felt not very productive. The type of lighting that you have in your home office could be affecting your moods and how well you are or aren't working. Find out how to set up and use light in your home office so that you can work more easily, stay healthy and be more productive.
1. Natural LightWhenever possible it is beneficial and easier on your eyes to have sources of natural light in your home office. Don't position your work space so that you face the natural light directly, nor should you have the light coming from behind you. That can make it very difficult to view a computer screen. Natural light is healthy and can impact on the mood of your home office. When you allow more natural light to shine into your home office you'll find that your mood improves and you will get more work done.
Even in winter time it's probably the most important time to get as much natural light as possible especially if you don't get outside too much at that time of year. To take the best advantage of the natural light, arrange your desk so that the sun comes from one side of you. This will help prevent glare on your computer screen. To control the levels of brightness throughout the day, use mini blinds that can be adjusted to allow more or less light through.
2. General LightingThis is type of light is normally the ceiling or brightest indirect light within your home office. You may have one light fixture centered in the ceiling or track lighting along the walls. Ensure that you don't use light bulbs that are too bright or ones that are too dim. That will strain your eyes. When setting up your computer, check to see that you don't have your monitor or laptop screen in direct line with the light. It will cause glare and affect how well you can see the screen.
3. Tasking LightingTask lighting is useful when you are working in low light situations and need to read from sources other than your computer screen. A great solution for this at a desk is using an adjustable lamp that can be directed to where you need the light. You don't want to have a lamp on all the time, the light itself can be distracting and cause glare.
An idea that I've found useful is to set up a separate area for reading and writing at my desk. This area has an adjustable lamp with a 60 watt bulb which is bright enough to work by but doesn't cause glare problems or strain my eyes.
4. Indirect Lighting or Accent LightingThis type of light is in addition to any ceiling fixtures or task lights. The main purpose to this type of light is for decoration and atmosphere. Depending on the size of your home office and the space available you may have a couple lamps for this purpose. Floor lamps and table lamps are well suited to this purpose. It is important to note that you should not rely on these lamps as your sole source of light. These lamps should not be directly on your desk and should not be used in place of task lighting. If you have room enough in your home office for an additional chair; perhaps an armchair for reading then that would be a good location for a table lamp.
Take some time to examine the lighting situation in your home office and review what changes you can make to your lighting situation. It could be as easy as installing new blinds on your window or changing the layout of your furnishings to take better advantage of natural light sources.
Article Source:
http://homeoffice.about.com/
Topic: Lighting Your Home Office (Read 2177 times)
