House beautiful lighting Inspiring ideas for lighting effects, from simple to spectacular

About once every decade or so, designers and magazines decide to focus on one of the underexposed home interior elements. Usually, the book is filled with color photographs, accompanied by a paragraph and information-packed sidebars. This House Beautiful-sponsored book is no exception. An introduction and first chapter stress the importance of balancing natural and artificial light, noting that humans need at least two hours of light daily to function well. From there, photographs are grouped by topic, including white rooms, afternoon light, specific room lighting, types of light (lamps, chandeliers, etc.), and so on. The interspersed full-page «primers» examine halogen versus incandescent light, and the intricacies of mirrors and lampshades, among other subjects. Appended is a directory of designers and architects. Barbara Jacobs.