Amazon.com Review
From notable designer Sally Storey comes Recipes & Ideas: Lighting, Simple Solutions for the Home, a book full of innovative ideas for lighting every area around your home. The introduction functions as a mini-course in professional lighting techniques, going far beyond the standard one-overhead-light-per-room and discussing the possibilities of downlighting, wall-washing, and several other important lighting tools. Other chapters are divided into individual rooms, covering general needs (bright lights in the bath, reading lamps in the bedroom) and presenting a variety of unusual solutions.

Most of the ideas involve installation of new lighting fixtures--this is not a book showing you how to make a pretty new lampshade for that old table lamp, but rather one that will show you how to choose among lighting options to achieve very specific effects. One lovely picture, featuring a crystal chandelier, shows tiny recessed spotlights designed to highlight the actual crystals as art, rather than merely a fancy dining room light. Storey obviously has a great understanding of the practical needs for lighting around the home, and her suggestions on task lighting for the office or kitchen are both striking and useful. The last chapter is a practical guide featuring checklists, safety hazards, and explanations of different bulbs and control switches--master this section, and you'll whisk through that maze of light bulbs at the hardware store, knowing exactly which ones you need, and why. --Jill Lightner