A well lit home is essential for both functional and aesthetic reasons. Lighting designers will analyze your home's layout, structure and needs to create an effective lighting plan throughout your home.

What is a Lighting Plan Designer? Though electrical engineers or interior designers can take on the task of outfitting your home with appropriate lighting, a professional lighting designer goes beyond the electrical system or decorative equipment by exploring lighting as a technique. Lighting designers often have a knowledge of physics, optics, ergonomics and environmental issues along with an eye for construction and design, allowing them to devise lighting plans that not only improve visibility but create hierarchies, dynamics and mood within a space. Often working in conjunction with an architect or interior designer, lighting designers will work to incorporate reflective surfaces and integrate daylight. They'll design your lighting, avoiding "over-lighting" a space, and reducing overall operations cost while enhancing the architecture of your home.

Think about how you plan to use each area of your home. It's important to communicate to a lighting designer that one space will be used as an office whereas another a media room, as these will require very different lighting methods. In addition, consider how you'd prefer to control the lights. Lighting technology today comes equipped with dimmers, sensors, photocells (lights react to the amount of daylight in a space), programmable scene controls (the ability to program different settings with varied lighting) and whole-house lighting control (the option of controlling all or a portion of your home's lights from one source), allowing you to tailor your lighting control however you wish. Also, be wary of electricians or sales reps posing as lighting designers. Identify a professional lighting designer by finding out whether they're involved in lighting programs or associations such as IALD Professional and Associate Members and confirming they're licensed as either an LC (Lighting Certification) or a CLC (Certified Lighting Consultant).

Questions to as a prospective lighting designer:

• How long have you been in the business?
• How many projects like mine have you completed?
• Can you provide me with references?
• Are you licensed and insured?
• Are you a participant of any professional programs or associations?
• How do you charge and what does that include?
• Can you provide me a written estimate?
• What do your services include?
• When can your job get done?
• What happens when cost exceeds the budget? What about when there are changes to materials or labor pricing?
• What will I need to provide?
• Are there any important considerations or concerns you foresee with this project?

Find a lighting designer on Houzz. Narrow your search in the Professionals section of the website to Lighting Designer, then choose the metro area in which you'd like to find a designer. You may also look through photos by style, like Traditional, Asian, Contemporary, Modern, Eclectic, Mediterranean or Tropical, to find a lighting design you like, then contact the designer.