Shopping for and adding new lighting to your home is a really fun way to spruce up a space. New light fixtures have the ability to brighten a room and completely change the look and feel for the better. When used in the right quantity and spaced properly, new lighting can bring a room from basic to fantastic in a snap. 

Here are a couple of industry rules of thumb for you to keep in mind while shopping and installing new light fixtures.

• General lighting: Figure about 65 watts for every 20 square feet. So if your room is 12' x 12', you will want about seven 65 watt bulbs placed around the room. There are many ways to do this, three in a fixture centrally located in the space and then four of one style of wrought iron candle sconce, or a larger central fixture and just one or two forms of task lighting; wrought iron lamps are great for this because they are not stationary, you can move them as you see fit.   
• General lighting in a bathroom: Consider one or two can lights for the main light switch. Two cans with 65 watt bulbs per 40 square feet is a good rule to follow in a space like this. You will also need task lighting over the vanity, look for fixtures that are approximately half the length of the vanity, so for a four foot vanity, look for a two foot fixture, in example. For a bathroom, the minimum, no matter the size of the space is a three-lamp fixture.
• Placement: Whether it's centering in the room, or over a vanity, symmetry and centering is very important when it comes to lighting. For a very large room, the general rule is to break it down into two or three fixtures, then mount them the same distance from the wall and center. In a large bedroom, one centered fixture and four cans on the four walls, placed three feet off the wall is a really nice placement and look.  

Follow these rules of thumb and you are sure to love the placement of your new lighting. Just remember that symmetry and centering are your friends here. Really, you can never have too much lighting in a room, and a great way to keep your lighting variable is to add a dimmer switch. This allows for customization depending on the time of day and amount of light desired. 

As always when working with electrical projects, make safety your top priority. If you get to installation and feel uneasy with the project, consider hiring an electrician to help you.