Designer Track Lights

Whether you're lighting a small bathroom, a loft, kitchen, or living room, designer track lights provide a way to create a customized lighting scheme that works for you.

Give your home a modern look with designer track lighting.

By their versatile nature, track lights can be used to highlight things like artwork, emphasize architectural details, or can be used to add to the overall décor. Track light systems include:

• Monorail, also known as flexible track lighting or curved track lighting
• Cable track lighting

These track lighting systems can be purchased in easy-to-install pre-assembled kits, or if you are a handy do-it-yourselfer, you can build your own system with supplies easily found at home improvement stores like Home Depot or Lowe's Home Improvement Stores.

A monorail track light's flexible metallic rail offers the advantage of customizing lighting to fit your needs. It provides an attractive answer when adjustable lighting is needed, because unlike traditional track lights, the bendable rail carries power in twists and turns, which makes it functional even along irregularly shaped walls and ceilings and can even turn a corner.

However, when making a corner turn, don't make a tight bend that could damage the monorail. Curves in the monorail with a radius of more than 12 inches are safe. This ability to follow contours makes monorail lighting a functional choice with a designer touch available in a number of attractive finishes and accent colors to compliment your decorative choices.

Monorail designer track lights are available in the following finishes:

• Satin nickel
• Chrome
• Gold
• Antique bronze

A limitation to installing monorail designer track lighting is their low voltage and the need for a separate transformer in order to switch standard power into a low-voltage current. A limited amount of wattage is carried through a length of a monorail, but more than one transformer can be installed to increase the power and allow a larger number of fixtures to be used. Newer monorail systems offer more power, so be sure to shop to find the system that works best for you.

Cable track lights provide a practical solution to challenging design situations. The sleek, floating appearance of fixtures makes them a perfect choice because they are easily configured to meet lighting challenges such as high cathedral or vaulted ceilings and can work around added obstructions like beams and soffits.

Cable track lights can be installed in lengths under 20 feet without additional vertical support. However, if you run cable in longer lengths, additional support will be required. Like monorail systems, cable track lighting is primarily used for accenting and task illumination. It's a good choice if the room you want to light has a limited power supply, because it supports a good number of fixtures and can be powered from a single junction box. If you are remodeling, you may want to consider cable lighting if you want to avoid involving an electrician and the need for additional junction boxes.

An advantage to cable lighting as your designer choice is that it provides for a wide assortment of fixtures. Most often lightweight spot lights are used. Pendants lights can be used, but the weight of the fixtures often requires additional vertical supports. If the fixture is quite heavy, a vertical support may be installed on each side of the fixture.

With designer track lighting, it is easy to reconfigure lighting when focal points shift. Accent lighting is a good choice for task lighting in the kitchen, over a desk, or anywhere that requires a little more light without illuminating the entire room. But an often overlooked use for track lighting is the bathroom.

Consider getting rid of the utilitarian glaring bulbs that offer too little or too much light and install designer track lighting. They make a good choice for providing low-voltage lighting solutions in just the right places.

• Apron Sinks
• Interior Painting Techniques
• Front Entry Porch Pictures

• Glass Tile Backsplash Ideas
• How to Install a Bathtub
• Build a Kitchen Banquette
• Sliding Wood Closet Doors
• Wood Plank Look Ceramic Tile

• Low Voltage Lighting Systems
• Hampton Bay Lighting
• Flex Track Lighting
• Kitchen Track Lighting
• Flexible Track Lights