In all the equipment of the modern house, I think there is nothing more
difficult than the problem of artificial light. To have the light
properly distributed so that the rooms may be suffused with just the
proper glow, but never a glare; so that the base outlets for
reading-lamps shall be at convenient angles, so that the wall lights
shall be beautifully balanced,--all this means prodigious thought and
care before the actual placing of the lights is accomplished.

In domestic architecture light is usually provided for some special
function; to dress by, to read by, or to eat by. If properly considered,
there is no reason why one's lighting fixtures should not be beautiful
as well as utilitarian. However, it is seldom indeed that one finds
lights that serve the purposes of utility and beauty.

I have rarely, I might say never, gone into a builder's house (and
indeed I might say the same of many architects' houses) but that the
first things to require changing to make the house amenable to modern
American needs were the openings for lighting fixtures. Usually, side
openings are placed much too near the trim of a door or window, so that
no self-respecting bracket can be placed in the space without
encroaching on the molding. Another favorite mistake is to place the two
wall openings in a long wall or large panel so close together that no
large picture or mirror or piece of furniture can be placed against that
wall. There is also the tendency to place the openings too high, which
always spoils a good room.

I strongly advise the woman who is having a house built or re-arranged
to lay out her electric light plan as early in the game as possible,