How you choose to light each room of your house can go a long way toward creating enjoyable and functional living spaces. In addition to simply making things a good deal brighter, well-designed lighting plays an important role in composing a comfortable atmosphere. However, solving your lighting problems doesn't just mean shedding more light on the subject. In many cases, rearranging the placement and intensity of the light sources provides a new look and increases functionality.

While there are many lighting alternatives, one solution is track lighting. With this system, individual lamps, or lighting heads, fit into tracks secured to your ceiling. Because you install the tracks to suit your space, you end up with a custom configuration that's tailored to your needs. And once in place, the lamps can be repositioned along the tracks to vary the lighting effect or to accommodate new requirements. Best of all, because the power comes from an existing ceiling junction box, track lighting can usually be installed without any remodeling.

The choices in lighting heads for track lighting range from small, unobtrusive can-shaped fixtures to large, high-tech lamps that lend drama to an interior space.