How you light a home can make the difference in the way you house looks and how it functions. First, there are two very important factors you should consider when lighting your home: function and aesthetics.
Lighting your home areas effectively makes it easier to access each of the rooms, use all equipment and accessories as needed. It also leaves the decor easily visible to enhance the appearance of your home while helping to avoiding unnecessary falls and accidents.
- Start with the big picture: Before we delve in, there are three layers of light: ambient, task and accent. Although the size of your room determines the type and how types of layers you could use may, you will need at least two layers to properly light a room. 75% of the room’s light should at least comprise of ambient lighting to see you successfully walking into spaces without bumping into furniture and hurting yourself.
Every room will need ambient or general lighting and you might just need a few ceiling or overhead fixtures if doing home lighting on larger rooms. Besides, there are endless options when planning for ambient light source for any room: you can select ceiling fans, chandeliers, flush-mount/semi-flush-mount ceiling fixtures or pendant. Other choices include track lighting, torchiere lamps, recessed lighting, vanity lighting and wall sconces.
The task lighting is the appetizing aspect of any lighting theme in addition to ensuring you get adequate light to do everyday chores such as reading books, chopping vegetables, washing dishes and brushing teeth. You could actually start by listing all the ordinary and repetitive tasks in your home and plan lighting around them.
Besides, there are some basic or general rules for lighting any room such as your bedroom would require lesser light than your living room or kids’ reading areas. The third aspect of the big picture is having a clear goal on how you want to use lighting to decorate or improve appearance in your home. In addition to using colored lighting, you could plan for aggressive architectural details such as coves, tray ceilings and decorative trim.
- Selecting a lighting style: This is part of the big picture. There are many lighting styles that can derive your inspiration when doing home lighting. You might want to choose the styles such as European chandelier and other traditional styles based on time periods. Coastal, Asian, Caribbean, tropical, country and European are some of the regional styles you could like to taste. Some would prefer more contemporary styles, transitional styles, crystal, tiffany, art, and the Chandeliers.
- Select a style for the lighting fixtures: Once you have a general idea or lighting theme you need, it is time to get to the details. With an overall theme, this should fall into place: whether you need more contemporary and fun fixtures with beads, crystals or decorative glass shades, or more traditional choices. You can also choose fixtures that match with existing finishes in the room. For instance, if the door handles are brushed nickel, you could get fixtures that complement the finish.
A foyer can provide a great first impression of your home if lighted properly. The main lighting type here should be ambient light and a few accent light sources. You could also select flush-mount light or a semi-flush-mount light and use chandelier or pendant lantern to add more drama at the entrance if the foyer has a vaulted ceiling.
You could also select lighting fixtures that have dimmer switch that allows you to change the mood of the room. It adds great flexibility in lighting styles.
About Author: Author of this blog is a content marketer who formally worked at Emerging NewsHub 24. A writer by day and a reader by night, he is loathe do discuss himself in the third person, but can be persuaded to do so from time to time.