Choosing the right light! What does that even mean? Well, for a large majority of people choosing lights for the home still means fitting anything that can provide the house with needed brightness. However, with evolving home decor trends, lighting designs have undergone a major transformation too!

Lighting plays a very important role in making you feel relaxed or focussed. Each type of lighting serves a specific purpose, and it is a good idea to consider that and take one room at a time while selecting the lighting fixtures for your house

Let’s see how you should go about selecting the right lighting for your home:

 

 

Types of lighting, classified by their function

Lighting is broadly classified into three categories based on its function into ambient, task lighting, and accent lighting.

• Ambient lighting is used as the natural light for the room and is supposed to just illuminate without any special consideration.
• Task lighting is used for illuminating a specific area, such as kitchen slabs, study tables, or work desks.
• Accent lighting is used for accentuating the appearance of a particular decorative item, such as a statue, a landscape or a painting on the wall.
• These lights mainly differ in their brightness (measured in lumens), colours, and the types of bulbs you choose for the lighting.
• Selecting the right light room-by-room

The first step to selecting a light is to think about what lighting is suitable for each different room. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

Kitchen

Of course, you need the kitchen to be well-illuminated, and hence an ambient light overhead is a must. Add a lower task lighting to illuminate the space in the counter where you will be cooking. You can also go for accent lighting if you have a kitchen garden.

Living room

The best way to accentuate the decor of the living room is to use an accent light in one corner of the room in addition to ambient light. You can focus on an object like a piece of art or a vase kept on the corner.

Bedroom

You won’t want light straight on your face when sleeping, therefore, any ambient light in the bedroom should point away from the bed. An angling overhead light away from the bed is a good idea. Also, it is common to have task lighting above the dressing area and on nightstands.

Table lamp works best for nightstands.

Bathroom

Who wouldn’t want task lighting for the mirror in the bathroom? However, a mirror fixed directly on top of the bathroom can cause shadows. Therefore, task lighting can be placed on either side of the mirror.

An overhead ambient lighting can be used to illuminate the bathroom.

Picking the right lighting fixtures

Now that you know what type of lighting you will need for different rooms in your house, it is time to pick the right lighting fixtures.  Here are a few tips to help you make the selection:

Ceiling mount fixtures

Most ambient lightings are fixed using ceiling mount fixtures. They are ideal to use in bedrooms, task areas, stairways, foyers, and hallways. If you have a long-running hallway, it is recommended to space out the fixtures at a distance of 8 to 10 feet for adequate brightness.

Chandeliers

Chandeliers are used for ambient lighting and are best used in living room and bedrooms. If you have a separate dining area, a designer chandelier with dim lighting will look awesome over the dining table.

Wall-mounted fixtures

They are available in various designs and sizes.  Usually scones, this is the most commonly used lighting fixtures. They can be used for task or accent lighting, and on any room depending on what bulb you are using and where you are putting them.

Pendant lighting

Generally used for task lighting, they hang from the ceiling and are equipped with shadows to focus the light where it is meant to without any glare. They work best over countertops or any other working area.

Track lighting

You can use this lighting for anything and about anywhere.  Track lighting fixtures are pretty versatile, and you can move individual lamps to point in the direction of your choice.

It is important to remember that different fixtures call for different kinds of bulbs. Therefore, when you are choosing a fixture, don’t forget to consider the type of bulb it will require.  The size of the fixture is equally important. A fixture too big or too small can make your room look out of proportion.

 

This article was originally published on www.thehindu.com dated August 01,2017