The 3 main types of lighting- How to use them effectively in your home

Lighting your home can become overwhelming when you think of how many variables there are. I find that a lot of people when building their homes have standard electrical plans that either, have batten fixtures every where (and sometimes in areas that don’t even make sense), downlights in almost every crevice, and a lack of smart, task lighting that effects your everyday life.

Now for the most part, builders just ensure you have enough lights to meet requirements and leave the rest up to you after handover. I’m here to show you how you can illuminate your home effectively whether you’ve just built or have a 100-year-old home.

Here are the three main types of lighting for your home,

1.       General

2.       Task

3.       Accent

Let’s take a look at these in more detail.

General aka Ambient

General lighting are your everyday lights. They are your downlights, batten fittings, flush mounts. They are the lights that illuminate the room comfortably enough for you to walk around and see what you’re doing. They can also double up as task lighting at times. For example, I have a three light bar fitting on the ceiling of my kitchen. This is the main light in the area, however, is strong enough for me to prepare tea and wash the dishes. The number of lighting fixtures your have per room depends on how strong they are. If you have a room that is 4m x 4m, four 10 watt LED downlights will be more than enough. (Chuck them all on a dimmer and you’ll have much better control on the intensity).

For bedrooms, you can generally get away with two downlights as again, these are ambient lights. Add in some task lighting and you’re all set.

Task

Use this type of lighting to accomplish tasks such as reading and studying. It is designed to be centred on the area of work and reduce glare, therefore, reducing the strain on your eyes.

The most common types of task lighting are study lamps and under cabinet lighting. I remember having a fluorescent under cabinet light at my desk when I was a teen. It was excellent for doing homework and whatever crafty stuff I was into at the time. Under cabinet lighting is available in both hard wired options and DIY (plug and play) forms. Typically, cool white is the preferred colour temperature for this type of fitting as it’s the best colour for focused work.

Accent

Think spotlights and bar lights. Accent lighting is designed to highlight architectural features and artwork. Or whatever you would like to show off at home. Add dimension to your room by installing a couple of gimbled downlights or spotlights to draw attention to your wall panelling, artwork or any other features you may have. To accomplish this correctly, the light output should be much stronger and focused than any ambient lighting in the room. If you’re lighting artwork, opt for LED’s. They are much less likely to cause damage to your art through heat and UVs.

So there you have it. The three main types of lighting for your home.

I hope you have found this helpful. Feel free to email me at chloe@designsbychloe.net and let me know what you’d like to learn about next.