Expert Lighting Tips For Every Room in Your Home

We spend a great deal of time and money picking the right living room furniture, the perfect flooring and wall color for our homes, and yet all that hard work can be undone with incorrect lighting. To get your lighting right we need to understand the different types. There are plenty of interior lighting design ideas out there, but it is easy to get overwhelmed and opt for a standard grid of overhead lights that illuminate your home in a way which feels quite stark and stale.

There’s nothing more frustrating than having to choose between pitch darkness and the bright glare of full-strength down lights in the home. By embarking on an interior lighting overhaul with these home lighting tips you can tailor the mood, creating a scheme that allows you to relax and unwind at the end of a long day and could even help you sleep better! Rooms are usually made up of a combination of the following three lighting options.

1. Task Lighting: Task lighting refers to light that is for a specific purpose like reading, cooking or study. These include desk, floor and table lamps, plus under cabinet lighting in the kitchen.
2. Ambient Lighting: Ambient lighting refers to the general lighting in a room and provides the main illumination, usually the main ceiling light, wall lights or down lights.
3. Accent Lighting: Accent lighting refers to specialty lighting that is usually used to add drama to any room, such as feature pendants or lights to illuminate artworks or architectural details.

Creating a lighting plan is the best way to start addressing your lighting needs. Start by drawing up a floor plan of your home and go room by room, considering what the specific tasks and lighting requirements are for each space. For example:

Entryway or Foyer

Sets the tone for your home like the other home lighting tips on this list. Look for a pendant or a chandelier if space permits.

Living Room

For evenings watching TV or hanging out, softer lighting works best. Use a combination of floor and table lamps.

Dining Room

Sets the ambience for meals and special occasions. A chandelier or pendant is the perfect decorative and practical option for this space.

Kitchen

Overhead lighting such as down-lights or track lighting are practical. Also try under-cabinet lighting that can be left on when overhead lighting is off for a softer-lit working space.

Bathroom

Wall lights, either side of the mirror are great, placed about 6 feet or 1900mm from the floor. For something special also place a pendant light above a freestanding bathtub.

Bedroom

You need different strengths of light for different times so use a mix of lights. A central pendant is an obvious choice, but the stars of the bedroom are the bedside lamps. These can be decorative table lamps, or why not have your electrician install hanging pendants from the ceiling?

This article originally appeared on our sister site, Homes to Love.