Family-friendly home lighting is a new trend that’s taking the world by storm. It’s all about making sure that the lighting in your home serves a purpose for every person in the household in addition to being stylish. Whether you’re reading a recipe book in your kitchen, or nursery rhymes in the nursery, proper illumination is key. Lighting helps you function, while providing safety. The last thing you need is to trip over toys and fall down the stairs because the lighting was too low. When considering how to choose light fixtures for your home, the types of lighting fixtures must be functional for that space and add to the home decor aesthetic.
How to Choose Home Lighting Fixtures
The lighting products of today have evolved into designs that meet specialized needs. They serve diverse purposes for home lighting. When you step inside a lighting center, you’ll see numerous dimmers, devices, fixtures, sensors and timers to choose from. You’ll find everything from chandeliers to lamps, and track lighting to floor lighting. But, choosing the appropriate lighting for your home should be based on function, not just style and design.
Family-friendly lighting should compliment the lifestyles of everyone in your home. It should also meet the needs of your family. These are some good tips for how to choose lighting fixtures that will help you think as home interior designers do.
• Identify your family activities that take place in each room. These could be doing homework, home-based business tasks, laundry, grooming, hobby work, cooking, reading, etc…
• Decide on the ambiance and mood you’d like to create in each area of each room.
• Determine which decorative elements you would like to emphasize around your home. This could be wall textures, artwork, even furniture.
• Identify areas of your home with dark finishes or wall colors. Since darker colors absorb more light, these areas may need supplemental lighting or light fixtures that cast the light directly down (or up as the case may be).
3 Basic Types of Home Lighting
When it comes to lighting for your home, there are three basic types of home lighting to consider that work well together for both style and function. For each type of lighting that you may want to create for a room after you have evaluated the questions above, I will provide examples of appropriate lighting fixtures to help you accomplish those goals.
1. Ambient Lighting
Ambient lighting is great for the overall illumination in a room. This general lighting is known for radiating a level of brightness that’s comfortable and without glare. It helps you see better, making it safe to walk around the room and up and down stairs. It can serve as the primary source of lighting in most rooms, such as laundry rooms.
Ambient lighting fixtures come in many forms. It’s used in lanterns for outside lighting, track lights (not pointing straight down), recessed lighting, wall-mounted fixtures, ceiling fixtures, even chandeliers. A good lighting plan includes an ambient light as the central source of lighting in every room.
2. Task Lighting
Task lighting is functional lighting. It serves a purpose, which is helping you perform a particular task. Some of these tasks include checkbook balancing, playing games, working on your hobby, doing homework, cooking, grooming, reading and home office tasks. Functional lighting should be glare-free and not produce shadows. It should always be bright enough for preventing eye strain. Task lighting can be a great kitchen update when you want a bright light for preparing your food.
Accent lighting also comes in many forms and styles. Some styles that can provide functional lighting are desk lamps, portable floor lamps, under-the-cabinet lighting, pendant lighting and track lighting (pointing down).
3. Accent Lighting
Accent lighting is all about style. It creates a visual interest by adding drama to the room. When used as a part of your interior design decor, it can be used to draw attention to trophies, awards, sculptures, paintings, fireplace mantles, houseplants, portraits and other pinterest worthy home decor ideas.
Accent lighting can also be great for highlighting stone or brick wall textures, outdoor landscaping and window treatments. Many people use it in their bedrooms to draw attention to their comfortable beds and decorative bedding. It’s usually provided by wall-mounted picture lighting, track lighting, and recessed lighting.
Conclusion
The best way to choose your lighting fixtures is first to consider the type of lighting you wish to create for the space. This will help you narrow down the lighting fixture type and then you can match it to suit you home decor style.
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Robin says
We are all ambient lighting in my house. I have a few floor lamps in my lving room, but don’t even have bulbs in them. They’re just for decor LOL.