The brands, models, styles and sizes of lighting fixtures available in today’s market are massive. I once had a visitor from Great Britain with me when I went shopping at a local supermarket. Having been in Great Britain, I could have almost guessed what he was going to say. “There’s so much to choose from!” he exclaimed. The same thing applies to the lighting fixture industry. There are chandeliers, pendants, sconces, strip lighting, recessed can lighting, track lighting, floor lamps, ceiling fixtures and on and on. And, for each type of lighting fixture on the market, the styles, sizes, prices that are available offer an almost mind-numbing variety of choices.

Let’s talk about basic issues related to home lighting.

Start at the Beginning

Designing the way you will light your home is really a form of planning. And, designing or lighting a home usually gets the short end of the stick when it comes to the overall project. If you are thinking about adding or changing some lighting in your existing home, it’s time to start planning which way you’d like to go in terms of the eventual lighting layout throughout your home. On the other hand, if you are building a new home, you have the opportunity to build a comprehensive, complementary lighting plan that is built around a particular scheme or décor.

What you’re really after is a lighting plan that will result in everything working together to give your home a cohesive and integrated look.

Start with your personal tastes. Think about what kind of home appeals to you the most. Do you like a bright, open look, a classic look or a modern look, just to mention a few? Give this a lot of thought because it will provide the foundation for your planning in all areas including the lighting you will select.

Take a look at the function and layout of each room. And consider what you would like to highlight, what the room is used for and what types of lighting are possible given the room’s architecture. Ambient light needs to be a serious consideration in your planning.
Keep in mind that ambient lighting is just one part of the picture. It needs to be coordinated with the specific fixtures you will purchase for highlighting, task focusing and accent lighting. Make a tentative plan for each room that is very much subject to change as you get down to the final stages of selecting your lighting. Above all, keep in mind that everything in terms of your lighting needs to work together. If any one aspect of your lighting in a particular room is overpowering and draws attention to itself, you’ve got some balancing to do.

It might make things a little easier if you remember that lighting fixtures breakdown into roughly three categories:

Task

Lamps such as table lamps

Track lighting

Spot lighting

Lights used for reading

Recessed lighting

Accent

Some table lamps

Rail lighting

Sconces

Torchieres

Pendants

Ambient

Chandeliers

Recessed lighting

Ceiling lighting

Pendants

Lighting fixtures don’t fall into rigid functional categories and what you need in terms of function will determine the lighting fixtures to purchase.

Room Aesthetics

The key concept to consider is contrast. Light layering is the term currently in vogue. A coordinated, tasteful combination of the above mentioned categories will generate layering. For example, in a dining area a pendant or chandelier could be used to provide ambient lighting while recessed lighting can provide task lighting and sconces can provide accent lighting for furniture other than the dining room table. Task lights should serve as the primary lighting source providing at least five times the level as ambient lighting. An additional source of lighting can be provided by accent lighting that should provide around three times the level provided by ambient lighting. Dimmer switches are easy to install and allow the homeowner to do all kinds of creative balancing of lighting levels.

Decorative lighting should never be employed as a main light source. First, they are generally too bright and usually generate glare, which is the last thing that you want. Decorative lighting should always fit in to the overall lighting layout and should never become the main focus of attention when someone enters the room.

Energy

Today, more than ever before, lighting manufacturers and retailers are energy aware. You will need to spend some time researching what the practical applications involve. There are numerous resources available on the web and you should definitely do your homework before you begin your actual shopping.

This article is in no way intended to be a complete or comprehensive treatise on the subject of selecting the right home lighting fixtures. It’s merely an introduction and hopefully will provide some meaningful food for thought as you dig deeper.