Home lighting Fixtures for Indoor and Outdoors


This is an informative article on various home lighting fixtures. Depending on their functionality purpose and aesthetic appeal, these lighting fixtures provide a visual appeal and ambient atmosphere in your home. Go through the following write-up to know about the basics of the home lights and their purpose.

Introduction


Lights are no longer just the source of illumination but have taken the artistic turn even in our homes. Lights are used to produce various effects by properly playing with shadows and colours. Proper placement of lights can bring about visual supremacy in your home. It can provide a welcoming environment of ambience, warmth and peace. There are a wide variety of lighting systems available in the market to suit your aesthetic taste and mood. Nowadays, various companies are coming forward with the designer LED lightings that consume less power, glow bright and look very appealing affixed on your wall or ceiling.
ceiling light
Three basic types of lighting systems:

Though there is a numerable number of lighting fixtures available in the market; they all can be broadly divided into three basic groups depending on their functionality as General light, Accent light and Task light. Now let us have a look at all three of them.

General purpose Lights :


The basic purpose of general lighting is to provide proper illumination of the area. They are the source of ambient light and falls under the category of master light in a room. Their basic need is to see through in darkness during the night while doing daily chores. Many ceiling fixtures and wall lighting fixtures are used as a general-purpose lights.
Models/fixtures providing general lighting are: Flush mount fixtures, chandeliers, semi-flush mount fixture, wall sconces, lamps and lanterns etc.
accent light.

Accent Lights :


Accent lights are basically spotlighted in homes used to illuminate a particular piece of art or a wall painting or even a photograph. It is related to the aesthetic appeal associated with the wall. Focusing a particular object adds drama and style to it, this creates an aw-factor to the views. Access lights can also be used inside a cabinet or a closet or to highlight a wall texture and even outdoors to spotlight a sculpture or may be a fountain. You can also fix them in a cabinet where you store your cosmetics and make-up products.Their utility solely depends on the creativity and aesthetic sense of the expert planting it.
Track lights, recessed lights, and wall sconces fall under the accent lights.

Task Light :

task light.
Task lights are mostly utility-based lights that are used to focus on our work area. They are used to provide proper illumination for the performance of our work. These tasks may include reading, writing, cooking, cutting-chopping, sewing, drawing, games (like chess, table tennis, billiard etc.) and so on. In the kitchen, task lights may be attached above the kitchen island. It can be successfully used in theatres, galleries operation theatres as well. The utility of task lights is not limited to a few places but with proper understanding, they can be used anywhere and everywhere.
Task lights are provided by track lights, recessed lights, pendant lights, lamps and spotlights.

Types of Lighting fixtures :


A lighting fixture is a device that is used to illuminate an area by bulbs/tubes working on electricity. These electrical devices come under the category of artificial lights. There are large varieties of lighting fixtures available in the market. Most commonly used fixtures in our homes are as follows.
  1. Ceiling lights: These lights are attached directly to the ceiling and have no attachment on the ground. They are mostly used for the illumination of the entire area. Chandeliers, Flush-mount fixtures, semi-flush mount fixtures, pendant fixtures and ceiling lamps falls under this category.

  2. Wall sconces: Wall sconces are the fixtures mounted on a wall. They are the most common source of light in every home. They have their utility for a wide variety of purposes such as to illuminate a hallway, a staircase, bedroom, kitchen and outdoors.
  3. lamp
  4. Floor Lamps: They are the fixtures that stand tall on the ground and are illuminated by one or more bulbs. Torchieres are a type of floor lamp which has a tall stem. They are mostly bowl-shaped glass that diffuses the light in all directions especially upwards. Table lamps are portable kind of lamps that have a plug-in switch and can be placed in drawing-room, bedroom and study room, according to their requirement. They come in wide varieties and designs.

  5. Bath lights or Vanity lights: These are the lights basically installed above a large mirror as a continuous row of light bulbs or a long tube covering the whole area. They are placed such that the sufficient light gets reflected from your face so that it is visible very clearly in the mirror.

Things to be kept in mind while deciding on a lighting system for your home:


There are a number of things that have to be kept in mind before buying a lighting fixture for your home. A room usually has not one but a collection of lighting fixtures complementing and completing each other. There are different lights for different purposes. So before deciding which lights are the best answer to your lighting requirements, make a note of the following points:
  1. Your budget should be the first priority for buying any lighting fixtures for your home.

  2. The fixtures you choose should be compatible with the other home decor and furnishings of the room so that it may not look out of place and ruin the aesthetic appeal of your room. For example a modern contemporary lighting fixture may look awkward with a classic wooden furnishing.

  3. Different lights for different areas: Not the same kind of light can be effective for different areas and corners of your house. For example, a light, suitable for a bathroom is useless for a study room. So before buying anything, plan properly which part of your home needs which type of lighting fixtures.

  4. Size of the room: lights functioning properly for a small room will not be functional in illuminating a big room. For example, a big chandelier in a small room will surely look awkward and make the room look stuffed and congested.

  5. Source of daylight: The amount of daylight entering a room plays a significant role in deciding the place and type of light fixture used in the room. If there is a large window in your room, consult an expert before fixing a light fixture in it so that the areas of darkness and shades are properly covered.
  6. CFL
  7. Power saving: To have a maximum light output for less power consumed, CFL may be your first choice instead of incandescent bulbs. Along with that using LED lights which consumer least power is also a solution for your power saving needs.

  8. Wiring: The electrical fittings for the sources of lights need to be properly planned so as to reduce the cost of wiring used and also to minimize extra extensions which result in power wastage due to resistance.

  9. Metallic and glass Fixtures: Metallic lighting fixtures made of brass and silver look very classy and appealing on your wall but if you are seriously thinking of affixing them on your wall then it would be better if you know the basics of how to clean and polish brass and similar metallic fixtures. Glass fixtures tend to accumulate dust and needed to be cleaned frequently. Today we have a number of suitable Glass cleaners like Mr. Muscles and Colin spray in the market that makes our work very easy and quick.

A good lighting system in your home can alter the whole environment and thus, the mood of the people living in it. Some people consult Feng Sui experts for furnishing and fixing sources of light in their home so that the whole environment becomes pious and spiritually enlighten. Keep experimenting with shades, contours and colours to have an ambient and attractive home environment.


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