Residential indoor lighting can significantly affect your quality of life. Even limited upgrades to the lighting setup in a home can make a noticeable difference. Follow these four tips when checking out residential indoor lights.
Evaluate the Present Lighting Issues
A thorough assessment of the lighting in the house can give you a good idea of what to buy. Check for problems during daytime, evening, and nighttime conditions. This will give you a good sense of where the lighting is insufficient or excessive at all times of the day. Look for areas in the home where the lights are too dim, especially if you use those areas for hobbies, reading, or other tasks.
Understand Lighting Layers
Residential lighting works best in three layers. These are ambient, task, and accent lighting.
Ambient lighting allows you to move about a room safely. Ceiling lights are the most common ambient sources, but recessed and track lighting also will help. You can also use fixtures like chandeliers to make the lighting sources more interesting.
Task lighting is localized. It exists for specific purposes so it has to hit the correct spot and provide comfortable light for prolonged activities. The light above the kitchen counter where you do your food prep is a task light. Task lighting is good for reading, working on projects, or sitting at a computer. Your bathroom should also have high-quality task lighting.
Accent lighting gives greater life to a room. An under-counter light near a backsplash in a kitchen or bathroom is a good example of an accent light. You might also use accent lights to highlight a focal point like a large portrait.
Color Temperature
People in the industry rate light's color temperature in Kelvins. You will see numbered ratings on a bulb's package. Numbers in the low thousands are considered warmer and cozier because they allow colors to feel subtle. Higher ratings come closer to natural sunlight. For residential indoor lights, you can usually stick with lower numbers to maximize comfort. Higher numbers mostly provide visual clarity in settings like stores, although they may be useful for task lighting that requires precision.
Controls
Finally, it is wise to take advantage of modern control systems. Dimmers provide the simplest form of control. You can easily adjust the lighting to the current mood and need. If you want a more advanced solution, automated smart lighting is also a good option.
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