Lighting Types and How to Incorporate Them Into Your Home

When it comes time to design the lighting for your home, the sheer number of options can be overwhelming. That’s why we’ve created this comprehensive guide, not only to the wide range of lighting types, but also how you can use them to elevate the aesthetic of your home. 

Lighting Types at a Glance

Before diving into details, let’s start with a quick look at the various lighting types and their primary uses and functions. 

A Closer Look

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s dive into each lighting type and discuss how you can put each one to great use. 

Ambient Lighting 

One of the three principle layers of lighting design, ambient lighting provides general illumination of a space. In terms of functionality, ambient lighting makes all areas of a space visible and easy to navigate. It also contributes to the overall atmosphere, and should be used in concert with the other two types of lighting layers. 

Usually, the best ambient lighting is soft and diffused, often coming from ceiling flush mounts, semi-flush mounts, or chandeliers. 

Bathroom

This is the second lighting layer, dedicated to providing illumination for specific tasks, such as reading, cooking, or working. It’s used in kitchens, offices, laundry rooms, and reading nooks. In contrast to ambient lighting, task lighting should be bright and focused. That said, it’s often a good idea to make task lighting dimmable, so that you can soften the atmosphere when work gives way to relaxation. 

Depending on the type of workspace, task lighting is best achieved with desk lamps, under-cabinet lighting, and pendant lights.

Accent Lighting

The third principle layer is accent lighting, used to highlight artwork, sculptures, and other architectural features and points of visual interest. This lighting type is strictly aesthetic, intended for adding drama, style, and texture to a space. 

Accent lighting is often achieved with wall sconces, track lighting, and directional recessed lights.

Decorative Lighting

While accent lighting draws attention away from itself and toward other points of visual interest, decorative lighting draws attention to itself. These stylish fixtures are used to enhance the decor of a space, making aesthetic statements and serving as conversation pieces.

Decorative lighting often calls for artisan-made pendant lights, bespoke chandeliers, sculptural table lamps, and other fixtures that hold their own as points of visual interest.  

Architectural Lighting

This type of lighting is integrated into your building's structure. It’s used to highlight and enhance architectural details, and typically falls under the accent lighting category, though it can also be used to supplement ambient lighting.

The right fixtures for architectural lighting depends, naturally, on the architecture of a space, but it’s often achieved using cove lighting, integrated LED strips, and step lights.

Mood Lighting

As the term suggests, this type of lighting focuses on creating a specific mood or atmosphere in a space. Various calibrations of light color, intensity, placement, and direction can make a space feel calm and relaxing or vibrant and energetic. 

Mood lighting is often employed in bedrooms, living rooms, and entertainment areas, and is often achieved with dimmable floor lamps, LED strips, and smart bulbs, all of which can be adjusted to adapt the atmosphere to various modes.

Natural Lighting

This refers to any sunlight entering a room through windows, skylights, or glass doors. Not only is natural light free and eco-friendly, but it also can make a space feel more open and inviting, while also bringing out the colors of your decor. 

Smart Lighting

Smart lighting incorporates software that allows you to use your smartphone, voice commands, or scheduling to turn light fixtures on and off or adjust their brightness and color temperature. This lighting type is increasingly popular, not only for its convenience, but for its potential for energy savings.

LED Lighting

LED (light-emitting diodes) lighting is highly energy-efficient, producing much more light per watt and lasting much longer than incandescent or fluorescent bulbs. They contain no hazardous material, making them even more eco-friendly, and they emit very little heat, making them safer than traditional bulbs. They’re also available in various colors and can be dimmable, making them adaptable to any atmosphere you want to create. 

Techniques for Using Various Lighting Types to Create Dynamic Interiors

Layer Your Light

Any room will benefit from a combination of ambient, task, and accent lighting. A bedroom, for example, will need enough ambient lighting to be visible and easy to navigate. You can achieve that with a chandelier, flush or semi-flush mounts, or recessed lights. 

For reading or computer work, you’ll need task lighting, which can be provided by wall sconces or lamps. And you might want accent lighting to highlight pictures, artwork, or architectural elements, which you can achieve with recessed or track lights. 

The same principle applies to kitchens, dining rooms, living rooms, and so on. By using a variety of light sources to provide these three layers of light, you can create a balanced and textured environment. 

Design for Versatility

Many rooms serve various purposes, each of which call for different atmospheres or moods. A kitchen is sometimes a bustling workspace, and sometimes a social space for hosting, relaxing, and conversation. A bedroom is sometimes used for getting ready for the day, and sometimes it’s used for leisure. Even a bathroom is sometimes the place for getting makeup or hair just right, and sometimes you want it to feel more like your own personal spa.

Versatile lighting allows you to adjust the atmosphere of each room to suit each purpose. Layering helps with this, since you can simply add or subtract light sources as needed. You can increase the versatility of your lighting further by adding dimmers to fixtures and curtains or blinds to windows.

Use Natural Light

When choosing and placing light fixtures, consider any windows, skylights, or glass doors letting sunlight into the space. Incorporate natural light into your layering, planning to let sunlight do its work during the day, and using fixtures to take its place after dark. Natural light can be maximized with mirrors and other polished or reflective surfaces, and complemented with light bulbs that imitate sunlight.

Prioritize Efficiency  

Using natural light as much as possible is a good start, here. Additionally, consider making your light fixtures more energy efficient with LED bulbs, dimmers, and smart lighting. By going to the trouble of programming the lighting of high-traffic rooms, you can reduce your carbon footprint while also making your atmosphere automatically appropriate to various times of day.

Create Points of Visual Interest 

Points of visual interest are key to visually pleasing lighting design. You can create these by installing fixtures that draw the eye, like a bold chandelier or pendant. You can also use track lighting or recessed lights to draw attention to other focal points, like art, photography, or architectural elements. Aim for balance, so that you don’t overcrowd a space. You want your design elements to complement each other, not compete for attention. 

Be Intentional About Light Temperature and Color 

Softer, warmer light promotes relaxation and intimacy, while brighter, cooler light adds energy. By carefully selecting light temperature and color, you can create the desired atmosphere, whether it's a restful retreat, an inviting gathering space, or a productive work environment.

Where to Start

Virtual Comfort & Co. offers a broad range of designer light fixtures, empowering you to find exactly what you need to realize the aesthetic vision you have for your home. Start exploring here.