Home Improvement

A Quick & Easy Guide to Buying Luxury Lighting

Lighting is one of the most important aspects of your home, not just for lighting the room up, but also for transforming how it feels.

With the flick of a switch, your lighting can turn a drab room into a luxury space which you’ll be proud to show off to your friends.

With this in mind, here’s our quick and easy guide to buying luxury lighting.

Types of lighting

First things first, it’s important to know the five main types of lighting, to help you plan what kind you need. (Bear in mind that some light fittings might fit into more than one category).

General lighting

General lighting is the foundation of all the rest of a room’s lighting, providing a base glow over the entire room, with a focus on functionality rather than aesthetics.

This is usually provided by a pendant light in the centre of a room, but you might want to opt for something more luxurious such as a chandelier.

However, the general lighting is just a starting point, and without further lighting, it can cast unflattering shadows and generally leave a room feeling a little bit dull.

Ambient lighting

Ambient lighting is a great partner to your general lighting and is similarly functional, however, it will light the room from a different direction.

So while a chandelier will light the whole room from above, ambient lighting might take the form of a wall sconce or eyeball spotlight.

 For more information on types of ambient lighting and how it’s used, check out this post from HomeDoctor.net.

Task lighting

As the name suggests, task lighting is used in any space where it will help you to carry out a task such as getting ready in the morning or reading.

These lights generally need to be stronger and are most commonly seen in offices and studies.

Flexible lamps attached to headboards are popular for reading in bed, and lights surrounding mirrors are often seen in bathrooms.

Also remember to incorporate task lighting into the kitchen to help make your food preparation easier.

Mood lighting

To counteract the shadows caused by general lighting, you should also use some mood lighting.

More concerned with style than function, mood lighting usually takes the form of table or floor lamps.

You’ll probably want to consider using a shade for mood lighting as it’s more likely to be at eye level, so you’ll want to avoid glare.

Accent lighting

Finally, accent lighting is similar to task lighting and serves the specific function of highlighting certain features of the room.

This could mean artwork, ornaments or any other object, and is a great way to enhance them.

Top Tips

We spoke to leading suppliers Oberoi Brothers Lighting and got some of their top tips when it comes to choosing lighting:

  • Consider the furniture in a room before choosing lighting.
  • Incorporate dimmer switches so you can adapt the lighting depending on the time of day.
  • Use layers instead of relying on one central light source.
  • Consider thickness and colour when choosing a light shade as these will affect the light.
  • Make sure not to leave wires out on show.
  • Try not to have too much contrast in the lighting scheme between rooms as this can be jarring.

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