Lighting is essential in any room of your house or apartment.
Whether it is your bedroom, living room, dining room, or even your bathroom, the right kind of lighting is necessary. You can choose between mood lighting or functional lighting.
Mood lighting focuses more on things that make a room cozy and add more character to a room. Mood lighting also tends to make the room more elegent.
Functional lighting serves more as a helper. Functional Lamps are most commonly used in an office environment. The light source is specific and directional. Most office lamps have flexible necks, which enable the light source to be angled for a specific purpose. Examples are reading, working on the computer, or reading sheet music while playing the piano.
Types of Lighting:
Table Lamps
You can place these portable lights almost anywhere: at your bedside, the end table in your living room, on your desk, or even on your kitchen counter. The light source is soft and most of the illumination is pointed down. The lampshade allows for a soft glow to be dispersed. Table Lamps are used mostly as an addition to Ambient Lighting. However, they can also be used as Task Lighting.
Floor Lamps
Also serving as portable lamps, Floor Lamps serve more of a functional purpose. As with Table Lamps, Floor Lamps can be used to add to the Ambient Lighting in a room. But since the light source is focused downward, using it as a reading lamp (or task lighting) is optimal. Catalina Lighting sells an array of swing arm floor lamps, which offer you the flexibility of moving the light source either forward or backward.
Torchieres
Another form of portable lighting, a Torchiere is a floor lamp in which the light is focused upward. This creates a lot of light since the illumination bounces off of the ceiling and walls. A Torchiere can create most of the ambient lighting in a room because of its intensity.
Chandeliers/Pendants
These fixtures are commonly utilized in the kitchen or dining area. Light focuses primarily on the table, but the light source can either be directed downward or upward. Many Chandeliers have “up lights”, which simply means the light is focused up. The light bounces off the ceiling, which displaces the light throughout the room. In this case Chandeliers serves a dual purpose, providing both Ambient Light and Functional Light. A Pendant is a fixture that focuses its light only downward. It serves a functional purpose since the light is focuses in one spot.
Ceiling fixtures
Ceiling Fixtures are flush against the ceiling and often go unnoticed, since they provide an optimal source of ambient light. Ceiling Fixtures give any room a “light base,” meaning they can illuminate an entire room without relying on another source of light. The light is focused down and around and is often flat, which is why we suggest adding Table Lamps and Floor Lamps to provide additional ambiance. Ceiling Fixtures (often called “flush mounts”) are usually located on bedroom ceilings, kitchens, and hallways.
Wall/Vanity
These are the best sources of ambient light for your bathroom. The light source is primarily focused either down or up. If the light source is focused up, this will allow for more light since it bounces off ceilings and walls.
Wall Sconces
Wall Sconces are considered accent lighting since they cannot illuminate an entire room. However, since the light source is focused upward, it creates a soft glow in many parts of your home such as a hallway or on either side of your fireplace.
Outdoor
Illuminating the outside of your home serves both a functional and decorative purpose. It allows for you to see in the dark by night and it is a fashion statement on your home by day. It is purely Ambient lighting since it illuminates such a large area of the outside. Outdoor fixtures can be flush against the wall or hanging like a pendant in your entranceway. The illumination covers a lot of area since most lanterns have glass lenses all around the fixture. The light reflects off of the ceiling, floor, and walls.
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