All You Need To Know About Lights And Lighting

Effective lighting can transform you home and business premises by providing efficiency and safety and allowing you to establish the mood you want. But to do this properly, you need to understand all the different types of lighting and their special features. Here’s all you need to know about lights and lighting.

The most common types of lights are ceiling lights. These generally emit a bright overhead ambient light that illuminates a whole room or area such as a hallway. Ceiling lights can take a wide range of forms such as recessed lights and chandeliers. As they provide the main ambient light for a room, these need to be considered first when installing lights.

Pendant lights hang from a ceiling and give off direct or diffuse light. They can be task lights such as when they hang over a cooking space in the kitchen, or simply decorative when they illuminate all or part of a room. The chandelier is a famous example of a pendant light.

Spotlights usually function as accent lights – that is, they focus on one area or object. They’re reflector lights that emit narrow beams to illuminate and highlight objects while leaving the surrounding area in darkness.

Track lighting is a spotlighting variant. It consists of a long track to which several lights can be attached. This gives you great flexibility is arranging your lighting as you can adjust the position, direction as well as the number of lights you attach.

Another common term in the lighting trade is sconce. These are wall-mounted light fixtures that emit soft ambient light, and are perfect for background lighting. They can either be directional or emit light all around.

The next type of lights we’ll look at is the freestanding light. Table lamps are perfect for lighting a limited area with the warm, cozy glow that comes from their shades. They can also function as focal points around the room. Special types of table lamps function as reading lights.

Floor lamps are similar to table lights in having a base and a shade. They give off a cosy glow but the stand is longer which makes them ideal for positioning by a chair or sofa.

Other terms you’ll come across with reference to lighting are up lights and down lights. These terms are self-explanatory. Up lights shine their beams upward where they’re reflected off the ceiling. The result is a relaxing diffuse light from reflection from the ceiling with fewer shadows than from a central ambient ceiling light.

Also known as downlighters, downlights cast light downward. They work well as task lights by offering concentrated light for such tasks as reading and sewing, and also work well as accent lights to enhance objects. Downlights can be recessed or surface mounted and be fixed or moveable.

The types of lighting you’ll need for your premises depends on the activities you carry out there and the mood you want to create. At the very least, you’ll need the ambient lighting provided by ceiling lights to provide overall illumination to a room.

As for your task lighting needs, it depends on what activities you regularly carry out. If you’re an avid cook, for example, it would be a good idea to install pendant lights in your kitchen. If you like to read for a short time, a table lamp or a floor lamp should suffice. If you’re a bookwork, you should opt for a dedicated Reading Light. With accent lighting, it depends on if you have any objects such as paintings or statues that you wish to highlight.

Style wise, you have many options. For example, with ceiling lights, you might like to opt for recessed lights. They are installed in recesses cut into sections of the ceiling. Of course, they require more work to install but it’s worth it for the sleek and elegant look they provide.

For floor and table lamps you just plug them in and they’re ready to go. But for other types of lights, you’ll need to hire an electrician unless you’re a handyman.

Proper lighting can transform your home or place of business and installation needn’t be costly. You can find the best deals with a lighting wholesaler. Online lighting dealers feature illustrated catalogues with full details at their web sites. Just browse for the right items and place your order. Your lights will be delivered in a few days.

About the Author

Kathryn Dawson writes articles for Lite Craft, a leading manufacturer and distributor of a range of home lighting such as ceiling lights, floor lights and bathroom lights. Buy from UK’s leading lighting wholesaler today, with over 60 experience lighting up homes and unrivalled knowledge and customer service in the industry. Add instant class and luxury to your homes with their amazing chandelier collection from around the world; Swarovski from Austria or Murano from Italy.

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