The right lighting for your home or workplace

Do you like the lighting in your home or workplace?

• Are there rooms where the light is too bright or too dim?
• Do you find it difficult to do delicate or detailed work in some rooms because the light is lacking?
• Do you have beautiful artwork on your walls, but the lighting is wrong and doesn’t do it justice?
• Do you have overly yellow or warm lights that cast the wrong tones in the room?
• Do you do work where you need to see colours clearly, such as graphics or hairdressing?
• Does the lack of light pose a tripping hazard in some house areas, on stairs or in uneven hallways?

It is frustrating not to have the proper lighting for your needs.

Lighting instantly creates a certain mood. Think about how different lighting makes you feel.
Natural light or sunlight is naturally uplifting, and it ends up uplifting the mood as well.
Dull light can cause moodiness over time. The same can happen when we light our homes.

The right light in the right place puts us in a different mood and helps us enjoy the space and use it for our needs. Some homes are dark by nature, and it can be a challenge to make such a home bright without making it look too stark or artificial and finding the perfect balance of light.
Bright light makes us feel awake and productive. Such lighting is perfect when we are working.
In areas where we want to relax, ambient lighting helps us unwind and relax, and this is perfect in living rooms and bedrooms.
The way we light our home can be the defining feature in making your home beautiful to look at and welcoming to live in.

Choose beautiful lighting fixtures

Don’t clutter the ceiling with recessed lights. The sleek, minimalist look of rows of these recessed spotlights in Australian homes has taken over.

They do not add to the atmosphere of a room, but they are also limited in their choice of light colours and create unattractive shadows due to poor light distribution.
Have you ever observed a photo of yourself standing under an overhead light? They create the most unflattering shadows on a face.
Pendant light fixtures look fantastic and provide light in an area that needs it. Pendant lights provide direct light perfect for a dining area.
Wall sconces never go out of style: they ensure that every corner of a room is evenly lit, and if you have high ceilings and cornice detailing, they’re a must-have.

Transform a room with light

The right lighting choices can transform a space. Before you call an electrician to install a few more lights, take your time and plan what you need.
To install the lights you desire, you will need to engage an electrician, but electricians are not designers or experts in planning what lighting you need and how to use it.

Why spend hours choosing paint colours or carpeting if the lighting you choose has nothing to do with your chosen decor?
If you really value how you want to light your home or workplace, hire a professional lighting designer.
They are lighting experts, and their main goal is to create the perfect lighting plan for your home.

The selection of the right lighting in your home is very important, regardless of the interior style or architecture. 

Whether your home is:

• Modern and architecturally designed
• Off-grid country house
• Do-it-yourself builder
• An elegant apartment
• French provincial style or any other style you can think of.

The way you light it will help determine the love for the house and the rooms. Whatever style you build, lighting is crucial to creating a home you can enjoy every day.

The types of lighting: ambient, task and accent lighting

Ambient lighting

Ambient lighting provides adequate general lighting in a room. The lighting is suitable for eating, sleeping or watching television. 
Most apartment rooms are small enough that one or two fixtures provide adequate general lighting. A lamp can provide additional light in the appropriate location. You can also change the wattage of a globe lamp to increase the illuminance, and you can also choose a lower wattage if you want to soften the light.

Accent lighting 

Accent lighting draws attention to a specific point of interest. Think of visiting an art gallery where lights are mounted above the paintings on the wall.
Accent lighting aims to draw the eye to a specific focal point.

Accent lighting is often used in a home:

• In the entry area of an apartment.
• Above pictures or artwork
• to highlight a wall or a particular architectural detail
• in the garden around a swimming pool
• in the garden to illuminate trees and plants.

Accent lighting creates atmosphere and mood and can be enhanced with coloured lights, especially outdoors. See our article about pool lighting
However, it should illuminate the focal point about three times more than the room lighting to be effective.

Task lighting

It can be similar to accent lighting. In a room, ambient lighting may be sufficient for most tasks, but sometimes when doing detail work, such as needlework, additional light is needed over the spot where the work is being done.
In the kitchen, the same is true when cooking meals. If you work with knives, you need a safe work area with good lighting.
If you apply makeup in the bathroom, you need a light to illuminate your face so you can work without shadows.
If you work in the garage, you need a bright, clear light for working with power tools. See our article about LED lighting
You can often put a table or floor lamp where you do this work, turn it on when you need it, and turn it off when you’re done.

The right electrician for the job

When planning work lighting, think about all the activities you will be doing in each room and mention them.
Installing a strip light over the bathroom mirror can give a very sleek and stylish look while providing the practical lighting you need.
In the kitchen, you can use under-cabinet lights for a bright work light, and at night you can leave them on and turn off the leading kitchen light, which can also create a focal point in the kitchen.
Once you have finalized your lighting plan, hire an experienced electrician to ensure the job is done exactly as planned and within budget.
We can also help with the swap out of old fluro lighting to LED lighting for commercial work spaces

Call Multivolt Services electricians to get your lighting sorted out.