

While general outdoor lighting would be used to light up a walkway, for example, outdoor accent lighting would draw attention to a decor or landscape piece such as a plant or sculpture.Įxamples of types of accent lighting are wall lights, sconces, torchère lamps, LED string lighting for accent ceilings and walls, track, focused recessed down lights and outdoor landscape lights. They can also be used to illuminate tray ceilings or accent walls with dramatic affect.Īccent lighting is also sometimes used in exterior design as well. This can be a display you set up, art, certain furniture, pieces of architecture, or anything you love in or about your home. You can use it to draw attention to decor pieces you’re particularly proud of. For example, think of the lighting on an art piece in a gallery.Īccent lighting is a great way to add a little flair to your decor. In other words, accent lighting is used to brighten up the focal point you want to draw attention to while casting shadows on dull areas. Generally, accent lighting holds about three times the light of general lighting on a focal point.

Unlike general lighting, accent lighting focuses on the use of concentrated light to create contrast. Accent LightingĪccent lighting is used to draw the eye to a piece of design. Outdoor ambient lighting can include small lights such as a porch light or streetlight or even something as large as stadium spotlights. Aside from providing enough light to see when it’s dark out, ambient lighting might be used to provide security. Outdoor ambient lighting is used for a few purposes. The most common types of lighting fixtures used to create ambient light are recessed, pendants chandeliers, track and flush and semi flush ceiling fixtures. On the other hand, toned down ambient lighting can create a cozy atmosphere but too dark if you aren’t careful. If the general lighting is too bright, you might end up with a harsh environment. This type of lighting is one of the main ways to set a tone for a room. One of the main goals of indoor ambient lighting is to utilize light that bounces off the walls to provide illumination. Rather, this type of lighting is used to make sure your room is well-lit enough to make sure that you can generally see and safely navigate the rooms in your home. This is probably the most common type of lighting when it comes to design.Īmbient lighting isn’t focused on making sure you can do specific tasks such as reading in your favorite chair. Ambient or General LightingĪmbient lighting, also known as general lighting, is the lighting that is meant to light up an area in its entirety. We’ll take a look at some of your options for lighting fixtures to fit these types later. Instead, lighting can be broken up into three categories ambient or general lighting, accent lighting, and task lighting.īefore we get into what types of light you can use for each category, it’s important to clarify what each of these lighting types means. The first thing to know is that lighting isn’t a singular idea. Types of Materials Used for Interior Lighting.Wall Sconces, Cove Lighting, and Wall Mounted Lights.
