Lighting Features and Fixtures You Need for Each Room in Your Home

Lighting the different rooms in your home can seem daunting because each room has different needs. Does a bedroom need to be as well-lit as a living room? What about a bathroom compared to the kitchen? Should you use wall sconces, floor lamps or Casablanca fans with integrated lights? This guide will help you find the ideal lighting features for each room and explain how to pick out the right lights for your spaces. 

Kitchen Lighting

The kitchen is often the heart of the home, used for cooking, eating and socializing. The kitchen can also be a place to do homework, read a book, create art or do other relaxing activities. Because of this, the kitchen needs task-specific lighting, more so than the other areas of the home. 

For general purpose ambient lighting, use overhead ceiling-mounted light fixtures to wash the room with light. This prevents kitchens from turning into dim caves. Small kitchens can use flush or semi-flush mount lights, while large kitchens have the space for chandeliers, pendants, lanterns and pot rack lights.

For focused lighting that helps with specific tasks, under-cabinet lighting can help, as can LED tape.

Sconces help add accent lighting, which is often found at sinks, shelves or food prep areas. 

Bathroom Lighting

Bathrooms need good, flattering light. When you are getting ready to go out, the lighting needs to help you look your best. Bathrooms are also often used when cleaning up minor scrapes and cuts, which is another time where proper lighting is particularly needed. 

While the most common way to light a bathroom is by using a row of bathroom vanity lights, you can also use sconces or pendants next to the mirror instead. Only using a row of vanity lights is not flattering, because it lights up some areas of the bathroom but not others. If you have to use over-the-mirror lights, combine them with other lighting sources in the bathroom. You can even use a mini chandelier, also called a chandelette, for a glamorous lighting fixture.

Living Room Lighting

The living room, as the name implies, is where you will do most of your living. You might watch TV here, play board games or read a good book. Like in the kitchen, general purpose lighting works well here. You can also use ceiling fans, such as Casablanca fans, that have lights attached. This way, you can circulate warm air or create a breeze while lighting the room. Floor lamps, recessed lighting or flush mount lights can help illuminate the room as well.

Dining Room Lighting

The lighting in the dining room is crucial in setting the tone for the rest of the home because it’s the room most often used for socializing and entertaining. Drum and linear pendants are both good options, replacing chandeliers. Drum pendants are more informal than chandeliers, while linear pendants are great for illuminating long kitchen islands or tables. For task lighting, consider lamps or sconces combined with a mirror. 

Bedroom Lighting

From reading to relaxing or getting dressed, the bedroom is your sanctuary in the home and it needs ambient overhead lighting. It often takes the form of a ceiling fan with a light kit, such as one from Casablanca fans, or a pendant, a semi-flush mount or chandelier.

Task lighting, such as bedside table lamps, is also common (especially for reading). Wall lamps that swing or are adjustable can better direct lighting for your needs while sconces can provide accent lighting for certain areas of the room. 

Kids’ Room and Nursery

While nurseries and kids’ rooms serve similar functions, they have different lighting needs. The nursery needs enough lighting so that you can see your baby’s face while enabling you to feed and change them and put them down for a nap or bedtime. Dome-shaped ceiling pendants are common, as they give a soft, ambient light. A dimmable light can help at naptime or bedtime. Drum pendants with shades help ensure the light is not harsh. Table lamps can help with task lighting, especially at night. 

Meanwhile, a kids’ room is more likely to have novelty pendants, such as a light with a sports theme. Mini chandeliers are not uncommon in girls’ rooms. Task lighting is also highly important, with wall sconces providing accent lighting, adjustable wall lamps providing directed lighting and table lamps on nightstands for bedtime. Using ceiling fans like Minka Aire fans with light kits not only light up the room with ambient light, but also provide a breeze or circulate warm air, making it a versatile fixture in the room. 

Outdoor Lighting

Lighting the exterior of your home, particularly a backyard or patio, can transform the space. While lighting aids in safety by deterring burglars and helping people get around safely, it also makes the space usable for dinner parties or enjoying the evening air. You can also have task lighting for a path, garden, pool or art such as statues. 

There are a wide variety of lighting options you can use outdoors, including wall lights, hanging lights, string lights and ceiling fans with light kits. While you can use exposed bulbs, many prefer frosted, seeded or wavy glass to mask the bulb, which also creates a glow instead of direct light.

Security lighting, such as flood lights, should only be used for safety and not to light an area that will be used for entertaining. Landscape lighting is far more subtle and suitable for complementing outdoor lighting fixtures when entertaining. Wall and post lights are perfect for lighting the front door and garage door while mounted lighting illuminates decks and patios. 

About LightsOnline

With more than a decade of experience, LightsOnline has been making lighting dreams come true through its friendly customer support, expert guidance and a wide selection of ceiling fans and lights. Its premium lighting solutions come in a variety of styles to fit in every room of your home. No matter your interior design scheme, you will find something to complement or contrast, mixing and matching styles to create statement fixtures. LightsOnline proudly carries some of the best brands in the industry, including Savoy House fans and Minka Aire fans. If you are looking to update a ceiling fan or add a new fixture to a room, look no further than LightsOnline. 

Shop LightsOnline for a wide collection of lights and ceiling fans for your spaces at www.lightsonline.com