Lighting

Lighting is an important part of interior design. It is even more important than design decoration and home accessories. The lighting conditions affect our well-being as well as our perception of room size.

When choosing the right lighting, many aspects should be considered: Color, space, sunlight availability, furniture etc. The combination of different elements and light sources can make the room fantastically homely. Besides, the lighting has a significant impact on our mood in our home.

The lighting should be well planned. A mix of three different types of lighting creates an ideal light atmosphere in the room:

• Ambient Lighting (General Lighting)
• Task Lighting
• Accent Lighting

Here is a brief overview of these three types of lighting with a few tips on how to conjure up your own light and give your apartment a unique character:

Ambient Lighting (General Lighting)

The purpose of ambient lighting is to provide a soft glow that blankets your space. We recommend using ceiling lights and recessed lights to create the right ambient light. Track lights also usually work well with all types of ceilings. You can place wall lighting (Wall Sconces and Wall Lights ) in various premises to create indirect ambient lighting. Modern dimmable lights offer different advantages to adjust the light intensity or brightness in your home (it is important to choose the right dimmer). You need the right light intensity depending on the day, the time of the year or the weather. Several lighting fixtures can be placed in the room, having the ability, if desired, to dim the light of some of them, while at the same time adjusting others to greater brightness.

Task Lighting

Task lighting is meant to aid your vision when you’re reading, cooking, applying make up, shaving, etc. Thus, it is increasing illuminance to better accomplish a specific activity. 

Stylish table lamps and floor lamps are ideal in living rooms and bedrooms.

Suspend one or more pendant lamps in the kitchen to illuminate the cooking and dining areas. Track lights are great for the same reason. Under cabinet and vanity lights can give some extra light.

In the bathroom, mostly wall lights are used. Pendants, which have gained increasing popularity in recent years, will also ensure a modern and stylish look in the bathroom.

Accent Lighting

Accent lighting is an important element in lighting design. It creates an additional visual effect and sets visual focal points in the room.

Accent lighting emphasizes certain objects of your room: Works of art (paintings, sculptures or other decorative objects), certain furniture, bookshelves. It creates visual contrasts and plays with shadows, so it is used for highlighting such objects as textured walls, arches, niches, columns, etc.

If you layer all three types of lighting in a room, you can achieve an optimal light atmosphere in your home. On the website www.select-interiorworld.com you will find the best lighting products in the range made by the world's top manufacturers.

How Light Affects Color

The color effect of artificial light must be taken into account when designing the lighting in different rooms.

Artificial lighting influences our visual perception of different surfaces in the room, such as walls, ceilings, niches, etc. It also affects the perceived room size.

Dark wall colors give the feeling that the room is less spacious than it actually is, while light colors appear airy and spacious. The illusion of spaciousness is determined by the light reflected from the wall surfaces. Please note that in full daylight, surface colors may look brighter. Of course, natural daylight is much better than artificial lighting.

In addition, the color affects our well-being and our mood, so that the spectral properties of the lights must be taken into consideration.

Artificial light changes with the type of bulb you use. The predominant bluish light in the spectrum is combined with cool colors in the interior, and yellor-umber light - with warm tones. Warm relaxing light (Warm Comfort Light) is suitable for the bedroom and the living room; warm white light (Warm White) - for a spacious living room, and is also the most popular choice for homes; neutral white light (Cool White) - for a bathroom, stairwell, hall, kitchen or study room; daylight lights (Cool Daylight) are best suited for the work area.