Waterloo Electrical Services: 3 Best Lighting Options For Your Living Room

The living room is a place where many varied activities take place, especially if your house is relatively small and you don’t have many other multipurpose rooms in your home. Because your living room serves so many different purposes, one type of lighting may not be enough. If you are thinking that you would like to call an electrician in Waterloo to have your living room lighting revised or another type added, here are some options to consider. Remember, one option may not be enough, and you may want to have several options for living room lighting.

1. Task Lighting

Task lighting is more or less what it sounds like: It is a type of lighting that illuminates a small portion of the room for performing a specific task. For example, your living room might have a desk or table that you use for paying bills. If so, you may have a desk lamp or a table lamp sitting on it to illuminate that specific task. You may have a specific corner by the window where you like to curl up in a chair and read. When the sun goes down, the window no longer provides enough light to read by, so you may have a reading lamp to provide the necessary illumination. While task lighting adds to the ambient light in the room, it is focused on a specific area. It also tends to be a little bit brighter to be sure it provides adequate illumination for whatever you want to do.

2. Accent Lighting

Accent lighting adds to the overall illumination of a room by providing a soft glow in a localized area. The point of accent lighting is not to be functional but primarily to be decorative. It is intended to draw attention to a specific feature of the room.

If you have ever been to an art gallery or a museum, you have probably seen accent lighting in a non-domestic setting. Display areas usually have accent lights shining on works of art so that you can fully see them and appreciate them. The same kind of lighting can work in your own home. If you have works of art or collectible memorabilia in your living room, you can use accent lighting to draw attention to it.

When you think of accent lighting, you may think of an overhead spotlight shining down from the ceiling. However, there are other kinds of accent lights available. For example, can or uplights are positioned in or near the floor and shine upwards. You may be more familiar with this type of lighting for outdoor art installations, but it can also work in your living room as well. There are also accent lamps that are just as much works of art as they are illumination as they may have ornate decorative shades or novelty value.

3. Ambient Lighting

Ambient lighting raises the overall illumination level throughout the room by diffusing the background light. Most living rooms have an ambient light fixture in the room at baseline, while it is usually left up to the owners to provide whatever task lighting or accent lighting they see fit.

In a living room, ambient lighting is usually provided by an overhead fixture of some sort. In more traditional homes, this may be a pendant light or a chandelier, while a more modern home may be more likely to have recessed lighting or fixtures that are flush with the ceiling. Some living rooms have a combined light fixture or ceiling fan, while others may have only wall sconces. While ambient lighting raised the illumination level of the entire room, it may not provide sufficient light for specific tasks.

Add To Your Living Room Lighting With Help From a Handyman Connection Electrician in Waterloo

In addition to installation, we also perform electrical repair services if you are experiencing problems with your lighting. Learn how you can benefit from working with one of our electrical experts.

*All electrical work is subcontracted to ECRA/ESA Licensed Electrical Contractors