If you're remodeling your room or expanding a house, you should understand that lighting has a huge significance for the whole design of your living space. In this way it is better to think about the new lighting scheme, as well as places where you will need electrical sockets. Most people simply work with lighting fixtures which they already have, but if you spend some time and use a bit of planning, you'll have an opportunity to create an individual lighting design that will perfectly match all your requirements and in the end make your life much more comfortable.

The lighting you need depends on what you are doing. To give a party you'll need one type of lighting, the other for cooking or doing some home work, and for having a rest - yet another. Some places in a house may be used for completely different purposes, that is the reason why you may need lighting diversity in one area.

Read about the main types of lighting that may become the best solution in the areas where multiple people use lighting for different purposes. Click or tap pictures to enlarge them. Feel free to share pictures on Pinterest, Facebook, Google+, Twitter.

general lighting

1. First let's pay attention to general lighting that lights the whole room as you flip the switch. Normally pendant lights or ceiling downlights are used for this purpose.

task lighting

2. After deciding on general lighting, think about task lighting. It creates one more lighting level in a room. Task lighting is used for everyday activities that need additional illumination, such as reading, having conversations and other things like that. Table and floor lamps are the most popular choice for this type of lighting.

accent lighting

3. To accomplish the interior design, you will usually need an accent lighting. It is commonly used to draw attention to some important things or places in your interior, to backlight the inside of cabinets or shelves, to lighten some artworks, pictures, paintings, photographs or statues, to highlight plants. If you are going to place some things of that kind into your room, you'll definitely need an accent lighting

Develop a plan

To start with, draw a plan of your room on a piece of graph paper. It is necessary to figure out the areas that are the best to install the lights. Also you may use some 3D modeling applications available online, either free or paid. Usually paid apps have more advanced options which are best for professionals but may confuse the ordinary user. We'll make a review of such apps in our other articles, and now let's return to making a plan of perfect interior lighting.

• Mark the interior features that cannot be moved like windows, doors, some niches, or fireplace if you have one.
• Flag all the existing electrical outlets. There is insufficient amount of sockets in most of houses and apartments. This lack of outlets is very unsafe as overloaded plugs may cause shortcut circuit.
• Mark a direction where people will be facing in the room. Draw the arrows towards the windows (if someone loves reading), TV set, a table for work, etc.
• Flag the areas where the furniture will be placed. Mark sofas, couches, beds, cabinets, tables, chairs, closets, etc.
• Be logical while determining where to locate the light switches. Look at the entry and exit points of your apartments and try to make the access to the switches as convenient as possible, or else you'll end up groping around for the switch in the dark each day.

Beware of making your plan too complicated. You can use a single light for several tasks by angling the beam in different directions. The less re-wiring you have to do, the better. Take this lighting plan with you when you go shopping for fixtures and fittings.

However, try not to get carried away with planning and oversaturate your plan with excessive details. Usually it is possible to use a single light for several tasks by simply pointing the light in varied directions. Try to do as less re-wiring as possible. Use this plan of lighting while picking out lighting fixtures and fittings.