Proper lighting for every area of your home

With all the choices of lighting available in stores, it can be difficult to decide exactly which ones you want for every area of your home. Luckily, here are helpful things you can remember while shopping to make the search easier.

Basic lighting is provided by a ceiling light. But halogen spotlights or fluorescent tubes installed under hanging cabinets can illuminate important working areas much better.

• Recessed downlights over the sink or stove can create good task lighting for cooking, baking or scouring pots and pans.
• Kitchen islands and breakfast bars can be effectively highlighted and lit with a series of pendant lights.
• A pendant over the kitchen table provides lighting for doing homework, paying bills or working on hobbies.

Choose a hanging lamp with a pleasant and glare-free light to install over the dining table. A dimmer switch that allows you to adjust light conditions is ideal: turn the light up for a family dinner, and low for romantic moments.

The living room is less about function and more about ambience — therefore tall torchère lamps can provide basic lighting. But torchères will reveal any bumps on the ceiling and walls, so place them carefully. Other things to think about:

• Indirect lighting — mounted, for example, under the sofa, in glass cabinets, or behind a curtain rod — can provide a pleasing lighting effect.
• Islands of light created by several small table lamps pointedly accentuate certain spaces.
• Coloured lights can create fun and funky effects, depending on the hues and positions.
• To relieve eyestrain, illuminate the wall behind the TV with a soft light source.

In many bathrooms these days, halogen lamps or fluorescent lights provide basic lighting. For a more focused illumination of the vanity area, you may choose to install additional lights that don't cause glare or shadows on both sides of the mirror.

A ceiling light that can be turned on and off at the door or from the bed generally provides the basic light source in a bedroom. However, it's also important to invest in a good reading lamp if you enjoy reading in bed.