Picking the right lighting for your home should be fun and interesting, but you will need to consider different types of home lighting for different rooms and areas of the house. Good lighting can make a home’s design and conversely, bad lighting will break it – meaning that lighting should be considered as carefully as decorating designs and furniture. Good lighting schemes will help your house to flow and feel welcoming and warming.

In a hallway, for example, the first impression of your home is conveyed. Here you can opt for bold decorative lighting to create a warm atmosphere, such as a chandelier or pendant. However, keep a careful eye on proportions and ensure fixtures are high enough for safety. On stairs, staircase spot or tracker lights can look very attractive and help light steps usefully whilst providing a touch of glamour.

In the living area, different lighting is usually required. Wall sconces, ceiling fixtures and interior lamps combine overall illumination with task-based lighting and reading lamps are useful for providing light in smaller areas. Experiment with large and small lights in different arrangements and combinations, based around areas where the family reads, talks, watches television or carries out other activities.

For the dining table, the table needs lighting well and a chandelier or pendant can do this effectively and create either a formal, entertaining, or cosy family atmosphere. Pick lighting that reflects your style and tastes. Recessed wall lights can also provide good atmosphere light whilst making the room appear larger.

With kitchens, your lighting should match the layout and design of the room. Task based under cabinet lighting is useful for highlighting work spaces. Tracker lights or recessed halogen lights provide very bright, clear lighting that is useful in a working space. For a kitchen / diner, it works well to have lighting that can be controlled by dimmer switches, also allowing for one to be set independently of the other. A pendant can work well over an eating area, to create a soft pool of light and separate the area from the kitchen itself.

In the bathroom, use an electrician to install lights to the required safety standards and only use lighting suitable in wet environments. Halogen spotters are ideal and work well with the design decor of bathrooms, as do wall lights.

In bedrooms, the choice is all yours; decorative light strings are particularly favoured by teenagers and there are plenty of novelty lights that provide soft glows and attractive finishes. Adults can mix overhead lights for dressing with bedside reading lamps and other floor lighting, to create a soft and relaxing feel.

Ultimately, home lighting will be a mix of design, trial and error across the house, in an attempt to make room designs and layouts work according to the way in which the family uses the house and carries out activities in it. Don’t forget exterior lighting too, such as security spotter lights, solar lights to illuminate driveways and gardens and decorative fairy lights to create party atmospheres for outdoor entertaining.