What is Ambient Lighting and How to Use it at Home

Ambient lighting, task lighting, and accent lighting are the lights that every room should install. In order to ensure your room is multifunctional, ambient lighting is essential because it provides overall illumination. 

What is Ambient Lighting

Ambient lighting, also called general lighting, is the light that can light up a whole room and set the tone. Compared with task lights and accent lights, ambient lights are the most important for many people. 

Some general ambient lights in different forms:

• Chandeliers
• Ceiling lights, swag lights
• Wall fixtures
• Floor lamps, table lamps

At present, ambient lighting covers more types of lights because many LED lights are smarter so that a single light can serve multiple purposes.  In other words, light can work as ambient light, task light, or accent light, which depends on how you use it. 

How to Use Ambient Lights

When you search ambient lighting to find some indoor and outdoor ambient lighting ideas on Google, you will get many impressive images with colorful light or warm light.

Ambient Indoor Lighting

The living room is the center of a house and should be equipped with lights that cover all your activities. Making sure that the lights in the room are properly lit for relaxing, reading, watching TVs, gathering with family, exercising, and other activities that take place in this area.

A well-lit living room always comes with different ambient lights, including chandeliers, ceiling lights, floor lamps, and table lamps. Sometimes, people decorate the room with LED strip lights by sticking them on walls to add atmosphere. And they install TV backlights behind their TVs to get an immersive viewing experience.

For bedrooms, arranging lights properly will help you fall asleep better. The red light has a helping effect on sleeping. Thus, you need a smart light like Ecolor moon lamp to allow you to change the color temperature or light color according to your needs.

Ambient Outdoor Lighting

Outdoor lighting beautifies our houses at night while also plays a role as a safety guardian. If you have a garden or backyard, waterproof ambient lights are necessary for illuminating the space. Here are some types of outdoor ambient lighting:

• Pathway lights
• String lights for trees or patio
• Pool lights
  
• Neon strip lights
• Wall lights
• Step lights
  

Hanging LED lights and wall lights are great options for adding outdoor ambient lighting. Pathway light is the lights needed to be installed for security and convenience. Add fairy string lights and other decorative ambient lights that can make your yard looks more appealing and inviting.

Task Lighting and Accent Lighting

Task lights illuminate for specific purposes, instead of providing basic lighting for a whole room. Of course, some lights both belong to task lights and ambient lights.

The main purpose of task lighting is to light for a task and help you concentrate on the task like reading and working. In this condition, task lights should be bright and suitable for your eyes.

Desk light is the most common task lighting. It can be used for studying, reading, working, and other tasks that require bright light. 

Accent lighting is more like decorative lighting. It is used to highlight a specific place, object, or get a special lighting effect. Track lights and spotlights are general accent lighting. 

After knowing the differences between ambient lighting, task lighting, and accent lighting, you should know how to choose lights according to the room’s function.