Three Layers of Lighting: Essential for Your Home

Ambient, task & accent lighting illuminate your life.

Awell-lit space does something for the soul. Crisp overhead lighting, pinpointed task lighting and soft accent lighting help you live, work and relax with ease. Plus, the balance of natural and artificial light in a space is a significant part of every design we create.

If you’re curious about why your space absolutely needs three layers of lighting to be considered well-designed, today is your day. Keep reading.

AMBIENT
Ambient lighting is that always needed but rarely admired lighting. Recessed lights and track lights are utilitarian. When they aren’t in use, you don’t notice them. When you do need them and they are absent, you are likely to feel just as we do, immediately frustrated with flashbacks to the Stone Age. (Should we light a candle? Why is it so dark in here?) Less utilitarian ambient lighting sources include chandeliers and similar ceiling fixtures.

TASK
Task lighting is also utilitarian and can, too, make a statement versus simply fading into the background. Pendants, vanity lights, desk lamps and floor lamps fall into this category. Task lighting is meant to illuminate specific micro-spaces such as a desk or dining table rather than an entire room.

ACCENT
Always the star of the show, accent lighting highlights certain features of a space. On the exterior of a home, it creates a soft glow around the soffits, giving your home that airy, fairytale vibe or lining a walkway or driveway with elegance. On the interior of your home, it provides subtle statements through under-cabinet, interior-cabinet or toe-kick lighting, artwork spotlights, interior soffits, alcove illumination, wall sconces and more.

Pro Tip
Because humans were meant to be within nature and not removed from it, lighting trends continue to gravitate toward natural materials, textures and shapes with an emphasis on maximizing sunlight through the use of sheer window treatments and mirrors.

Before becoming an interior designer, Kathleen Jennison worked as certified public accountant for a national firm. A near-fatal car accident changed her career path and life forever. She suffered serious brain injuries, and her doctors suggested she take art classes to help with her rehabilitation. With her newfound love for design, she studied at the Art Institute in Sacramento, obtaining her bachelor’s degree in interior design. She is a member of the American Society of Interior Designers and has served as the director of marketing for the National Association of Remodelers for the Greater Sacramento area. In 2009, she started KTJ Design Company.
404 N. Harrison | Stockton, CA 95203 | 209.915.0442 | kathleen@kathleenjennison.com