The best lighting for your home: How to choose, layer, and install light fixtures

Lighting is often referred to as the “jewelry of the home.” We think it's so much more than that. Lamps, chandeliers, recessed lighting, and other fixtures should not be an afterthought. They illuminate your home, create mood and atmosphere, and allow you to do functional tasks like study or read. Practical and stylish, light fixtures are an integral part of your home’s design.

The question then becomes, how do I choose which lighting is best for my home? The truth is, every house needs multiple light fixtures. Each serves its own purpose and, together, they allow you to live better in your space. That’s why we created this quick and easy guide to lighting.

In this post we’ll cover:

  • What lighting options are available
  • How to install different light fixtures in your home
  • What easy-install lighting is
  • The difference between ambient lighting and task lighting
Your guide to types of light fixtures
A MoDRN sputnik chandelier in gold. Links to where to shop the best chandeliers.
What are chandeliers?
Chandeliers are one of the most common ceiling lights. They are used to add ambient lighting to rooms (we’ll discuss what this means a bit later in this post). Chandeliers are made up of branches which extend out from a chain, rod, or rope suspending the fixture from the ceiling. They are often more formal than pendant lights though modern interpretations have resulted in sleeker, more casual models.
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A pendant light with a brushed nickel rod and glass shade. Links to where to shop the best pendant lights.
What are pendant lights?
Like chandeliers, pendant lights are suspended from the ceiling. However, these fixtures can be used for both ambient lighting as well as task lighting. Rather than a series of branches extending from their centers, these fixtures usually feature a singular light source at their base.
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A white ceramic flush ceiling mount light fixture. Links to where to shop flush mount lighting.
What is a flush mount?
Flush mounts and semi-flush mounts are ceiling lights which are not suspended down toward your room. Instead, they sit flush against your ceiling or just an inch or two away from its surface. Flush mounts usually come in a dome shape while semi-flush mounts can be a bit more decorative. These fixtures are most often used for ambient lighting, though can also fill in for areas missed by accent lighting.
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A recessed light fixture. Links to where to shop recessed lighting.
What is recessed lighting?
Recessed lighting is lighting that’s installed inside a ceiling. This type of lighting consists of trim, housing, and a bulb. Housing is where the electrical connections of the fixture are located which is hidden in the chosen surface. The bulb is where the light will actually be coming from while the trim is a decorative part of recessed lighting—think shades, reflectors, or baffles.
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