Lighting plays a key role in interior design and is a major part of any electrical wiring project. Good lighting design has an elusive quality. When you walk into an effectively lighted room, your eyes sense that everything is readily visible, but you'll rarely remark, "What fantastic lighting!" Home lighting should be varied and dramatic. Fixtures should be connected to dimmer switches that can create different effects. The lighting should be flexible enough to illuminate many activities as well as be a focus of interest in itself.

An essential ingredient in lighting design is simple common sense. The best lighting designer is a problem-solver, determining where light is wanted and needed, and then putting it there with economy and flair. You can take the same approach using three main types of lighting: task lighting, accent lighting, and ambient or general lighting.

Task lighting illuminates a specific area where a highly visual activity like reading, sewing, or food preparation takes place. It's often achieved with individual fixtures that direct light onto a work surface. Accent lighting is similar to task lighting in that it consists largely of directional light. Primarily decorative, accent lighting is used to focus attention on artwork to highlight architectural features, and to set a mood. Ambient or general lighting fills in the undefined areas of a room with a soft level of light-- enough to watch television by or navigate safely through a room, Ambient lighting usually comes from indirect fixtures that provide a diffused spread of illumination.

The first step toward improving your lighting involves careful consideration of the design and layout of your rooms and the types of activities that take place in each one. If you're planning new lighting, you may want to draw a basic room plan that will help you determine where to place your fixtures and where you'll want new outlets or wall switches.

Once you have some ideas in mind you may want to contact a lighting consultant, either for advice of for a complete plan depending on your project and your budget. Architects and interior designers may also do lighting as a specialty. All types of consultants usually belong to the Illuminating Engineering Society. Light fixture stores and electrical supply houses dealing in lighting fixtures may have in-house consultants also.