The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that the average American household spends between 5% to 10% of its budget on lighting. Both interior and exterior lighting is essential for maintaining a comfortable home, and it can have some surprising benefits when it comes to interior and exterior design.

If you are currently unsatisfied with the lighting inside and outside of your home, here is what you need to know about the benefits you could receive by giving it an upgrade.

1. Indoor Lighting and Color

Interior lighting can play a huge part in color management as it relates to the design of your home. The illumination of a space can make a room feel larger and more open or smaller and cozier, depending on what you prefer. Lighting can also help certain colors pop more, which can be a great help to accent pieces that you might be using in your design. For instance, incorporating well placed directional lighting can soften wall colors, highlighting a focal piece or specific area or object you wish to show off. However, employing the right type of lighting fixture is essential for making this work, and as such, you should speak with experts at lighting stores in your area to see what options they have for this specific purpose.

2. Complementing Your Furniture

Heavy dark pieces of furniture can bog down a room and make it feel enclosed or cramped. To mitigate this, bright ceiling fixtures can be employed to help open up the space. A chandelier in particular can help ensure that light is evenly distributed throughout the room by allowing more light to be cast all around. If you’re working with lighter colored furniture, directional lighting such as track lighting can also be used to help further open up the space and highlight pieces that you want to stand out. Check out your local lighting stores to learn more about the different types of fixtures they have for this purpose.

3. Ambient Lighting

Lighting stores often have many options for amplifying the ambient light in your home. Also called general lighting it should radiant at a comfortable level to bring enough light to illuminate a room comfortably and without glare. A central lighting piece is essential for this and it can be used as a foundation upon which you can tailor your other lighting solutions around.

4. Accent Lights

Accent lights can add a sense of drama to a room and create additional visual interest. Usually provided by wall mounted lights, these pieces can serve to create an accurate atmosphere centered around how you typically use a room, as well as where you wish the focus to be.

Lighting stores often have many different types of fixtures to help you achieve any of these design goals. While figuring out the best solution can be tough on your own, fortunately, there will always be professionals on hand to help advise you in the right direction.

5. Outdoor Lighting

Outdoor lighting is another important facet to consider, whether or not you spend a lot of time outside. While well placed outdoor lights can allow you to enjoy your patio at night, other lights can help increase safety by both illuminating pathways and warding away potential intruders. Motion-activated lights, in particular, are great to have by garages and doorways to ensure that you have light when you need it and ill-intentioned visitors don’t get the benefit of a dark night to try and gain entrance into your home.

Improve Your Lighting Today

If you’re unsatisfied with the current lighting in your house, don’t wait any longer to improve your home. Whether you just want to add additional ambient lighting or you want to completely overhaul your space, you can speak with a Premier Lighting expert to help shed light on the best solutions for your home.