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In recent posts we’ve been discussing the importance of various layers to your overall lighting. So far we’ve covered ambient lighting, decorative lighting, and task lighting. In this post we’ll talk about accent lighting and how to best approach adding accents to your space.

As we’ve discussed, it’s often hard to nail down exactly what kind of light fits into each category as, for example, decorative lights can be a component in ambient lighting. Similarly accent light can fall into the ambient and decorative categories too. To simplify things a bit, accent lighting is any light that calls special attention to an object or architectural feature. For a quick visual reference, museums are famous for accent lighting. Spotlights illuminating individual works of art on a wall is the classic example of accent lighting.

If decorative lighting often puts form above function and ambient lighting is more concerned with function rather than form, accent lighting mixes elements of both. A decorative fixture could provide accent lighting for a given object, artwork, piece of furniture, or architectural element. But in other cases, such as under-shelf or under-cabinet lighting the light source itself is hidden from view, making the object highlighted by that source stand out even more.

It’s common to think about accent lighting in fairly narrow terms of a track light illuminating a painting or a light in a soffit grazing a wall. However accent lighting can be something as simple as a desk lamp carefully placed to illuminate a knickknack or plant. It could also be used as functional lighting to light stairs or even as outdoor lighting to highlight plants and other landscape design elements. PAR series bulbs are an excellent choice for uplighting facades or other landscaping.

Much like wall grazing a building’s facade, wall sconces can be used indoors to create a similar effect. Scones have the added benefit of being visible themselves whereas outdoor accent features used for facade grazing are often not the focal point. This puts sconces in all three categories. They are decorative in and of themselves, they provide accent lighting to complement other lights in the room, but they can also be used as the main source of lighting if you prefer diffuse ambient light that doesn’t come from overhead.

It’s often helpful to think of accent lighting in terms of the following techniques: backlighting, display lighting, uplighting, highlighting, wall washing, and wall grazing. In a future article we’ll tackle each of these elements in more detail. In general it’s good to keep the following in mind when it comes to accent lighting: it’s best used to highlight artwork, enhance architecture, and light the outdoors.

A couple of common types of lighting used to highlight artworks are track lights and recessed cans, although there are many different types of fixtures available on the market. When using accent lighting with artwork, make sure to use the right type of bulb; one with the wrong temperature can destroy its beauty. More than that, if you’re still using incandescents (and if so, why?!) you can be doing additional damage to the artwork by exposing it to harmful UV rays. It’s worth noting that SunLake’s LED bulbs produce no UV light and won’t damage your prized possessions.

Accent lighting is also commonly used to enhance architectural features inside the home. For example, you can place recessed cans in little nooks, such as above window seats or in reading nooks. Highlight your kitchen cabinets with above-cabinet lighting. Fireplaces, arches, nooks, built-in cabinets can all be enhanced with the proper lighting applications.

This versatile lighting can also be utilized to light up your outdoor living area: pathways, water features, facades, etc. The beauty of outdoor lighting is that you can take advantage of natural light with solar lighting fixtures. Brighten the backyard so your guests can see one another once it starts to get dark. Light up the pool or another water feature to give it interest and dimension. Place small solar lights along the walkway so nobody trips and hurts themselves while walking in the dark. Hang string lights with SunLake’s vintage style LED filament bulbs to add a touch of classic design to any outdoor space.

The applications for accent lighting are endless. The most important part is to layer these pieces together to create the perfect overall lighting scheme for your home, business, event space, or outdoor venue.

Wall washing, grazing, spotlighting, and landscape highlights

Lamps, sconces, string lights, pendants

Cove, soffit, and valence lighting