The lighting in a room isn’t just part of the decor; it can affect everything from your sleep schedule to your brain power . So it’s understandable that you want your home, the place you presumably spend a big chunk of your life, to be lit nicely. But there are so many different options to choose from!

Certain types of lighting serve a specific purpose, and when it comes to your home, you want the right type, depending on the purpose of your room. To optimize your home’s lighting, first consider how you’re using each room.

Generally, lighting function falls in one of three categories: ambient, task, and accent.

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To properly light your rooms using these techniques, consider how you’re going to use each room and whether there’s anything you want to accent in the room. Then, start layering. HGTV recommends you start with ambient lighting, then consider task and accent lighting:

“I like to move from general to specific when planning the lighting for a room,” says lighting designer Markus Earley of Providence, R.I. With rooms that are heavily task-oriented, however, such as home offices, some designers focus on task lighting first. And in a hallway that doubles as a photo or art gallery, accent lighting might be the first consideration.

Then think about where that lighting will go in the room. Don’t worry about the fixtures yet, just think about where you want different lighting to fall in the room. If you’re not sure where to start, consider these general, room-by-room suggestions:

Of course, if you’re a renter, you may not be able to do much about some of the lighting position in your home or apartment. But these general guidelines can give you an idea of how to work with what you’ve got.

Your bulb is your light source, so the type of bulb determines what the light will look like. Different bulbs perform differently, and there are four basic types:

There are other types of bulbs, but these are the most common you’ll use in your home. And for the purpose of this post, we’re only concerned with how bulbs look. If you want to learn more about how they work, check out this helpful post from the American Lighting Association . The FTC now requires bulb packaging to include information about brightness, how long the bulb will last, how much energy it uses, and whether it meets Energy Star requirements. (Here’s a sample label from the NRDC .)

When discussing appearance, we’re concerned with brightness—which is measured in lumens; and light appearance—which is measured in Kelvins.

The more lumens, the brighter the bulb. A typical home bulb produces about 800 lumens, which is the equivalent of 60 watts. So how many lumens do you need for each room? That’ll depend on how big your room is, what color your walls are, and, obviously, intensity of lighting you prefer. Use this calculator to come up with a specific number, based on your home and preferences. But here’s a general breakdown, via HouseLogic :

Keep in mind, these are rough estimates and account for the use of different types of bulbs and lighting options in each room. Kitchens are typically brighter and include a mix of ambient light and task lighting, for example. Bedrooms and living rooms are typically less bright.

If you know how to light your room in terms of watts, here’s a wattage-to-lumens cheat sheet .

Beyond brightness, you also want to consider the color temperature of the light. CFLs weren’t great years ago, because they mostly only produced a very blue, cool light. But they’ve come a long way, and you can now find them in warmer, yellower tones. The package should tell you the color temperature of the light, from warm to cool, measured in Kelvins. The higher the Kelvins, the cooler the light. Lighting blog Batteries + Bulbs explains how bulb boxes typically refer to different bulb temperatures. The also add where these temperatures are best used in your home:

You can also try this interactive tool from Energy Star, which suggests what kind of bulb to get for different lighting options in every room.

It helps to have a basic idea of how bulbs work. This way, you can pick and choose a bulb to your liking. Also, dimmers are a great option if you want to vary the intensity of your lighting. We’ve covered how to install a dimmer switch yourself .

Now that you know the function of your lighting, how bright you want it, and what temperature you prefer, it’s time to pick the best type of fixture for optimizing all of those factors. Here are some common fixtures, along with how (and where) they’re typically used:

The Lighting Research Center offers detail about some additional light fixtures, including how to install them and what sort of lighting effect they have. Remember: different fixtures call for different types of bulbs. So as you’re picking a fixture, consider what type of bulb it requires.

This is more of a design rule than a lighting rule, but when picking the right fixture, you also want to consider size. A fixture that’s too small or too big can make your room’s proportions look odd. LightsOnline lists some guidelines for choosing the right size fixture, but here are some highlights:

For some, home design comes naturally, and it’s easy enough to eyeball your lighting when decorating. For the rest of us, it can take following a few rules and guidelines, and these should get you started in the right direction.

This story was originally published in June 2015 and was updated on November 2020 to include updated links and a new header photo. Updated March 15, 2021 to reflect current style guidelines.