Ambient: General light that illuminates an entire room. Ambient fixtures can include: track lights, chandeliers, sconces, soffits and recessed downlights.

Accent: Directional lighting that is used to highlight a particular object, like artwork, or draw attention to a particular area, such as a bookshelf. Accent fixtures can include: sconces, track lights and under-cabinet lights.

Color Rendition Index (CRI): This measures how accurate colors appear with a particular light bulb, compared to natural sunlight, which is given the maximum CRI value of 100. The higher the number, the more accurate the CRI will be. A low CRI may cause some colors to take on completely different hues or appear washed out. Always choose lights with at least 80 CRI. A high CRI is good for task situations where a high contrast is needed, such as a reading light or one in a vanity.

Fixture: An electrical device that is used to create artificial light. Examples of fixtures are: pendants, lamps, chandeliers and sconces.

Foot-candle: Amount of light reaching a subject. Measures how bright the light is one foot away from the source. Higher numbers mean brighter lights. For example, when choosing light for high-intensity reading, for studying or for older adults, 50-100 foot-candles is recommended. For casual reading, 20-50 foot-candles should suffice.

Kelvin (K): This number indicates the color temperature of a light. Higher numbers yield cooler (blue-green) light appearances, great for aquariums and high-color definition, and lower numbers yield warmer (yellow-red) looks, which are great for accent lighting. The majority of consumer bulbs will be between 2,700K and 6,500K.

Task: This type of lighting focuses on a specific area to make the completion of visual tasks, such as reading or typing, easier. Task fixtures can include: pendants, valances and portable fixtures.


***Photo: iStockPhoto.com