Track & Accent Lighting
What is accent lighting exactly?
Let’s start with what track and accent lighting is not. It’s not meant to be the major or only source of illumination in a particular space.
Most often, accent lighting is used as an accent to give your home or business aesthetic character. You can use it to highlight important objects, such as a painting or vase, or other focal points around your home, business or landscape.
If it’s your business, maybe you want to emphasize your tagline, and accomplishment, or business name.
Or it could be something in your landscape that you want to show off, such as your address sketched on a beautiful rock.
Accent lighting also helps create a particular ambiance and can be a key factor in setting a mood.
What are some types of accent lighting?
The more common types of accent lighting include:
- Track lighting: Track lighting is where fixtures are installed along a track and can be aimed in any direction, making it a good option for flexibility.
- Recessed lighting: This type of lighting is less apparent as it blends into it surroundings. You can find recessed lighting installed in pockets in the ceiling or under cabinets.
- Wall-mounted lighting: Wall-mounted lights are self-explanatory as they attached directly to a wall, including the floor/ground and the ceiling.
For the lighting of accent lighting, LEDs have taken over as the most popular choice. But they’re not always the most practical. Apart from LEDs, you can also get halogen lights, fiber optics, or metal halides.
In a possible scenario of where LEDs wouldn’t be a great fit is if you had an outdoor light that was almost horizontal looking up. With our snowy Winnipeg winters, LEDs might not produce enough heat to melt the snow that gathers on top of the light. This is where halogen would be the better fit.
Fiber optics are a good fit for pathways or walkways, even stairs. They’re also optimal for water features, such as a pond, hot tub, or pool.
Metal halides are best in smaller, tighter areas. They project a soft, subtle light.
Halogen often emit a strong, white light, but they can also be a bit on the yellow side.
LED lights are often the light of choice because they can emit a range of white lights, while lasting the longest of all the lights and being the most energy efficient.
Other types of accent lighting include backlights and submersible accent lighting. Backlits can give an object depth as it could create a shadow or silhouette. This is when a backlight is placed behind an object and aimed upwards (assuming it’s on the ground).
Spotlighting is an accent lighting technique where the light is aimed directly at the object. This done when you really want to focus on or emphasize something important.
Moonlighting is where you want to imitate the natural light the moon gives off. The lights are placed in higher-up areas, such as the ceiling or a tree, and aimed downwards.
Benefits of track lighting
Track lighting is great for illuminating specific areas or spots in the room you’re in. For example, in a kitchen, you could have the stove illuminated, an the prep area, whereas these normally wouldn’t get much light from a centralized light fixture.
Looking for a contemporary look for you home? Track lighting is great for new homes or to spruce up an existing space. They are versatile in that you can get different track lengths and sizing, placing them literally anywhere.
The light fixtures on the track can be aimed where you need light. For example, you can aim extra fixtures at your kitchen prep area if you know you have a big meal coming up with lots of prep time. Or maybe you’re decorating your child’s birthday cake and need to see the smallest of details.
Get your free track and accent lighting quote
Get John Doerksen Electrical, your trusted Winnipeg electrician, to install your track or accent lighting professionally and with a workmanship warranty.