Help with Kitchen & Living room Lighting Plans
Hello all!
So I seem to crop up in here seeking advice on an annual basis on how best to plan the layout for knocking through our kitchen... finally after about 4 years talk, we've agreed the action!
We've shaken things up a bit and instead of filling in doors, or knocking through, we're totally changing the layout - shifting the kitchen into what is currently the living room, the dining area into the living room, and a family room into the dining room. We have the kitchen agreed and I'm now just trying to work out our lighting plans for the room, as (in typically 1960's style) they have one central pendant per room!
I don't want to get this wrong, so I'd LOVE your advice!
Firstly, here is the layout of the new kitchen:
*The window wall on the right is west facing - great light in the afternoons.
*The sink corner we have been debating putting a sun pipe in too.
*We have a Philips Hue system so would like all our new kitchen lighting to be able to hook up to it.
At the moment, all I'm sure of is that I'd like 3 dimmable pendants over the dining table, plus some LED spots, and LED strips under our 'levitating' worktop and wall lockers. There will be a bulkhead over the hob for the extractor so I've noted a couple of LED's there, one (or 2) near the larders and one in the work area.
Secondly, if you go through the 'arch' in the top of the drawing above you come to the new lounge area (this is the family area - we have a more formal lounge elsewhere):
All I've decided I'd like in this area is mains LED lighting in the built in shelving we're having created in the partition wall on the right. I considered a pendant over the couch, but I have no idea! There will likely be some lighting within the TV wall. Again the window is west facing.
Can you guys help me move the lighting in these two rooms into the 21st Century? What lighting would you put and where? I genuinely have no idea where to start!
THANKS in advance. :)
Comments (7)
Fran H
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Need help with my open plan kitchen living room colour scheme
Comments (6)Hello there, Thanks for your reply, and you’re very welcome. I have found you some similar colours to the list you have provided below: Farrow Ball Skimming Stone Dulux Elderflower Tea Farrow Ball Worsted 284 Dulux Dusted Moss 1 Farrow Ball Elephants Breath Dulux Knotted Twine I hope these colour suggestions are helpful. Unfortantly I wasn’t able to find the colour Wattle II or Wattle III, so I can’t match a Dulux colour from our range I’m afraid. If you would like to double check the colour names, or send me a link to the colours, I would be more than happy to find you a similar colour for you. Hannah Dulux Design Expert www.designer.duluxamazingspace.co.uk...See MoreNeed help with designing kitchen/dining/living room open living plan
Comments (10)Thank you for your response. We had plans pretty finalised until we found out that we can keep just that long wall into the large space as it is a load-bearing. There is an opportunity to put a door in though. I am attaching what it looked like with all the walls that we can now remove. We have also been tinkering with ideas which I am adding as well. I added some comments on the plans as well. What we want to have is a dining area with a large table that seats 8-10 people. We want enough space for two people to work and cook in the kitchen. Thus, we were thinking of an island or an L-shape workspace coming out. We'd like to have a utility room to have space for all the cleaning utensils. Washer and Dryer will be upstairs in a separate laundry room. The living room is nothing formal but an area to relax and watch TV. We'd like to have an L-shaped cough in there for a family of four (2 kids under the age of 10)....See Moreneed help with planning an open plan kitchen/diner/living space
Comments (3)I meant that you had drawn a run of units that was 20’ long and you could likely get a great kitchen into a smaller space, leaving room for dining. Attaching a dining table to the island is a stylish look and often helps people with insufficient room. Personally though I would prefer the flexibility of a freestanding table that you can extend....See MoreBroken plan kitchen/diner and living room colour advice
Comments (2)Dear Fearn, I believe you are doing the right thing by opening up the dining room and living room. This will allow the double aspect to maximise on the natural daylight and give you more options to play with colour. I am a big fan of green and believe it has been very underestimated in the past, however it is coming back into fashion! Calke Green is beautiful, I believe it would work very well for a dining room, making it inviting and cosy. Do bear in mind though that colours come out darker once they are on the wall than originally anticipated. Before you make your final decision, I would try samples of the colour on each wall so you see the colour in different lights and throughout the day and evening. I would also try at least a couple of other colours such as Cooking Apple Green, Vert de Terre or Lichen. For the woodwork, it depends what effect you want to achieve, for instance if you want to close the room in to make it more cosy, I would paint it all the same colour, otherwise I find Wimborne White is always a winner and I use it a lot, it has a very warm creamy hue and is very versatile, it could be an alternative to Slipper Satin which could perhaps be a bit stark, however it is difficult to judge without being in the space. Good luck, Delphine...See MoreSkelpie 5
6 years agoJonathan
6 years agoI am with the other contributors and think that the flow of the kitchen is compromised by the peninsula and I am not sure that there is room for everything you are trying to include. I think that there are lots of ways this can be laid out and be sociable and cool and be easy to work in too. I think you need to visit an independent kitchen showroom for more inspiration and design advice.
As far as lighting goes I think that all of your ideas are about directly lighting a space which of course you need in the kitchen to work but I think that sometimes lighting a wall with an angled spot or shelf lighting, or spots in the floor to wash the wall is kinder to the eyes when you are trying to relax and in my opinion makes a room look more sophisticated.
PROBayswater Interiors
6 years agoAnother thought on layout is the attached - excuse the rough annotation to your diagram but I haven’t got time to do a proper drawing, and I just wanted to give you food for thought.
You could still incorporate a bar area and keep the larders if needed but you would have easier access to all elements when cooking.
Resh
6 years ago
PROOnePlan
6 years ago
Bayswater Interiors