Lighting position - driving myself mad

4 years ago

Hi all

I'm trying to layout the lights in my house and am struggling to get it to work properly - if I get them lined up in one place, then they're out of line somewhere else. It's driving me mad.

The lights in the kitchen are fixed and can't move. Hope the below floorplan makes sense.

I have lined up the lights at the top of the Living Room with the lights above the table so that if you look through from the the Living Room they're in a straight line. The trouble is the light is off centre from where the TV is in the Lounge. To centre that would move the lights too close together, unless I move the lights above the sofa closer to the window - but then they're not in line with the kitchen anymore.

Am I driving myself mad for nothing - does it matter if the light isn't centred with the TV wall? Does it matter if the lights aren't inline across the two rooms?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks

Featured Answer

Ellie

4 years ago

Do you really need all those lights? My kitchen is about same size as yours and I have 2 island lights, 1 Sputnik over dining table and 3 wall lights, nothing else. More than enough

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Comments (10)

PRO
Mabel Fox Design
4 years ago
Hi Martin, lighting plans can drive you a bit mad can't they? I have had a look at your proposed plan and I think that keeping the row of ceiling lights in the lounge and kitchen in line is a good idea. I have a few questions for you too; are the lounge ceiling lights on dimmer switch? If not, there are quite a few of them, it could be very bright in there, which is great if you would like it nice and bright in the lounge in the evening but sometimes you might want the lights a bit lower. So my next question here would be do you have lamps for mood/task lighting in there to soften the light when required? It looks as though you have but I just wanted to double check.

In the kitchen, will you be having under cabinet lighting under the wall cabinets on the sink run? These are super important task lights for working in this area so pop some in there if you haven't already. With these in place, you might not need all the ceiling spots you have put in place in the kitchen, but again, this is totally up to you, if you like things nice and bright then go for it. I am glad you have included some directional lighting over the breakfast bar and dining table, they will look fab and give the room extra character. If you have any other questions I will be happy to help.
Martin Lawrence thanked Mabel Fox Design
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Martin Lawrence
Original Author
4 years ago
Hi Mabel, thanks for your reply. To answer your questions: Yes, the lounge lights will be on dimmers, otherwise you're right, it will be like sitting in a floodlit football pitch at night. We haven't really put any other lamps in the room, not really sure where they should go/haven't got any surfaces to put them.

Yes, the kitchen will have 3 spots under those sink wall units. The builders had problems with where the joists and beams were in the kitchen ceiling so thought it would look best to have the lights centred to the wall units (1 in front of the fridge, 1 in front of each of the units on the sink run, and 1 in front of the middle oven). It looks a bit uneven, but at least there's some logic to it.

Do you think it's a problem having the light over the tv in the lounge not central to the wall/tv?
Sarah U-S
4 years ago
Hi - something unrelated to the lighting... is the kitchen in yet? I’m a little worried about your fridge being at the end with the dining table. It might be better at the opposite end because when you have guests, you will end up having to squeeze past them constantly. I think it will become frustrating quite quickly!
Juliet Docherty
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
It may not be possible at the moment, but I would enlist the services of a lighting consultant. I have a real dislike of LED's, I don't like the light they give off, in fact I would say it's down right depressing. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the Kelvin number (which is how yellow white or blue they appear) but rather the quality of light which may be to do with CRI (colour rendering index). A few weeks ago we visited a lighting consultant who demonstrated lots of different types of lighting to us and then came out to our house. He brought some really good LED spots and plugged them in to demonstrate the light quality, totally different to the bog standard LED's we got from our electrician. He also explained how to light areas to draw attention to particular features or artwork and said the worst thing you can ever do is place lights in a grid or line, they must be placed strategically for maximum effect. At the end of it all I realised that I know very little about lighting but will definitely invest in some quality lights that are mood enhancers.
E D
4 years ago
True, colourhappy, judging LEDs by their K value doesn’t tell you enough about the kind of light. Although I would still look for a higher (‘warmer’) number because so called ‘daylight’ LEDs with a K lower than 2500 or so are definitely too ‘white’ for me.

I’ve tried quite a few different LED bulbs and some have a horrible green-ish tinge about them.

We have several spotlights with GU10 bulbs and the ones we were most happy with colour wise were from Wickes (warm white).

In our dimmable dining table pendants we went for Philips ones (also warm white). Quite expensive but giving off sufficient amounts of light (high Lumen) with a pleasant ‘colour’.
Juliet Docherty
4 years ago
E D I told him that I loved the old dichroic bulbs which seemed a bit pink to me. I think you get what you pay for and we are all a bit behind when it comes to decent lighting. He held a really good LED over a big screen print in our hall and it glowed. I now realise that my knowledge of lighting is as limited as someone buying a gallon of magnolia paint and wondering what the fuss is. Warm white definitely but I think most look very green and unpleasant, high CRI it is. He mentioned the John Cullen Lighting sells decent spots.
Daisy England
4 years ago
Get the electrician who will be installing the lights to work something out for you and to offer advise. That’s what we did and were pleased.
Katie Duke
4 years ago
Don't go mad trying to get everything symmetrical - it's not about how it looks and relates to each other on the ceiling, it's about the matching the quality and purpose of each light to the activity that will be happening in that part of the room. There's some tips here
https://www.madaboutthehouse.com/printable-download-a-lighting-checklist/
PRO
Mabel Fox Design
4 years ago
Hi Martin, I thought I had posted a response yesterday but it isn’t here so clearly I didn’t hit Post!
So I don’t think you need to worry about the light positions on the tv wall, they are fine. I am really glad you are having a dimmer for the lounge, can I suggest you have a dimmer for the kitchen too? You will want to have that option available to you from time to time.
I agree with the other guys here, you could lose a couple of the ceiling spots in the kitchen as you have more than enough going on in here with the task and directional lighting you have chosen.
I understand you have beams you need to work round but I am sure the electrician can spread them in a decent arrangement with fewer of them.
In the lounge I would definitely work say a floor lamp and a couple of table lamps in somewhere, to enhance the ambience and give you some reading light etc. Ceiling light only is a bit limited in it’s ability to light close up for you, and a bit harsh.
I hope this helps, I would definitely have a look at the link Katie Duke has sent from Mad About The House, she really knows her stuff! Best wishes, Katie at Mabel

Lighting position - driving myself mad

Ellie

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