ᐅ Lighting Planning in New Construction – How Did You Approach It?
Created on: 23 Mar 2018 11:33
A
AnnsterdamA
Annsterdam23 Mar 2018 11:33Hello everyone,
who can assist us with lighting planning?
How did you approach your lighting design? Did you decide on your own, or did you hire professionals for it?
Generally speaking, the question is whether everything should be planned to be as bright as possible, or if, for example, the living room doesn’t need to be that bright.
We have already come up with some ideas, but we are still lacking inspiration.
1. In the hallways and the main bathroom, we are considering installing surface-mounted spotlights.
Recessed spotlights are quite expensive and less flexible for changes later on.
What do you think about this approach?
2. Along the staircase, we also want to install spotlights, probably with motion sensors near the steps. I have also seen lights installed under the steps, which I find really stylish. What makes sense here in your opinion?
3. What do you think about wall lights / sconces? Where and how could they be used to be effective and not look outdated?
4. Do you have any ideas regarding indirect lighting? Maybe in the living room or the bathroom?
I think indirect lighting is very elegant, but unfortunately I’m lacking good ideas here as well.
I have so many more points about lighting, but it’s probably not useful to write everything in one text block. Therefore, I would appreciate your help with these first points.
Best regards,
Anne
who can assist us with lighting planning?
How did you approach your lighting design? Did you decide on your own, or did you hire professionals for it?
Generally speaking, the question is whether everything should be planned to be as bright as possible, or if, for example, the living room doesn’t need to be that bright.
We have already come up with some ideas, but we are still lacking inspiration.
1. In the hallways and the main bathroom, we are considering installing surface-mounted spotlights.
Recessed spotlights are quite expensive and less flexible for changes later on.
What do you think about this approach?
2. Along the staircase, we also want to install spotlights, probably with motion sensors near the steps. I have also seen lights installed under the steps, which I find really stylish. What makes sense here in your opinion?
3. What do you think about wall lights / sconces? Where and how could they be used to be effective and not look outdated?
4. Do you have any ideas regarding indirect lighting? Maybe in the living room or the bathroom?
I think indirect lighting is very elegant, but unfortunately I’m lacking good ideas here as well.
I have so many more points about lighting, but it’s probably not useful to write everything in one text block. Therefore, I would appreciate your help with these first points.
Best regards,
Anne
R
readytorumble23 Mar 2018 20:27Hi,
we planned and installed everything ourselves.
Recessed spotlights throughout the entire house.
The number and brightness (3 or 5 watt LEDs) were chosen based on what we thought was necessary. However, these can be easily and relatively inexpensively adjusted later on.
We first marked everything on paper in the floor plans. On the ground floor, we implemented it exactly as planned since the boxes for the spotlights were already embedded in the in-situ concrete ceiling.
We made some minor changes on the upper floor.
In the living room, we can fully illuminate the space with spotlights, but we usually only do this when cleaning. Otherwise, we have three wall lights in the living room that emit indirect light.
For planning the spotlights, we looked at the room size and then considered how many spots were needed. We left about 70–100 cm (28–39 inches) of space from each wall (a bit more where cabinets would be placed) and kept 100–140 cm (39–55 inches) between each spotlight.
In the kitchen, it’s important to pay attention to the location of the countertop to avoid casting shadows on yourself.
Planning the switches was more challenging—deciding which circuits should be controlled from where, etc.
Additionally, we installed indirect lighting in the guest bathroom and kitchen. In these areas, parts of the ceiling (for example, above the kitchen island) were dropped, and indirect lighting was installed using LED strips.
Basically, you should do what you like. To gather ideas, we visited model homes and, especially, new houses of friends and acquaintances months or even years before starting our own planning.
we planned and installed everything ourselves.
Recessed spotlights throughout the entire house.
The number and brightness (3 or 5 watt LEDs) were chosen based on what we thought was necessary. However, these can be easily and relatively inexpensively adjusted later on.
We first marked everything on paper in the floor plans. On the ground floor, we implemented it exactly as planned since the boxes for the spotlights were already embedded in the in-situ concrete ceiling.
We made some minor changes on the upper floor.
In the living room, we can fully illuminate the space with spotlights, but we usually only do this when cleaning. Otherwise, we have three wall lights in the living room that emit indirect light.
For planning the spotlights, we looked at the room size and then considered how many spots were needed. We left about 70–100 cm (28–39 inches) of space from each wall (a bit more where cabinets would be placed) and kept 100–140 cm (39–55 inches) between each spotlight.
In the kitchen, it’s important to pay attention to the location of the countertop to avoid casting shadows on yourself.
Planning the switches was more challenging—deciding which circuits should be controlled from where, etc.
Additionally, we installed indirect lighting in the guest bathroom and kitchen. In these areas, parts of the ceiling (for example, above the kitchen island) were dropped, and indirect lighting was installed using LED strips.
Basically, you should do what you like. To gather ideas, we visited model homes and, especially, new houses of friends and acquaintances months or even years before starting our own planning.
We consulted a lighting specialist.
He recommended installing standard ceiling light outlets in the center of each room and focusing on accent lighting with floor and table lamps instead.
His principle is to have seven light sources in a larger room.
We followed this advice and I don’t regret it at all.
We also used small string lights for indirect lighting.
Recessed spotlights are permanent fixtures...
...and I now find their design quite outdated and worn out.
From one light outlet, I can also run a pendant swing or something similar somewhere else.
He recommended installing standard ceiling light outlets in the center of each room and focusing on accent lighting with floor and table lamps instead.
His principle is to have seven light sources in a larger room.
We followed this advice and I don’t regret it at all.
We also used small string lights for indirect lighting.
Recessed spotlights are permanent fixtures...
...and I now find their design quite outdated and worn out.
From one light outlet, I can also run a pendant swing or something similar somewhere else.
We have spotlights in the hallways and the bathroom.
I would have also liked some foot lighting by the stairs or integrated into the railing – but in the end, that was too expensive for us. A pity.
My husband doesn’t like wall lamps – his reason: they are too inflexible. Well, I think you don’t have to be flexible everywhere.
So we just have ceiling outlets everywhere – and plenty of power sockets to use various floor or table lamps for ambient lighting.
And I wouldn’t spend money on an external professional either. I think it’s only worth it if you’re willing to invest a decent amount to actually follow their recommendations.
But lighting is tricky anyway. Most lamps I like are way too expensive – I’m not paying over 400€ (about $440) for bent metal on the ceiling...
I would have also liked some foot lighting by the stairs or integrated into the railing – but in the end, that was too expensive for us. A pity.
My husband doesn’t like wall lamps – his reason: they are too inflexible. Well, I think you don’t have to be flexible everywhere.
So we just have ceiling outlets everywhere – and plenty of power sockets to use various floor or table lamps for ambient lighting.
And I wouldn’t spend money on an external professional either. I think it’s only worth it if you’re willing to invest a decent amount to actually follow their recommendations.
But lighting is tricky anyway. Most lamps I like are way too expensive – I’m not paying over 400€ (about $440) for bent metal on the ceiling...
H
hemali200323 Mar 2018 22:37readytorumble schrieb:
But we usually only use it for cleaning. You really have to pay attention to that – unfortunately, we didn’t. So cleaning has to be done during the day.
We also planned everything ourselves – usually 2 ceiling outlets per room. Overall, we are satisfied. We kept it simple and affordable but invested a lot of time and thought into the planning.
H
hemali200323 Mar 2018 22:45One more addition: In hindsight, we should have at least briefly reviewed our plan with the electrician. If they had contributed a bit of experience, it probably would have been perfect. But as it is, everything is fine.
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