View Full Version : Overhead lighting tips?
The wife and I are buying our first house and my task for home decor is the lighting, so I'm calling on my genius crew here for your expertise. I'm thinking of putting in some recessed lights in the ceiling, as it will light the room more evenly and naturally than floor and table lamps and not have something for future kids and pets to knock over. Track lighting won't do because that's obtrusive and another surface for dust and other stuff to accumulate on, and it's not the look I'm going for. I'm wanting a clean, elegant, modern look. Anyone here have tips on doing ceiling lights? I'm guessing I'll need an electrician to wire them properly. What else? Brands that are good or bad?
I have all recessed can lights in my main living spaces. They are excellent, but they would be a bitch to install in a finished ceiling. I did mine during a massive remodel.
citizensoldier16
06-13-13, 13:42
If you have an attic and can access the backside of the ceiling in order to run wiring it should be easy. If not...it'll be very tough (and expensive) and best left to a professional.
Stick with the major manufacturer if you want quality recessed cans. Lithonia, Lightolier and Capri are to name a few. Their residential grade fixtures are sold at Home Depot and Lowe's. Major electrical distributors in your city can order commercial grade fixtures. For most homes, stick with the 6" or smaller diameter cans as they look better for residential ceiling height. PAR lamps last longer and provide better light distribution than A type lamps.
Use Lutron or Leviton slide dimmer switches to control the lights.
Having done what you're about to undertake, I'm in agreement with Sam. You almost can't have enough lighting and you can always put dimmers on it. Watch out if you lamp it with florescent since IIRC it requires a different type of dimmer. And don't scrimp on dimmers. There are good ones and then there are crap ones. Avoid the crap ones.
Ease of installation would be dependent on location. If you have an empty attic above the living room install will be very easy, however if you have another occupied space above with finished floors it will be very difficult and as a result more expensive.
If the space above is empty, I believe that the average home owner with basic knowledge would be able to do most of the work himself, leaving only the final panel and lighting controls for an electrician. If you have a bedroom or other occupied space above, I would imagine that would be out of the realm for most do it yourself-ers.
Most jurisdictions will require a permit if you are messing with the panel, but the electrician can do that as part of his service.
I would strongly suggest you reconsider track lighting. There are some really elegant solutions, not just the cheap Home Depot junk. You would only need one J-Box in the ceiling per 4 or 5 lamps depending on the Wattage of each lamp.
I have low voltage track lighting from Bruck Lighting (Made in the USA ;) company is based in Cali.) they are not cheap! I was able to get a HUGE discount because I am an Architect but even if you can't get them on a discount, they are excellent quality. They have several systems which are really nice looking and contemporary.
Oh, and just a small pet peeve of mine, saying you would like them to look "Modern" is not what you mean, unless you mean the styles from the early 1900's to about 1960. That is the period refereed to s "Modern." I think you mean "Contemporary" Just something that drives me nuts when I hear it on HGTV when every person on House Hunters says they want a "modern kitchen" I doubt they want a kitchen from 1929 lol, they want Contemporary or possibly Post-Modern. Just something that sticks out to me. Sorry.
Stick with the major manufacturer if you want quality recessed cans. Lithonia, Lightolier and Capri are to name a few. Their residential grade fixtures are sold at Home Depot and Lowe's. Major electrical distributors in your city can order commercial grade fixtures. For most homes, stick with the 6" or smaller diameter cans as they look better for residential ceiling height. PAR lamps last longer and provide better light distribution than A type lamps.
Use Lutron or Leviton slide dimmer switches to control the lights.
Lightonier is the industry standard, but is not cheap. The housing, and trim could run $200/fixture. Especially if you select fixtures with built in ballasts for CFLs. Cooper is essentially the same company with a cheaper residential grade product line, they can be found in HD and Lowes as Sam said. These will run about $40 per light, and you would have to use CFLs with integrated ballasts.
Additional, if you do have an attic space above the living room and your install is cake, make sure you buy insulated housings so that you don't set the batt insulation, which I assume is resting on the clg. gypsum wall board between the joists, on fire.
Having done what you're about to undertake, I'm in agreement with Sam. You almost can't have enough lighting and you can always put dimmers on it. Watch out if you lamp it with florescent since IIRC it requires a different type of dimmer. And don't scrimp on dimmers. There are good ones and then there are crap ones. Avoid the crap ones.
The dimmer is not what is different, it is the ballast... I think. I don't spec dimmers in the commercial projects and I have not done a residence since 2007, so it could have changed. This would mean that if you have an integrated ballast in the CFL the lamp has to be dimmer compatible. Like I said, unless things changes.
Get LED lights. They will be more expensive but you should never have to replace them and they don't use much energy.
Here is a good picture of a kitchen... Notice the under counter lights. Bing "cove light rail"
http://st.houzz.com/simgs/07f1182f0fe0b404_15-6212/traditional-kitchen.jpg
You can see some layouts here too.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=recessed+lighting+layout&qs=IM&form=QBIR&pq=recessed+lighting&sc=8-17&sp=2&sk=IM1
You really need a good plan... it's not cheap and if you do it wrong you will still need additional light.
Also you can't really get away with ceiling lighting placed in the crown molding on low ceilings but it looks great if you have the height.
If you have a high quality lighting shop they would probably help you plan it. It's a real art form done right because you have to pick the location, purpose and temperature of the light color.
Also unless you are in a contemporary home, you will probably want some non recessed lighting or the overall feel of home will seem unusual. There is a lot of nice lighting out there though that you don't find in Home Depot or Lowes.
Lighting can impact your home probably more than decor and layout because it enhances both.
Here is an example of a rather dark powder room. But the lighting changes the whole feel and look. The mounting is sparse and reflective. The lights light up both sides of your face and there is a central light. In addition all that is controlled with additional switching and I'm pretty sure there was some other light in that room but I don't have a picture now.
https://www.m4carbine.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=17045&stc=1&d=1371158415
The dimmer is not what is different, ...
Agree, I don't think the dimmer is the issue. I know I have the same type dimmers for every light in my home and I have a variety of lights although I am transitioning to LED only.
tb-av has a lot of good points. The layout is critical to eliminate hot spots. Lightolier will actually fun calculations for our commercial projects and give us a drawing with a grid layout showing food candle outputs. This may be overkill, but I am sure lighting stores can do something similar.
With recessed lights picking the right baffle is critical as well to eliminate glare on TV screens and so on.
Picking the lamp temp is the last step but it influences the feel of the home A LOT. Get one that is too cold and people and paint look dead, get one too warm and you will look like you have jaundice lol.
Yeah, it's really not something to take lightly. ( no pun ).
Here is a picture of cool lighting. The kitchen above is warm, lower kelvin number.
https://www.m4carbine.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=17046&stc=1&d=1371166786
I can tell you, that room has a very definite "feel" to it. If it were not for that big dark table that room would be even cooler(temp) feeling.
The lighting really will change the way you "feel" not just what you see.
With reference to compact fluorescent can lights, you can dim them. You will need an electronic dimming ballast and an electronic fluorescent dimmer switch. Incandescent dimmers will NOT work with fluorescent lamp.
Awesome guys! Would it help if I post pics of the couple of rooms I'll be working on?
I'm not familiar with this but for $100 you can get a book and software to help you design everything.
http://lightcalc.com/lightcalc/lightcalc.html
If you look around you can probably find something free or at the library.
I'm not familiar with this but for $100 you can get a book and software to help you design everything.
http://lightcalc.com/lightcalc/lightcalc.html
If you look around you can probably find something free or at the library.
honestly, without visual modeling you can do it for free by hand. All you need is the IAS file from the manufacturer. It will show you the fall off pattern of each fixture. Determine the amount of light you need at the service and this will tell you the spacing of the lights and should eliminate most hot spots and dark areas.
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