Downlighter positioning

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Now I have finished decorating the open plan lounge and installed a couple of downlighters under the stairs area (hooray, I can see this keyboard at night now :D ) She Who Must Be Obeyed has decided she would like downlights all round the living area as oppossed to the central rose :evil: .
Does anyone know of a decent website/ have experience of the best positioning (over seating etc.) for them. I don't want to be cutting my lovely smoothed and painted ceiling all over the shop although I can think of a good place to put the hole cutter !!! :D
TIA
 
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Think its a case of...where you like.......

Draw a few lines on your ceiling a see what you like...star shapes, rugby ball shapes....these are few that I have seen.....whatever design you do, recessed lights on a dimmer set the mood anyhows...
 
Watch out for the joists...it can be a long and painful process if you can't guestimate the positions of the joists. Practice by playing 'pin the tail on the donkey' :D
 
you could always cut out a large sheet of mdf mount the lights in that and then fix it to the ceiling, i have seen it done and it is painted different to the ceiling and it looked nice (well i thought so)
 
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spark said:
Watch out for the joists...it can be a long and painful process if you can't guestimate the positions of the joists. Practice by playing 'pin the tail on the donkey' :D
Luckily, upstairs are stripped boards so no carpets to shift
 
il78 said:
Draw a few lines on your ceiling a see what you like...star shapes, rugby ball shapes....these are few that I have seen.....whatever design you do, recessed lights on a dimmer set the mood anyhows...
Methinks you're as bad as her indoors, I've just made the ceiling b****y perfick !!! :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:
 
Do what i'm doing then...put the recessed lights in shelves on the wall and in the entertainment units etc....so in a way there recessed uplighters...I dont like ceiling lights hanging down....oh yes..and brass electrical accessories...so 90's :LOL:

Then you can keep your perfect ceiling and admire it when you wish ;)
 
Lighting is like music, it has high, medium and low tones. Down lights that are badly placed can make people sitting below them feel like their getting the 3rd degree, or put another way being interrogated, of course that may be the desired effect :LOL: .

It's a good idea to try and use portable lighting to see what it will look like before you install it, a table lamp with a decent shade on it can sometimes give a reasonable facsimile of a down light. Personally I find down lights used to either create a 'wall wash' or to illuminate a feature the best use of them.

In my house I use 3 basic forms of lighting, hooligan, florescent and standard incandescent bulbs. Florescent lights set behind a pelmit can be very effective for lighting alcoves and curtains. I use table lamps with eco bulbs to give me my low tone lighting and downlights for both high and middle tones. The middle tone to the room is effected by using the down lights as wall washers, this means arranging the light to reflect off the wall, this causes the wall colour and the light colours to mix giving the room a warm and pleasant background. High tones are used to put light on an objects or features I want to display. There is one other form of lighting that you may want to consider, that functional lighting which usually refers to reading light and such, these are often standard lamps or dedicated reading lights.

Dimmers have there use, but unless the lights are placed to give the best effect in the first place dimmers can often look as though there's something wrong with the light. If you correctly place your lights, and have sufficient numbers of circuits, dimmers become unnecessary. There are no dimmers in my home, yet I'm able to create something in excess of 18 different moods and scenes. I do however have eleven lights on 6 different circuits in my open plan living room.

Like music, lighting tends to be subjective, a matter of taste, however like quality we all know when it's been done well. My suggestion would be to use portable lights first to get the light where you really want it and that gives the best effect.
 
Thanks loftus, think you've hit the nail on the head so to speak. I've finally got my stereo speakers in the best place/angle for the room and t.v. system set up. I'll prat about with old table lamp fittings until I'm convinced, move them a bit and it should be perfect !! ;)
 

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