Lighting a house - ideas please

[phatboy]

There is very mixed feeling on here on whether downlighters are great or the work of the devil.

They will feature in my new house in some places, but I am looking for ideas for 'nice' alternatives (A standard pendant, or a fluorescent tube are not 'nice' in my view)

I'm sure there are some good options out there, but would appreciate some recommendations, or things to steer clear of.

Rooms to be lit are:-
Hallway
Bathroom
Bedrooms
Kitchen
Living Room

Thanks
Tim

 

[Taylortwocities]

A standard pendant, or a fluorescent tube are not 'nice' in my view

What do YOU mean by nice?

Choice of lighting, types, styles, etc are a personal choice.
One man's Pyramids of Egypt are another man's Guggenheim Museum.

Does my room look nice with this? An impossible question!

 

[DaveHerns]

Just fit whatever your wife tells you to

 

[winston1]

Rooms to be lit are:-
Hallway. Small LED ceiling panel.
Bathroom. Spot above the shower and wash basin.,
Bedrooms. Bedside lights plus a dimmable central light.
Kitchen. LED ceiling panels plus under cupboard LED strips.
Living Room. Candles.

Thanks
Tim

 

[AndyPRK]

personally I like uplighters in Living Rooms

 

[ericmark]

The lighting of any room is complex. So think it is as simple of looking up size of room seeing how many lumen is required and fit lamps with that output. However colour in the room and direction of light from the lamp plus spread of light leaving the lamp are all important.

At my bed head I have two LED GU10 spot lamps 50mm diameter which can be pivoted. Aim these at the white ceiling or at the bed and light in room changes amount depending on covers fitted to the bed. From that I realise having 6 x 5W LED pods shining up at the ceiling will give a completely different light as same bulbs facing down from the ceiling.

LED lamps are a problem as unlike the MR16 they replace the angle of light can be gradual 35 ~ 25° marked on my spots means the light spreads over 35° but most is within the first 25° in the main for a ceiling lamp we want the spread of light to be more like 140° so unless using a huge quantity or they are aimed at white surfaces then the spot light is rather hope less at lighting a room.

Placing a reflector behind or a defusing lens in front of the lamp will spread the light. In the main the LED bulb has a cover to defuse the light and also many fitting have these. The single folded fluorescent or folded in the shape of a D works very well giving light in all directions. The multi-folded compact fluorescent is not as good distributing the light without some reflector behind it. Have a fitting when the bulb connection it at top and compare with one with connection at bottom and the same bulbs will give a different result in the main reflecting light off the ceiling works well.

As to down lighters the size of the lamp makes a huge difference I have a 12 inch unit which is really good but 2 inch units are in the main useless. LED has transformed lights you can now get surface mounted lamps which look like down lighters.

So kitchen the 2D lamps work well with some counter top lights to remove shadows, in a living room up-lighters work well with some table or standard lamps to read with, bedroom GU10 pods wall mounted at bed head allow reading in bed and using without disturbing partner, GU10 pods on ceiling can light wardrobes, but also some general light either side of bed never understood why a bedroom will have a single lamp because the bed is centre to room it will always need two ceiling lamps.

 

[phatboy]

Rooms to be lit are:-
Hallway. Small LED ceiling panel.
Bathroom. Spot above the shower and wash basin.,
Bedrooms. Bedside lights plus a dimmable central light.
Kitchen. LED ceiling panels plus under cupboard LED strips.
Living Room. Candles.

Thanks
Tim

Thanks Winston, some good ideas there!

 

[phatboy]

personally I like uplighters in Living Rooms

Yes me too, the only issue being any ceiling imperfections become very obvious

 

[ban-all-sheds]

There is very mixed feeling on here on whether downlighters are great or the work of the devil.

'tis true that not everyone realises that they are the latter. Or maybe they do, but they are dæmons

(A standard pendant, or a fluorescent tube are not 'nice' in my view)

Fair enough, although if you have the ceiling height there are some nice modern lampshades around and hanging lights around - you might need to google non-electric lights/lighting (I kid you not), and you see that type of lighting used increasingly these days. But another truth is that if all you look at is DIY sheds then pretty much everything which is not a recessed downlight is horrible. Remember of course that their buyers scour the world for the cheapest products they can find, and generally there is a good correlation between cheap and nasty.

I'm sure there are some good options out there, but would appreciate some recommendations, or things to steer clear of.

Rooms to be lit are...

Large recessed lights (LED or CFL, round, square, oblong) are ideal for places where you just want plain unobtrusive lighting, e.g. hallways, kitchen, bathroom etc.

Other rooms, beauty is in the eye of etc, but do cast your eyes on lights sold by specialist shops and internet sites - you might be surprised.

Uplighters/wall washers can be useful in bedrooms and living rooms, as an adjunct to ceiling lights, as can table lamps and floor-standing ones. If you put in circuits using 5A sockets you can control those with wall switches. It's nice to have wall lights in the bathroom too, if anybody likes to have a relaxing soak.

Think if you could use cold cathode neons:



here's an example of that in a domestic kitchen showing that it isn't only suitable for nightclubs and hotel foyers:

Untitled

• slup
• 31 Jan 2009
• 16

(Ignore the fact that there are also recessed torches in there )

 

[333rocky333]

Would have thought most of the above pics could also be done with Led nowadays rather than cold cathode.

Jcc have just brought out some nicer led fittings to replace the old fleurescent batten fittings

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Would have thought most of the above pics could also be done with Led nowadays rather than cold cathode.

Probably.

EDIT:

And with LEDs you could vary the colour to your heart's content, or until your SO hides the controls, whichever comes first.

 

[phatboy]

Thanks for all the constructive feedback, there are some good ideas there. Will definitely explore the LED panel option and the large 'spots' - I have suggested the latter in the past, mostly just because they can be fitted into converted loft without breaching the insulation.

I have a good opportunity here to 'do it right first time', so I intend to!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Would have thought most of the above pics could also be done with Led nowadays rather than cold cathode.

Probably.

But is it odd to think "ooh - that would be interesting" when considering installing lighting which uses, near-as-damnit, 1000V?

 

[333rocky333]

I quess poor old Neon lighting, like pyro cable will become a rare sight now