Where to Place Lighting When Remodeling Your Home

Vibes are all that anyone is talking about when it comes to modern home decor. Now, not to be cliché but lighting is everything when the conversation turns to vibes and figuring where and how to light a space is crucial when you’re remodeling. When light shopping always has a tape measure, measurements of the ceiling height, fixture colors, and hardware samples if you’re doing your kitchen/bathroom. This blog will tell you several tips on how to keep your home lit.

Height

When hanging lights in your home there are a few things that you should be paying attention to. One being is the fixture you’re shopping for an adjustable one or not. Most hanging lights are adjustable in the hanging height but some are not and it’s important to know exactly how low you want your light while shopping. As a rule of thumb, the bottom of a light should hang about 12 to 20 inches below a standard 8-foot ceiling. For each additional foot of ceiling height, add 3 inches.

Anchoring a Table

Many times when lights are hung especially in a dining room or kitchen, they’re being placed in consideration of the tables, islands, counters, etc. This is a very classic way to make lighting look and feel natural and also useful as it’s obviously going to illuminate the surface. When placing a light over a surface like that 28-32 inches is the most appropriate height but it totally depends on the size of the light that you’re hanging. Smaller lights can be hung lower and larger ones can be higher depending on the look you’re going for. Use this recommendation as just that, a recommendation.

Cordage

There are so many ways now to deal with excess cords while hanging lights. Like we mentioned earlier with the height of the light, the cord presents a slight problem if you’re hanging a light in a place where it wasn’t previously as you may need to open a wall and reroute your electric system. This can be avoided by playing with the cords. Either draping them or hanging the light from an exposed bar/pole/pipe it depends on the look you’re going for but just know that an exposed cord shouldn’t be a deterrent if you’re jonesing for a new fixture, think outside of the box!

Looking Up

We’ve mostly been talking about down lighting with pendant lights and chandeliers but up lighting is a great way to make use of wall space while usefully lighting a space. Don’t forget about these as accent to a room and adding a soft ambiance without the shadowing that can sometimes happen with harsh down lighting.

The Bulb

Knowing what you want your fixture to look like is one thing but how you want it to operate is another. The bulb makes a huge difference while the light is on, LED, halogen, and fluorescent bulbs all have varying tones of light and can make a big impact on the way the room is presented and can make paint look very different depending on the coloring. Consider this while installing lights and plan accordingly. Try a few different bulbs with lamps in the room you’re looking at to test each colorway!

Lighting the Way

Base lighting is becoming a huge trend now! Lighting on stairs and baseboard lighting through hallways is a great way to illuminate paths through your home. Stairs can be tricky at night so including them discreetly under the riser or on the side of a baseboard can help alleviate some otherwise hazardous areas of your home. This goes for under cabinets and near baseboards too. Discreet kitchen and bathroom lighting by lighting the underside of the upper and lower cabinets is a fun and unexpected way to light your space!

Have Fun with It

Add an unexpected color and shapes with your lighting! Including wall art as lighting is a fun way to dress up a space. As well as choosing a fun shade either for sconces or lamps to really bring a room together or to mix it up and add a fun pop of color or a cool texture. Don’t be afraid to mix it up or to step out and be bold, it’s just a lighting fixture!

Draw It Up

Making a lighting plan can really help you visualize it and when you’re explaining to professionals either buying the fixtures or when they’re installing the actual lighting can make sure you get exactly what you want. Take the time to really detail what you want the finished product being especially if you’re starting from scratch and putting electrical behind walls. You don’t want to be stuck with non-functioning light systems especially after putting in so much work! Plan accordingly!

Terms

Knowing some basic lighting terms may help when shopping. Ambient light is the light that is always present, or the general lighting in a room. Task lighting is what is used above prep space in a kitchen or above a desk, it lights for a specific job. Accent lighting is for displaying art or some sort of décor. Kelvin is a unit for how much color a light produces most bulbs will range between 2,500-6,500, 2,500 is the warmest looking color and 6,500 is the coolest. Wattage is how much electricity a bulb consumes and usually determines the lumens, the higher the wattage the brighter the bulb will be. Lumens is the bulbs actual brightness!

Basically lighting should never be an afterthought. This is going to be what illuminates every other aspect of your remodel. IT should be taken into consideration just as everything else does! Lighting is a huge component to how a home functions and what you can and can’t see when the sun goes down. Proper planning and making sure you’re doing your due diligence when lighting your place can ensure that you’re not only aesthetically pleasing with décor but that you’re adding value and making space useful and functional for the home.