What do you need to know about beautiful lighting? In her years as a designer, Rachel Kapner has seen light make and break spaces. She’s experienced rooms dim as dungeons and bright enough to be seen from space. And she’s even seen bulb choices so wrong they changed the paint. So with her experience in mind, here are nine essential pieces of advice to remember when it comes to lighting your home.
1. Don’t Lose Your Color in Search of Beautiful Lighting
“I’d just finished a project,” Kapner remembers. The homeowner had told Kapner that she wanted 5000 lumens. “That’s really, really bright,” warns Kapner. “2700 is kind of a nice, warm white.” And it turned out that the light wildly transformed the carefully chosen paint color. “The contractor changed the high hat,” she recalls. “It changed the whole color of the kitchen. So the client thought the paint was wrong. And I’m like, ‘No, it’s the lights.'” So remember to look at your paint under a light level comparable to the space where it will end up. And when possible, stick with the bulbs for which a fixture was designed. “I don’t even provide light bulbs anymore because it’s such a particular taste,” Kapner notes.
2. Create Layers of Illumination
Especially in spaces which are multi-function, one bright wash cabnot fit every corner or occasion. Distribute the task of lighting the space between more visible pieces (lamps, chandeliers) and more unobtrusive workhorses like recessed LEDs that light while staying out of sight. And please don’t mistake achieving well-distributed illumination with adding brute brightness. The former will offer you the flexibility you need; the latter will feel like an assault. While you’re distributing, don’t forget another essential beautiful lighting D: dimmers. They can transform a living room from playtime-bright to cocktail-hour-dusky or keep your bathroom ready for both heavy duty grooming and relaxing spa mode.
3. Group Thoughtfully
Some novel lighting placement can feel fresh, fabulous and original. But similar ideas—less thoughtfully executed—can make space channel the Mad Hatter’s tea party in the worst way. So how do you walk that fine line? Set some cardinal rules for how you group lights that come in multiples. For example, keep sconces at the same level, situating art and other decorative pieces to accentuate the same line. However an arrangement of pendants can be a more ideal place to mix things up. Try grouping them at varying levels or choose contrasting designs.
4. LED the Way to Beautiful Lighting
Today’s light-emitting diodes—LEDs for short—may seem like Jetsons level futurism. But, much like the Jetsons, they’re actually pretty old. They have been in development since the 1920s, with the first visible one developed in 1962 (which is the year the Jetsons debuted on TV).
By the turn of the 21st century white LEDs were becoming more widely available for commercial use. Today they are the leading source of lighting. Now versatile enough for almost any task, LEDs are also the environmentally kind choice—using 75% less energy and lasting 25 times longer than traditional bulbs. “It is a whole new world out there,” says Kapner, “transforming from what we call ‘Old World light bulbs’ to the new LEDs.”
5. Don’t Wait to Light Too Late
It can be easy to make the mistake of considering lighting late. You might think: I won’t know where the lights go until I place the furniture. Or you could say: I’ll wait until after the hardware and fixtures are installed in the kitchen to see how they sparkle. Unfortunately, that can be way too late. At the end of the project, you are more likely to be stretching the budget and cutting corners. When it comes to lighting, this negatively impacts even the most carefully considered design.
Instead, think about lighting at the very beginning of a project—much as you would the architecture of a space. Ask how lighting can create divisions between the function-driven areas of an open concept. Use beautiful lighting to lead eyes to a favorite artwork or guide foot traffic. And remember that equipping space with adjustable, functional light from the start offers greater freedom when considering fun pieces like pendants and chandeliers later on.
6. Get the Low Down
Especially if you live in a home with high ceilings (or you share one with any tall individuals), hanging beautiful lighting fixtures way up high can be tempting. And while this is away to ensure folks are looking up, it’s not necessarily the best way for them to enjoy your chosen light.
First of all, you may lose illumination when you hang a piece of lighting too far from other surfaces that can reflect and amplify it. Secondly, beautiful fixtures can include fine details that are lost when viewed from too far away. Third, you might not need as much clearance as you think—you can hang a chandelier as low as 30 inches above a dining table for an intimate effect that still won’t endanger anyone’s scalp.
7. Have Fun with Filament
Edison bulbs have an undeniable charm. For those accustomed to the uniform frosted surfaces of traditional bulbs, Edison-style bulbs—with their signature curlicues of filament—have a kind of magic. It’s like being able to look at a human body part and see within it the strand of firing neurons that command it. On the plus side, LED technology is advanced enough to create a passable facsimile of the old-fashioned marvel. “If you want to have ones that have filaments versus ones that are frosted, it can look like an Edison ‘Old World bulb’ but be an LED and not give off as much heat,” says Kapner.
However, Kapner also notes that—in an effort to make these bulbs seem authentic, manufacturers can tint them too enthusiastically. “I went into a space where everything was with the LED filament in it,” recalls Kapner. “It was almost amber—very yellow.” So go ahead and live your 1800s fantasy; just be aware how it may affect other colors in your space. “Those things certainly have to be addressed and thought about when you’re putting everything together because it can certainly impact the overall field.”
8. Play Goldilocks
Thanks to smartphone apps, it’s never been easier to measure light properly in degrees Kelvin. But what does that translate to in terms of color and functionality? Well, less than 2000K would definitely be considered dim, about the level of illumination you’d get from a candle. 2000K to 3000K is still a softer light, warm with hints of yellow. Stand up straight for 3100K to 4500K—a realm of bright white light. 4600K to 6500K offers an even brighter, blue-white light; daylight clocks in here at approximately 5200K. And above 6500K gets you a bright bluish light; think less “bright like a sunny day” and more “bright like inside a nuclear reactor.”
In terms of goals, aim to keep spaces like bedrooms and living rooms, where some degree of relaxation is often desirable, on the warmer side of 3000K. Move into the cooler 3000K to 4000K range in spaces like bathrooms and kitchens, where he brightness can help with detail-oriented tasks and hygiene. In most home decorating, you won’t want to exceed 4000K unless you’re specifically lighting workspace like a garage.
9. Know What To Do If the Unexpected Happens to Your Beautiful Lighting
Technological progress has given designers and homeowners infinitely more options than “on” or “off.” Integrating lighting controls into a smart home plan mean that you can program combinations of beautiful lighting customized for specific tasks or the personal tastes of specific users. These lights can also function in concert with other smart appliances. What’s the best part of waking up when the lights, shades, coffeemaker and sound system are all working together to welcome you into the day?
That said, an occurrence as common as an internet outage or power failure can leave the smartest appliances seeming dumb as rocks. If your smartphone is your primary way of accessing the system, have a backup method at the ready in case your main device becomes lost or damaged. Be mindful of where the hard controls are to reboot your system (or power it on and off) should it become unresponsive. And make sure you’re capable of performing at least basic troubleshooting before installing any piece of smart technology in your home. Being prepared is often the smartest look of all.
If at First You Don’t Succeed, Keep Lighting
As is the case with so many aspects of design, you can follow all the best advice and still find the results don’t quite add up for you. Don’t lose hope. Experiment with balance by adjusting the levels of your dimmers. Consider adding discreet, functional lighting to help out in a space that’s still just a little too dim. Take what you learn from addressing a trouble spot and apply it to other rooms in the home. And if at any point you feel a little out of your comfort zone, remember what advice columnist and so-called “World’s Smartest Human” Cecil Adams said: “If you aren’t trying anything new, you also aren’t really learning anything new.”
While you’re thinking about what you’ll do if the power goes out, consider other dangers of technology in design.
Need someone to bounce beautiful lighting ideas off? Call CWI design services.
