LIGHTING LAYOUTS & FIXTURE SELECTIONS
Lighting has a huge effect on how a space feels. Done without care, it can make an otherwise wonderful room feel uncomfortable. We aim to help our clients understand the fundamentals behind interior lighting to create the right ambiance in each space, as well as the specifics of light fixture and bulb selections.
LIGHTING LAYOUTS
Light has enormous power in our lives. We are drawn to it. In nature it is the source of warmth and sight. Indoors it serves the same purpose at a more intimate scale. As explained in the book A Pattern Language, ”252: Pools of Light”, the problem with most modern lighting layouts is that aims for uniform illumination. As the authors write, such uniform light “destroys the social nature of space, and makes people feel disoriented and unbounded.” In residential architecture this misguided approach is typically accomplished with a field of pot lights across the ceiling, which creates glare and prevents any meaningful ambience.
The proper strategy for good lighting is to highlight the important places with it: over a dining table, next to a comfortable arm chair, on the nightstand, or over the bathroom mirror. This will create a hierarchy of lighter and darker spaces in each room, giving focus to the important spaces, making them comfortable and enjoyable. Lamps, pendants, and wall sconces are the light fixtures that will achieve this goal best (often collectively called “decorative light fixtures”).
Also important is finding the right level of light, which varies greatly by mood and time of day. Thankfully dimmers make adjustments easy. Use one at every fixture, except those that are truly utilitarian or won’t/cannot be dimmed. They cost a little more (you can even get a smart version), but it’s worth the flexibility. And since a lot of good lighting depends on lamps, consider having some of your outlets half-switched so that one of the plugs is connected to a light switch. Alternatively there are plug add-on products that allow you to control lamps by phone or smart home device, even smart bulbs that perform in the same way.
FIXTURES
There are a few key things to keep in mind when selecting your decorative light fixtures. Shades (or glass globes) are important because they reduce glare and help diffuse the light, which makes things easier on the eyes and shadows less stark. Beware of fixtures without them—that Edison bulb might look cool and industrial, but the quality of light may disappoint. The shade will also determine which way the light is cast. Usually you’ll want some light to come through the shade itself, so be careful of opaque ones.
One of the trickiest parts of picking a light fixture is determining if it is physically sized well for the space. Photos online often make it very hard to tell. Always take out a measuring tape and get a sense of the fixture yourself, preferably in the space where it will be installed.
As part of your vetting, favour light fixtures without integrated lamps, that is, pick ones where you screw in your own bulb. This gives you ultimate flexibility to experiment with varying levels of brightness and colour temperature, as well as control for proper colour rendering.
Sometimes when shopping for light fixtures, you guess wrong. For that reason we recommend that our clients shop from stores that allow full cash returns. Home supply and furniture stores usually have forgiving terms. Lighting specialty stores are typically credit only, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth looking at, especially if there are many fixtures there to your taste.
ALL ABOUT BULBS
In the ancient days of incandescent bulbs, things were a lot simpler. There was one colour temperature, the colour rendering was as good as daylight, and brightness was easily understood as a function of common wattages on offer. Now in the era of LED, you must be more careful when making a purchase. Here is a primer:
COLOUR TEMPERATURE: bulbs essentially create light on a spectrum of amber to bluish white. Contrary to intuition, the higher the temperature, the bluer the light. In this way daylight is actually quite blue, and bulbs marketed as daylight burn at 5000K, which is the same colour given off by those old unpleasant fluorescents tubes. On the other end of the spectrum, incandescent bulbs burn at a yellowish 2700K, and if dimmed they become a more amber 2200K. To my eye there is something more comfortable about this colour. It’s only a guess, but I think this has to do with an innate connection to the kinds of fires humans have always depended on to illuminate the darkness. In any case, LED bulbs are commonly sold at 2700K (warm white), 3000K (soft white, which is very colour neutral), and 5000K (daylight). Our preferred bulb is one that mimics the range of the old incandescents: Phillips Warm Glow line is great for this. Phillips also makes two products lines (Wiz Connect and Phillips Hue) for smart bulbs that allow control of colour temperature and brightness via smart device, phone, or wall-mounted button.
COLOUR RENDERING INDEX (CRI): all bulbs are not created equal when it comes to our perception of colour in their light. The colour rendering index (CRI) is meant to gauge this: 100CRI replicates daylight and zero is pure grayscale. Most LEDs are made at 80CRI, which is noticeably less than an old incandescent bulb, but not as bad as the old fluorescents. Try to go with ones that are at least 90CRI or better.
BRIGHTNESS (LUMENS): LED bulbs are sometimes marketed with their incandescent equivalence (inc. eq.), but the industry is moving towards relying on lumens, the metric measure of brightness. The most typical bulb is 800 lumens (60 watt inc. eq.). This is good for most applications, but lamps or fixtures with many bulbs may be better suited with a less bright 450 lumens (40 watt inc. eq.). In fact, sometimes even less is better, and there are bulbs in the 200–300 lumens range (25 watt inc. eq.). On the other end, there are bulbs in the 1200–1600 lumens range (75 watt–100 watt inc. eq.) for when more punch is needed. To help you figure out the right bulb in any particular situation, often it’s helpful to have a few on hand to experiment.
DIMMABLE, SHAPE, & BASE: there are some final aspects to keep in mind when bulb shopping. If your bulb is on a dimmer, make sure your LED is of the dimmable variety (there’s an appreciable cost difference). Also, the bulb must have the proper shape and socket base. The most typical is an A19 bulb with an E26 base, but some fixtures utilize other configurations, including the smaller candelabra bulbs.
After your new home or renovation is complete, a lot of the lighting depends on you. And that’s perfect because lighting is so particular to your unique use of the space and your own comfort with light’s many qualities. So don’t be afraid to experiment with fixtures, lamps, and bulbs to find the best ambience for your home.
