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I love to watch people walk through new model homes, especially ones that have been professionally decorated. The potential home buyers Oooo and Ahhh over the striking wall colors, window treatments, furnishings and floor coverings, but rarely do I hear them say anything about the lighting. What many of these people do not realize is the things they are drooling over often look good because they are showcased with excellent lighting both natural and artificial.
Talk to a top-flight architect with 10 or more years experience and they should be able to give you plenty of examples of how to leverage natural light in certain rooms to produce certain effects. The really great architects know how to position a house to extract sunlight for certain rooms at specific times of the year.
As the sun increases its arc in the sky from winter to summer here in the northern hemisphere, all sorts of opportunities open up to get light into rooms. This can be done with windows placed at strategic heights or through clever placement of skylights with flared light shafts.
Mirrors can also be employed to bounce natural light from room to room. This takes an enormous amount of talent and the interior architecture of the home must lend itself to the presence of large expanses of glass. If mirrors are not to your liking, you can get natural light from one room to the next using large archways or pass-through openings where the top half of a wall is open to the adjacent room.
The lighting possibilities with artificial lighting are probably infinite. There are thousands of different light fixtures that have hundreds of different applications. One of the most underused lighting techniques in residential housing in my opinion, is indirect lighting. I love indirect lighting as it is not harsh and it can be used as one of several different layers of light in a room or space.
A friend of mine took my advice and incorporated indirect lighting in a small kitchen remodeling job. As it turned out, this one aspect of the total job got the most compliments from friends who would visit for an evening party. As the natural light stopped pouring in the windows, the kitchen ceiling was transformed into a warm yellow-orange canopy. The incandescent bulbs producing the light were hidden in a trayed ceiling detail I had drawn for him.
Combining recessed lighting with traditional surface mount fixtures allows you to light certain parts of a room. My own kitchen is lit in this fashion. We have a hanging fixture over our center island that has three 75 watt bulbs in it. This one fixture produce ample light in our 17 x 20 foot kitchen. But when we need additional task lighting or desire to have the kitchen as bright as day, I flip one switch that powers 10 recessed lights. This adds another 750 watts of light and makes the kitchen a bright and inviting space.
If you want to maximize the lighting possibilities in your new home, I suggest you spend an afternoon with a lighting professional. You can often find these trained pros in stores that just sell lighting fixtures. Take your floor plans with you and let them show you any number of options for lighting in each and every room.
Hopefully you will have some extra money in your budget for outdoor landscaping lighting. You don't have to do the entire house at one time and you may start by just highlighting a few important features. If you do have larger wants than your budget and plan to add lights in the future, discuss this with the professional so you get the correct lighting center to power the lights.
DEAR TIM: Bathroom lighting is my current project, as I have two bathrooms that are being completely remodeled. What bathroom lighting fixtures have you had success with in your jobs? In the largest bathroom, contemporary lighting might interest me. Can I install one of those nifty makeup light and mirror fixtures that I often see in hotel bathrooms, or are those only permitted in commercial buildings? Carol S., Manassas, VA
DEAR CAROL: I don't know if there is a silver bullet when it comes to bathroom lighting and bathroom lighting fixtures. There are many wonderful options, and I think your biggest problem is going to be limiting your selections to just a few. When you visit a real lighting supply house that just sells lighting fixtures, I predict you will develop a mild headache from the mind-numbing task of looking at all of the delightful lighting fixtures.
To make matters worse, most lighting supply houses only display five or 10 percent of the light fixtures that are available. Be prepared to spend hours looking through catalogs that contain thousands of photos of bathroom lighting fixtures.
The first thing to consider is that you have two lighting sources, and both should be considered. I think that people often underutilize and neglect natural lighting options. Windows, skylights and tubular lights that pipe sunlight into a bathroom should used whenever possible. There is no substitute, in my opinion, for brilliant sunlight streaming into a bathroom space in the morning. It is a wonderful way to start the day. Bathrooms that face away from the sun can benefit from skylights that reflect natural light from the sky and clouds. The same is true for windows, as they will let light in no matter which direction they face.
Artificial bathroom lighting is what most of us are used to. Standard light fixtures that use any number of different types of incandescent light bulbs can be found in tens of thousands of bathrooms across the land. But newer halogen and energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs should be considered, as they create a different palette of color. Be aware that different bulbs produce noticeable color spectrums ranging from a warmish golden hue to a blistering white light as you might experience outdoors at high noon on a cloudless day in the mountains.
The biggest mistake you can make in bathroom lighting is to have too little. My experience has shown that you need 300 watts of incandescent lighting per 50 square feet of bathroom. You can have more, but I think you will discover quickly that more than 8 watts per square foot could be overkill.
A combination of different lighting fixtures almost always produces a magical effect. I call this layering light. In my daughter's bathroom, I installed two recessed halogen lights over the vanity that are operated on a separate switch. Two other recessed lights, one in the center of the room and one over the tub, are operated by a second switch. When just one switch is on, the bathroom has a nice welcoming glow. When both are on, the bathroom lighting is just right for bathing or brushing your teeth.
Indirect bathroom lighting is another trick that many people seem to ignore. This form of lighting forces the builder/remodeler and the electrician to hide the actual light fixture, and bounce light from it onto a wall or a ceiling. Indirect bathroom lighting is ideal if you are going for a dramatic look. It is a great way to highlight wallpaper or decorative elements in a bathroom.
You can do contemporary lighting and switch to a different style in a few years. Almost all electrical lighting fixtures mount to the same electric boxes in walls and ceiling. Plan ahead to make sure you have enough side wall and ceiling clearance for most larger fixtures. Installing those lighted makeup mirrors is easy. They connect to a standard wall electrical box. Be sure the box is firmly attached to a stud or wood blocking in the wall.
Visit model homes on weekends to get real-time bathroom lighting ideas. I also urge you to look at many of the home design and decorating magazines for other ideas of unique bathroom lighting.
Be sure all moving doors in wall cabinets and medicine cabinets are able to operate fully and not hit lighting fixtures. Some lighting fixtures can be mounted too closely to mirrors and cabinets creating huge problems once you discover they are in the way and interfere with you gaining access to a cabinet.
DEAR TIM: Do you think under cabinet lighting is a smart thing to do in a kitchen? Is it hard to incorporate cabinet lighting into cabinets? Is installing under cabinet lighting something a homeowner can do safely? I'm afraid that modern under cabinet lighting will make my kitchen not match the rest of my home. What would you do? Linda H., Belleville, Ontario CA
DEAR LINDA: Not only is it a good idea to install under cabinet lighting in a kitchen, it makes sense in a wet bar area, a bathroom, a study or any other location where wall cabinets overhang a counter surface. Wall cabinets create a dark shadow area in kitchens and other places where ceiling lights are placed close to the face of the wall cabinets. Under cabinet lights eliminate these shadows, and create abundant light to help you see what you are working on in the kitchen.
I prefer to use the low-voltage under cabinet lighting fixtures. They are very simple to install, and can become almost invisible if you are able to pre-wire for the lights during new construction or a remodeling job. A skilled electrician can easily hide the wire and needed transformers in a finished kitchen, so I would not hesitate to add under cabinet lights in a brand new totally finished kitchen.
Low-voltage under cabinet lights often operate on 12 volts of electricity, the same voltage as many older doorbells. You need to install small transformers to convert regular 120-volt household alternating current to 12-volts of direct current. These modern transformers are compact, and can be placed inside of cabinets or in the open in an unfinished basement. They can also be placed in a pantry inside the kitchen. The transformers can be equipped with regular plugs that connect to a regular electrical wall outlet.
You can install these under cabinet lights if you can read directions and follow them. The hardest part is trying to incorporate the way they will be switched on and off. I prefer to make the under cabinet lights come on at the same time as certain other overhead lights turn on in my kitchen. To do this, you have to run a regular 120-volt cable from one of the light fixtures to the transformer or to an outlet that the transformer plugs into. This type of electrical wiring may be beyond the capabilities of most homeowners.
If you have natural stone countertops or plan to have them, under cabinet lighting is a must. Granite and other stone products, as well as copycat composite stone materials, look their best when they are highlighted with direct beams of light. The mineral crystals within the granite sparkle just like a diamond ring does in brilliant sunlight.
While some of the under cabinet lights look modern and some look institutional, I would go for the smaller-diameter round lights that resemble hockey pucks. If you are installing new cabinets that offer accessory trim packages, you can all but hide the lights by adding a thin skin of finished plywood under the cabinet bottoms. Holes can be cut into the plywood and the small lights fit into the wood just like their big brother recessed lights fit into ceilings.
Be sure to use the correct-sized wire for the lights. Many low-voltage light manufacturers sell the correct wire to match the voltage and load of the fixtures.
Be sure to place one under cabinet light for every 30 inches of counter space. You don't want any dead spots or dark shadows along the expanse of countertops in your kitchen.
The size of transformers is very important. Be sure to match the number of under cabinet lights to the transformer. If you have only two low voltage lights to connect, you will be able to use a very small transformer. But as you add more lights to the circuit, the size of the transformer will grow.
Be sure to follow the instructions about air space around the transformers. As a transformer converts regular alternating current to direct low-voltage current, it produces heat. It is very important that this heat is allowed to dissipate from the transformer. If a transformer overheats, there is a real fire danger.
Never hide a transformer in a wall or ceiling space that will get covered with paneling or drywall. The transformers must be in open view so they can be serviced or replaced. Keeping them in the open helps provide the needed ventilation. You can place them above dropped ceilings so long as the ceiling tiles can be removed and the transformer is in plain sight.
Author's Notes:
I received these helpful tips from Gean Tremaine of Q-Tran, Inc. He wrote:
"The wiring is not like doorbell wiring. Low Voltage lighting that operates at 12V or 24V has a lot of current - 10 times that of 120V lighting, current causes wire to burn. So the installer needs to keep that in mind and gauge the wire properly.
The transformer convert the electricity from 120V-12V but it is AC-AC power, the transformer does NOT convert the electricity to DC (direct current).
Certain transformers are UL listed to be recessed into the wall, they need to have an IC rating, but they can achieve this if desired.
Noise is going to be an issue if you dim the lighting, so use a transformer that has been designed for dimming."
DEAR TIM: Light bulbs in my home are burning out more quickly than ever. After a few days, a new bulb will not work. Are new light bulbs not high quality any longer? When I go to buy new bulbs it is very confusing. There are so many choices, I don't know what energy-saving light bulbs to buy. Is there a real difference between all of the light bulbs I see at the stores? Diane T., Bellevue, WA
DEAR DIANE: I am convinced hundreds of thousands of light bulbs are buried alive in landfills and/or broken at recycling facilities. There is not a doubt in my mind the bulbs you think are bad are still actually good. They have failed because someone screwed them in too tightly into the socket.
If you look at the base of a traditional light bulb, you will see a droplet of solder. This solder connects to one end of the filament inside the bulb. The other end of the filament connects to the aluminum threads at the base of the bulb.
But some people twist light bulbs into sockets far too tightly. After doing this several times, the brass tab flattens at the bottom of the socket. The droplet of solder is not always consistent from the factory, and if there is the slightest air gap between the solder and the brass tab, electrical arcing occurs between the base of the bulb and the brass tab when the light switch is turned on.
As long as this tiny arc is present the light bulb will work. But the arcing can and does erode the solder. Once the gap between the solder and the brass tab gets too big, the electrical arc can't make the jump. As soon as this happens, the bulb acts as if it has burned out, when in fact, it is still good. If you were to remove the bulb, turn off the light and power to the circuit and use a needle-nose pliers to slowly pull the brass tab up at the 20-degree angle, you would discover the bulb would once again work as soon as you turned the power and switch back on, and reinserted the bulb into the socket.
I understand your confusion about purchasing light bulbs. There are so many choices. But the good news is that newer light bulbs have different technology that not only uses far less electricity, some light bulbs make you and all of the things in your house look fantastic.
One of the most interesting products are halogen light bulbs. These bulbs produce a vibrant white light that is created when the filament burns in the presence of halogen gas that is inside the bulb. These bulbs make colors look crisper, and the bulbs stay at nearly full brightness for their entire life.
If you want energy-saving light bulbs, then pay close attention to the fluorescent light bulbs at the retail store. You can buy small compact fluorescent bulbs that will use 75 percent less energy of a traditional light bulb. For example, if you now use a 100-watt regular light bulb, purchase a fluorescent light bulb that is rated right around 25 watts. Believe it or not, it will produce the same amount of light as the old-style light bulb.
You can also buy full-spectrum light bulbs that filter out the yellow light produced when the filament burns. This happens as the light passes through the glass of the light bulb. The rare-earth element neodymium is fused into the glass and acts as a highly effective yellow-light blocker. Because no yellow light escapes from the light bulb, colors of all the things in your home are crisper and vibrant. Reds will be redder, and skin tones will be more alive. My wife and I use all three of these new light bulbs in our home, and love how they make things look different, especially our lower electric bill!
Many people do not realize that the color of clothes, carpets, painted walls, paintings, any fabric, cabinets, countertops, etc. is directly affected by the lighting source. Professionals know this as color temperature and something called color rendition. Different light bulbs create light that is more heavily weighted towards a part of the color spectrum.
Some traditional light bulbs make things look more yellow, while others might produce a more bluish cast. You must be very careful when selecting products at stores. It is not uncommon for people to be disappointed once something is seen under different light at a house instead of inside a store. Always try to select colors under the exact same light you use at home.
Author's Comment:
I was fortunate enough to get feedback about this column from people who have additional knowledge about the topic. Read these comments:
This dangerous condition may be caused by a loose connection(s) with the neutral conductor(s). Some years ago, use of aluminum conductors, without proper connections (usually aluminum to aluminum, or aluminum to copper), caused voltage problems both inside structures and with outside service connections. This situation can be a highly hazardous condition where substantial heat is eventually produced by poor and deteriorating electrical connection(s).
Where the above symptoms are present, a simple voltage test at appropriate points in the service panel, meter connections and or main service connection location can determine or eliminate these concerns. A phone call to the local electricity distribution company can usually bring satisfactory answers."
Jim Dushaw
Ashburn, VA
"Dear Tim,
Regarding your article that appeared in the October 7, 2007 issue of the Toledo Blade. You gave some very helpful advice to your readers regarding the longevity of incandescent lamps (and how to actually use them). Good for you.
At the end of the article, however, you suggested that readers use compact fluorescent lamps in lieu of incandescent.
The first concern I have is that your audience will go out and buy the screw-in type fluorescents that are readily available at Home Depot and Lowe's. Typically, these lamps are fitted with "mechanical" ballasts, usually the least expensive and lowest quality devices the manufacturer can purchase. Unfortunately, these ballasts also maximize Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). In our environment, this RFI may create problems with computers, radios, televisions, cellular telephones and the other electronic gadgetry that is so common in our households.
The alternative is to use fluorescent lamps with "electronic" ballasts. There is a cost involved here, too. In general, these lamps will not fit into screw-in luminaries: they have pin-type connections.
So the consumer is left with the choice of electronic noise or added expense.
While I am certainly no fan of incandescent lamps (typically 750 hours of life expectancy versus 15,000 or more from a fluorescent, and energy consumption increases of 66% or more for the same visual light output), I believe the consumer should understand the choices he/she is making.
And, at last, a simple quibble. Your article says the fluorescent lamps put out more light energy than the incandescent. That is not true: what is true is that the fluorescent light is in the visible range, so is much more useful to us. The great majority (80% or more) of the radiation of an incandescent lamp is in the infrared range, which we perceive as heat -- they worked great in our children's Easy Bake Oven.
Thanks for your columns."
David S. Kelly
Retired Chief of Lighting Systems Design
National Steel and Shipbuilding Company
San Diego, CA
DEAR TIM: I simply love the look of wall sconce lighting. Sconce light fixtures look elegant and can do a great job of casting light in a hallway, bathroom or near a bed. Can you share any tips you’ve undoubtedly discovered in all the years you’ve worked with lighting wall sconces? I’m worried about selecting the right size in all the applications where I want to use these lights. How do you pick one that’s perfect? Anna S., Edgerton, WI
DEAR ANNA: Reading your question I had to stop and ponder how many lighting sconces I have in the last house I built. I lost count at twelve! There are probably a few I forgot. You can find these gorgeous light fixtures both inside and outside my home. The two at our front door are so special that we’re taking them with us to use on our new home.
The most important tip I can share about wall light sconces is ensuring that you have them at the correct height off the floor for what you’re trying to light. Be aware of the glare that can be produced from a bare bulb, so keep in mind how the bulb is shaded and at what height does the shade not offer any protection to your eyes. This is of paramount importance if you plan to be seated in an area where the fixture will be.
When working with outdoor sconce lights, you need to take into consideration the finished wall surface. If it’s smooth like brick or stucco, then you usually don’t have a problem with mounting the fixture. But if the wall surface is lap siding or some other material that’s not in the same plane, you almost always have to make a back plate that the wall sconce is mounted to so that the finished edge of the fixture is in complete contact with the wall surface.
It can be very tough to select a sconce that’s the right size. I’ve seen mistakes made at both ends of the spectrum. On the outside of a home, I’ve seen grossly oversized sconces next to a front door. Inside a home, I’ve gazed upon tiny sconces that looked like they belong in a child’s dollhouse.
Scale or size is something that you need to have a feel for and/or get some professional input. I can remember holding our front-door lighting wall sconces in my hands thinking they were huge. From the tip of the finial to the bottom of the fixture, it measured 25 inches. It was massive. But when I hung it on the wall next to the door and stood back 50 feet on the sidewalk, it was perfectly sized.
The closer you will stand to observe the thing being lit, the smaller the sconce should be. Let’s take a bathroom mirror as an example. You’ll be standing just 24 inches away from the fixture as you apply makeup or shave. A sconce light here should probably be no taller than 9 or 10 inches.
Last year, I had to install not one bathroom sconce light, but four. What’s more, they had to be perfectly positioned because of the tilting wall mirror that was being used above the vanities.
To solve this conundrum, I decided to make an exact cardboard cutout of the mirror and place it on the wall studs in the exact position where the mirror would be after the vanity was installed, the wallpaper up, etc.
This mirror template, with the centerline of the mirror supports clearly marked, allowed me to install the rough electrical boxes at the precise height they needed to be so the fixture base would not interfere with the mirror supports. What’s more, I was able to place the electrical boxes the correct distance away from the sides of the mirror so the light fixtures didn’t interfere with the movement of the mirror. Everything worked out perfectly in the end.
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