Designing Balanced Lighting, continued
Dining Rooms
A dining room illuminated only by a chandelier creates a
glare-bomb situation. If you crank up the dimmer to provide
enough light to see by, the chandelier becomes a supernova, and
everything else in the room fades into secondary importance.
The solution is to balance the chandelier with ambient light
from wall sconces, torchieres, or cove lighting. Most dining
rooms also require accent light (Figure
8).
The pendant fixture in this dining room
directs most of its light toward the ceiling. The light from
the pendant is balanced with ambient cove light and accent
light on the painting.
A fixed chandelier makes it hard to move the dining table to a
different location. For more flexibility, consider a decorative
fixture that hugs the ceiling; that way the fixture won't look
so odd if the table is moved. Or select a pendant light on a
pulley system that allows the fixture to be raised and lowered.
A third option is to skip the chandelier entirely and simply
use recessed adjustable fixtures to illuminate the table.
Bedrooms
To make it easier to pack for trips or go through drawers, a
bedroom needs good ambient light, usually provided by wall
sconces or an opaque pendant fixture. Most bedrooms have
insufficient ambient light; when in doubt, plan for more rather
than less.
One way to provide task lights for reading is to use
recessed adjustable fixtures on the ceiling above the bed. To
reduce glare, adjust the fixture on the left to provide light
to the person on the right and vice versa (Figure 9).
A pair of separately switched, recessed
ceiling fixtures over the bed provide reading lights for two
people. The light on the right is aimed at the left side of the
bed and vice versa, so that one person can read and the other
can sleep without getting light in their eyes.
Of course, all of the lights in a bedroom should be controlled
with three-way switches, located near the bed as well as near
the door.
Circulation Areas
Non-room areas such as entryways, hallways, stairs, and
closets have their own special lighting needs.
Entries. In an entryway,
avoid using recessed downlights, which make people look like
gargoyles. If the entry includes a mirror, it can be flanked by
a pair of wall sconces to provide ambient light. A painting
should be accented with a recessed adjustable fixture.
Hallways. Recessed
downlights are also a mistake in a hallway. Since the light
comes out tepee-shaped, the upper quadrants of the hall fall
into darkness, making the hall look like a bowling alley.
Light a hallway with a combination of wall sconces and
recessed adjustable fixtures highlighting art on the walls. The
best location for hallway art is on a blank wall opposite a
door; the doorway provides enough room to stand back and admire
the picture.
Stairs. I don't recommend
using recessed ceiling fixtures above stairs, where setting a
ladder to change a bulb is awkward. They can work well,
however, in a flat ceiling above a landing. Stairs can also be
lit with shallow wall sconces.
A third option is to use step lights, which are small
fixtures mounted flush with the walls, usually about nine
inches above the tread (Figure 10). Most models have a louvered
face plate that throws the light down onto the stair treads.
All you need is one light every three steps — usually,
four or five fixtures for the average flight of stairs. Most
step lights take a 20-watt halogen lamp and can be left on at
night. In combination with recessed ceiling lights on the
landings, step lights can provide adequate illumination for
safely navigating stairs.
Figure 10.Step lights, like this model from Juno
Lighting, provide adequate but unobtrusive light for safely
navigating stairs.
Closets. In closets, we often use a fluorescent fixture
with a color-corrected (daylight) lamp, mounted on the wall
above the door. We've had good success with the Progress
P7148-15EB fixture; it has a non-humming electronic ballast and
can take a daylight T-8 lamp.
Switches
Keep a few rules in mind when locating switch boxes. They
should be located at a consistent height from room to room;
although many electricians center their switch boxes at 48
inches from the floor, I prefer 42 inches. The maximum number
of ganged switches is four; if more than four switches are
required at one location, consider going to a smart-house
system. If a homeowner wants rocker switches instead of toggle
switches, be sure they're used consistently throughout the
house and not just in a few rooms. Finally, remember not to
locate the switches behind the door swing.
Randall
Whitehead, IALD, a lighting
designer in San Francisco, has written five books on lighting
design. They can be ordered online at
www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/00478.htm. |
Alkco Lighting
847/451-0700 www.alkco.com A variety of fixtures, including linear strip
undercabinet fluorescent and xenon
fixtures Artemide Inc.
631/694-9292 www.artemide.com Belfer
732/493-2666 www.belfer.com A variety of fixtures, including step lights,
wall sconces, fluorescent cove lighting, and
low-voltage lights Boyd Lighting
415/778-4300 www.boydlighting.com Con-Tech Lighting
800/728-0312
www.con-techlighting.com A variety of fixtures, including RLM fixtures
and track lighting Contrast Lighting
888/839-4624 www.contrastlighting.com A variety of fixtures, including a recessed
adjustable halogen fixture for wet locations
(Artlite 2) Estiluz
201/641-1997 www.estiluz.com Fabby Lighting
323/939-1388 www.fabby.com Wall sconces, pendant fixtures, and ceiling
fixtures made of paintable bisque
(unglazed ceramic) Halo Lighting / A division of Cooper
Lighting
847/956-8400 www.cooperlighting.com A variety of fixtures, including RLM
pendants Ingo Maurer
212/965-8817 www.ingo-maurer.com Iris Lighting Systems / Brand of Cooper
Lighting
770/486-4800 www.cooperlighting.com A variety of fixtures, including a recessed
adjustable halogen fixture for wet locations (model
N3/MR AASR/C) | Juno Lighting
847/827-9880 www.junolighting.com A variety of fixtures, including RLM pendants
and a recessed adjustable halogen fixture, for wet
locations (TC44-441W-WH) Justice Design Group
213/437-0102 www.jdg.com A good range of reasonably priced wall sconces
and pendant fixtures Kichler Lighting
216/573-1000 www.kichler.com A variety of fixtures, including step
lights Koch & Lowy
508/588-4700 www.kochlowy.com LSI Abolite Lighting
513/793-3200 www.lsi-industries.com A variety of commercial-industrial fixtures,
including RLM pendants Lucifer Lighting Company
800/879-9797 www.luciferlighting.com A variety of fixtures, including a recessed
adjustable halogen fixture for wet locations (Naiad
DL21X) and halogen hockey-puck fixtures
(Puklights) Prescolite, Inc.
510/562-3500 www.prescolite.com A variety of fixtures, including step lights
and wall sconces Progress Lighting
864/599-6000 www.progresslighting.com A variety of fixtures, including indirect
xenon fixtures for cove lighting, fluorescent
closet lights, halogen hockey pucks, and linear
strip undercabinet fixtures Translite Sonoma
800/473-3242 www.translite.com Low-voltage dual-conductor cable
systems |