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My wife and I are having a townhome built for us and in a week we will attend our selections meeting with the builder where we can specify appliances, wall colors, lighting fixtures, etc. Having never done this before I figured it would be a good idea to get some advice about room lighting since things like recessed lighting will need to be nailed down during this time. I'm a big fan of recessed lighting and figured we would put it in the family room and kitchen as well as the bedrooms but after reading a bit I'm not sure it's best to have cans in the bedrooms. It's a 3 bed/3 bath place with one of the bedrooms acting as an office and the other (besides the master) as our kids room. Any lighting advice for each room?
We went through all of this a few months ago. The builder already had canned lighting planned for the kitchen, family room and master bedroom, so that was out of the equation for us, which was fine as that is what we wanted. Make sure your builder uses LED cans, which is what we have. We were also given the choice of four cans and a fan or six cans in the family room and master. We chose four and fan and still wound up with six and a fan in the family room. The rest is picking fixtures you like. We also got to pick our exterior garage lights, which are much nicer than ones he normally installs. I also put the exterior lights on a photocell, so they always come on when it's dark. And I provided my own back patio light, which is LED and motion sensing.
This also an opportunity to add small touches, like soft close doors and drawers. They cost hardly anything. I also had a utility sink installed in the garage, which is something I use a lot. Another thing is to make sure your garage door openers are wireless or are able to be connected to a gateway. That way you can open and close them remotely from your smart phone and get push notifications when they are opened or closed. Most contractors use Liftmaster, and if yours does, make sure it is MyQ enabled.
Going to depends on what type of cans and the bulbs they can fit, as well as the square footage of the room and the height of the ceilings.
You can get R20, R30, R40 class bulbs with different outputs in lumens, and angles of light. There are a number of online calculators that you can use to help figure out number of lights needed and such.
For my Living room and kitchen, I went with BR40 type bulbs in a 6" can. I went LED as well. About 850 lumens per bulb and my spacing for my ceiling height is about 6 feet apart. Dimmers help knock the light down when I don't need it as bright.
In my Master, I used BR20 LED bulbs in a 4" can. Not as bright at only 500 lumens each, and I used 4 in a 15x15 room. Nowhere near kitchen intensity, but it's perfect for my BR. I didn't want the look of huge 5/6" cans in my BR so I went with the smaller units. Downside is the bulbs don't through out as much light so I'd add more than you think are needed and use a dimmer.
NOT MY BEDROOM, but this was the look I was sort of going for.
There is nothing wrong with cans in the bedroom. Our current house has four LED cans and a fan in the master and it works great for us. Our winter home has just the two bulbs in the fan, which makes the room look very dingy. Out last house had two bulbs in one of those mushroom fixtures, which was adequate, but still not nearly as bright as our four cans. And if that's too bright, we can always just use the lighting in the fan or get lamps. But I wouldn't sweat cans in the master. Just make sure they're LED.
Just to clarify, when I talk about LED cans, I'm talking about the ones that are enclosed and have the LED built in. When it goes bad, you replace the entire unit, as the LED bulb is not replaceable. Versus the open cans you screw an LED bulb or any other kind of bulb into.
Good info all. Thanks. For the bedrooms I was thinking four cans and a fan in the middle. I like track lighting but I'm not sure where I would add track lighting than maybe a hallway or the office/bedroom somehow.
Good info all. Thanks. For the bedrooms I was thinking four cans and a fan in the middle. I like track lighting but I'm not sure where I would add track lighting than maybe a hallway or the office/bedroom somehow.
Well, as most will say do what you want...
But, having gone through this with many H/O's I'll tell you the number one complaint for cans in a bedroom is the "strobe-effect" when there's a ceiling fan. So, from trial&error whenever this came up I discouraged buyers from doing it.
Kitchen, family room, hallways, are always good locations. Large bedrooms like masters that have a focal wall may need recessed fixtures. But for general lighting I think recessed aren't warranted.
I've done a few kitchen remodels also that had 8-9' ceilings and instead of doing regular 6" fixtures we did mini 3" cans so they were not so obtrusive- they tend to blend into the ceiling.
Good info all. Thanks. For the bedrooms I was thinking four cans and a fan in the middle. I like track lighting but I'm not sure where I would add track lighting than maybe a hallway or the office/bedroom somehow.
Track lighting is so 80's. Don't forget the popcorn ceiling if you go that route!
But, having gone through this with many H/O's I'll tell you the number one complaint for cans in a bedroom is the "strobe-effect" when there's a ceiling fan. So, from trial&error whenever this came up I discouraged buyers from doing it..
You beat me to it. We have a room that this exact scenario happens in. Our bedroom also has a fan and four cans, but fortunately the cans are far away enough from the fan that the strobe effect doesn't kick in.
It's certainly possible to pull it off successfully, but just be mindful of how the light spreads from the cans and make sure your fan is not in the direct path.
But, having gone through this with many H/O's I'll tell you the number one complaint for cans in a bedroom is the "strobe-effect" when there's a ceiling fan. So, from trial&error whenever this came up I discouraged buyers from doing it.
Kitchen, family room, hallways, are always good locations. Large bedrooms like masters that have a focal wall may need recessed fixtures. But for general lighting I think recessed aren't warranted.
I've done a few kitchen remodels also that had 8-9' ceilings and instead of doing regular 6" fixtures we did mini 3" cans so they were not so obtrusive- they tend to blend into the ceiling.
What is this "strobe effect"? I don't notice it in my bedroom. I have a tray ceiling with an LED can in each corner and a fan in the middle.
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