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Rooms

There are several room considerations that affect the lighting plan. These include the room's shape and size, finishes and colors, objects (furniture, photos, carpets, etc.), and activities or functions. In addition, it is important to understand the room's natural lighting with windows. Here are a few concepts for each room.

Kitchen. The kitchen space serves many purposes, but is a primarily task and entertaining oriented. Kitchens tend to feature ambient, task and accent lighting. The kitchen is also a room where lights tend to stay on for longer periods of time. For this reason, it is important to consider instant-on lamps as opposed to lamps that require a warm-up time. Also, color rendering is critical for the kitchen. Selecting a lamp with a high color rendering index (CRI) not only compliments the room's paint and décor colors, but it also helps when cooking — CRI can be the difference between “done” and needs five more minutes. Fixtures for kitchen ambient lighting include ceiling mounted fluorescents and recessed downlights.

Lastly, the kitchen usually has large appliances, cabinetry and other shadow causing objects. The lighting plan for a kitchen should account for them and minimize shadows. Track or under cabinet fixtures can provide the necessary task lighting and eliminate shadowing. Indirect lighting above the cabinets can also help eliminate shadows.

Dining Room. While the dining room serves as a place to eat, its functionality goes beyond the plate. Most homes use a formal dining room as a place to entertain guests, celebrate with the family or host an intimate evening for two. For this reason, the room demands the lighting to be flexible in order to set different moods. Dimming is the best way to control light levels for the room. Color temperature and CRI are also important for this room to operate flexibility. The dining room is often home to a decorative pendant or chandelier fixtures, so it is very important to choose the correct bulb shape and size to prevent from tarnishing the look of the final piece.

Living/Family Room. As one of the most active rooms of the home, lighting plays a huge role in creating a feel to the living/family room. This space generally uses table and floor lamps, but also sees a lot of track and downlighting. A main concern for this space is glare, so direct light on the television or other glossy or shiny objects should be avoided by eliminating added reflection. Since the room is mainly a hangout for relaxation, warmer color temperatures should be considered to create a more comforting atmosphere. The room typically has framed photography and art, so accent lighting can help spotlight these valuables.

Bathroom. As a very functional room within the home, CRI is important to the bathroom lighting scheme. The correct CRI and color temperature helps keep skin tone integrity, which comes in handy when applying make-up. Minimize shadows by placing a fixture on either side of the mirror. Surface-mounted or recessed downlights are typically used for ambient lighting.

Bedroom. The bedroom is a very personal space, which requires personal lighting needs. Most prefer warmer colors in the bedroom, with flexibility to alter as needs change — like for reading, watching TV, dressing, etc. To create this atmosphere, three-way table lamps placed close to walls to avoid glare are useful. Overhead lighting as part of a ceiling fan is not only functional but can be decorative as well. For dramatic effects consider adding cove lighting or adjustble downlights for reading or accent lighting. Choosing the right CRI for the closet is important, to prevent the black vs. navy fiasco.

Cheryl Ford is Commercial Engineering Manager, New Technologies for Danvers, MA-based OSRAM SYLVANIA. Ford joined the company in 1980 as an engineer in 1981 and has over 25 years of lighting experience. She holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of New Hampshire in Durham.