My recessed lighting layout???

[JosephP]

Last week there was another post about recessed lighting layout plans

We are also looking at doing some changes that will likely include recessed lighting. We are scraping a popcorn ceiling (refinishing with knockdown), so now is the time to also update the lights and cut new holes & patch old ones.

We currently have track lighting (indicated in red) that will be going away.

The area is 35x24 with vaulted ceilings (8' at the wall, 11' at center - high part runs east-west in this drawing - north is up in real life too...)

You can see the front door on the east side of the north wall. There are two 7'6" high walls for closets making a entry/hallway (with 3 existing can lights). Kitchen is in NW of this drawing...already has 9 can lights.

Dining room table is in SW corner. Thinking about either can lights over that or possibly a hanging chandelier (indicated in green) of some sort. Positioning can lights over that is a little challenging. The existing track lighting is 3 70W bulbs. 1 can will not be enough light, but 2 or 3 in there looks too clustered.

The proposal I have here shows the ones I am thinking will work well in yellow. The blue ones are questionable. I know we will get more light with cans pointing straight down...but right now, we have 70W bulbs in all the track lighting (2 each in the 3 fixtures in the living room area), so going down to 3-5 recessed lights doesn't seem enough). Add to that the fact existing ceiling fans have 5 bulbs and the new will only have 2...

Looking for options and opinions:
How many cans?
Where to place them?
What to do over dining table? (cans - where/how many) or chandelier?

Thanks!

[Bob10]

I can't give you much advice as I don't know what you hope to end up with. Personally I install cans close enough to prevent shadows. As for the dining room table you could hang a single chandelier with a small can on each side on another switch for times you need more light or 2 chandeliers on a dimmer is the way I went

[Wild Turkey]

No help here on the placement, but have you looked at the new LED lighting options? There's some new styles available, just to give you more to think about.

The LED light
flexfire LED

There's others, these are just two I've stuck in my reference file.

We have two beams in our living room that give a perfect place for indirect lights.

Think "outside the box" for a bit and see what might work for you.

[JosephP]

Bob10 said:

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I can't give you much advice as I don't know what you hope to end up with. Personally I install cans close enough to prevent shadows. ........

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That is what we want. Just trying to figure out how to get there and make it look good.

Bob10 said:

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As for the dining room table you could hang a single chandelier with a small can on each side on another switch for times you need more light or 2 chandeliers on a dimmer is the way I went

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I like both of those ideas (except for the cost of the second chandelier!). We'll talk those over.

[JosephP]

I was going to say the LED thing probably would not work well in this room unless we put in crown molding to "hide" the strips. But the tops of the closets might be a good spot for a couple of strips. Yeah...thanks, just what I needed MORE options to consider!

We originally thought about replacing the track lighting with newer track lighting, but have ruled that out...thought we were settled on can lights. I think that the LEDs could be cool. I'm betting my wife will disagree, but we'll discuss.

[Robert Adams]

Lots of light there. First of all as you know the cans are going to be much more of a flood light as track light is primarily spot lighting.

Without being there in person a and knowing how you use the space etc it's tough for me to guess but the yellow circles don't look too bad thouh I'm not a fan of where the blue ones are.
I'd also like to see a can or two over the kitchen bar but with that can there it's not really needed. Also the can by the tv needs to go or be on a seperate switch as it will glare off the tv.

The dining table. Personally I don't like a chandelier if it's an 8' ceiling as it hangs too low. If the ceiling is higher and you can get the bottom of it to clear 6' it's fine with me. I just don't like them in the way. I would have preferred cans over the table myself but was over ruled and that's OK cause it was easier to mount a light fixture anyway.


Your kitchen should be very bright assuming you are using led trims. I have a larger kitchen with 7 1100 lumen cans and if we use them and turn the dimmer all the way up its like an operating room which is nice when cooking.
I didn't se the need for a can in the center of ours when I out them in and it's not missed. We actually rarely use the cans and just use the under and over cabinet lighting 95% of the time.

Also generally the higher your can is from the floor the further you can space them because the shape of the cone of light.


I'm still not sure on your living room. It just depends on how you use the area. Wanting ambient lighting which is common or wanting bright enough for task lighting ie old people lighting. No offense but older people tend to like lots of light as they can't see as well etc. I prefer less unless it's a work area then I want lots of white light no yellow.

Oh also I'd make the dining room on one switch the hallway on another and then split the other into living room and dining table. And if you do end up with lights by the tv put them on their own switch so they can be turned off.

[JosephP]

Thanks Robert! Lots of good thoughts. I agree that I don't like the blue locations either...but when I look at the Lithonia Lighting chart I picked up at Menard's, it suggests 8-9 lights for a space the size of our living room. Even if I count the fan as one of those, I just don't see where I can get 7 more in there and have it look good.

We are only 40 (not quite in 'I need more light to read' yet)...but do want to have the ability to really brighten the room. The new recessed lights will be on dimmers, so I'd rather too many where we can back it off, than not enough. But I don't want the ceiling to look shot full of holes either!

And a few things I need to clarify:

*Kitchen is in great shape - we are not changing the lights there. They are on a dimmer.
*Kitchen lights provide plenty of light for the kitchen bar. Since they are on a vaulted ceiling, they do point that direction a little.
*Current switch make-up:
1) Kitchen (all 9 on one dimmer)
2) 3 existing cans in hall
3) 1 track light in the north of living room
4) 2 track lights south of living room
5) Track over dining room table
6) East fan
7) West fan

I'm wondering if I should pull the south-most row further south then those blue ones wouldn't seem so out of place???

Over the kitchen table, I have pointed just 2 of the track lights straight down (so they are kinda mimicking can lights) and that isn't quite enough light. The ceiling at that point is about 9.5' high... I don't love the idea of a chandelier there, but I could see the logic behind it. The big thing I don't like is it sorta 'locks' the table into one spot. We keep one leaf in the table, but have 2 extra we can add in. Being that the one chair is backed up to the wall on the west side, that would throw it off center. And what happens when we get a new table (likely +/- 3-5 years off) that is longer/shorter/narrower/wider???

[JosephP]

JosephP said:

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....I think that the LEDs could be cool. I'm betting my wife will disagree, .....

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I got that much right

[JosephP]

OK...here is another attempt.

I like the blue locations a little better. I don't love the purple one in relation to the dining room, but it does sit right over our desk/desktop computer that my wife uses.

The blue and yellow would be on the same switch (with the purple). The green would be on their own. The brown (dining area) would be on their own.

[JosephP]

Here are a couple more. Removed the purple light over the computer. These have 3 and 4 lights better lined up with the other rows...