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We're moving into a new home where the living room is like 16' x 13 (includes a staircase) and the bedroom's 10' x 12'. My partner is adamant about installing large numbers of recessed lights so these rooms are evenly and brightly lit. I think they look kinda crappy. What are some alternative ways to light a room evenly and brightly and elegantly?
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Aug 4, 2021 06:33
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Pick two. My personal preference is properly installed (on a neat and logical grid) recessed cans on a dimmer (especially ones with an adjustable color temperature) for controlling the room’s ambient light levels with nice task and accent lighting in the places where I need it when I need it. That gets you the most flexibility and lets you dim things for a more elegant appearance at the expense of brightness. Since you don’t want cans however, if you have crown moulding you could potentially hide indirect ceiling lighting in it which will also give you a very even ambient light in smaller spaces, but that comes at the expense of brightness and will fall off noticeably in the center of larger rooms. corgski fucked around with this message at 08:47 on Aug 4, 2021 |
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Aug 4, 2021 08:43
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How many is “large numbers?” Not all recessed lights are crappy builder grade cans. Check out Nora Pearl or Halo ML for examples.
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Aug 4, 2021 13:12
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All you need in a bedroom that size is a lamp or two. I think overhead lighting is great in the kitchen, maybe living/dining, but I don't think you need it in a BR unless it's also your office or something.
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Aug 4, 2021 13:44
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:All you need in a bedroom that size is a lamp or two. I think overhead lighting is great in the kitchen, maybe living/dining, but I don't think you need it in a BR unless it's also your office or something. Yeah I'm not really sure why you would need/want the entirety of every room evenly lit. You can make a room that size quite bright with a single fixture if that's an issue for some reason, but I can't see much purpose outside of the kitchen. For something like an office or a living room you can always augment normal fixtures with table/floor lamps. On the other hand the markup on decent looking non-recessed fixtures is stupid as poo poo considering the materials and components used so 
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Aug 4, 2021 14:12
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Vegetable posted:We're moving into a new home where the living room is like 16' x 13 (includes a staircase) and the bedroom's 10' x 12'. For a bedroom that size, a pair of table lamps on the nightstands and a floor lamp with one or two bulbs would work fine. If you dress in there a lighted mirror might be good too. My bedroom is bigger (12x16) and I have two table lamps, an overhead fixture with two bulbs, and a desk lamp, which is plenty of light. The trick is to use smart bulbs with a remote switch so everything comes on together. I think cans would be pretty impersonal and unpleasant in a bedroom, but uneven lighting, especially single point source lighting, makes a room uncomfortable to be in for me so I sympathize with what your partner wants. For the living room, I would try to have a mix of floor lamps, table lamps, and maybe wall sconces or pendant lamps depending on how high the ceilings are. You could use cans but if the ceilings are low you will need a lot of them to get even light. If the ceilings are high it doesn’t matter so much. It’s useful to think about task vs ambient vs accent lighting here. Part of what’s not great about cans is they mostly throw light down, which is good if you want to look at things which are on counters or work surfaces but less good if you want to look at things on walls or in your hands. It especially sucks if you want to recline or lay back, because the glare will be right in your eyes, which is why I wouldn’t want them in the bedroom.
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Aug 4, 2021 15:13
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yeah, 10x12 is about the size of my bedroom (sans closet), it came with a fan that has a light, but I use the light like once every three months. I honestly might just take it down (it's not remotely modern) and just stick a concealer up there, or since I dont use the fan, or just replace it with a very small ceiling light. I use the closet light in the morning and that's it. I agree that one or two table lamps on the nightstands would be plenty (you might not even need any other light honestly). Another, sleeker option is sconces, though most require a junction box, otherwise you can try to get clever with your cord hiding skills. I really like this sconce which is corded https://www.muuto.com/product/Tip-Wall-Lamp--p24532/p24532/ Here's a great ceiling option, very sleek, 880 lumens which is great for bedrooms, dimmable, and has selectable color temp (though I can't see using more than 3000K for a bedroom anyway) https://dals.com/product/10-round-flushmount/ actionjackson fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Aug 4, 2021 |
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Aug 4, 2021 16:49
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I think ceiling height is important with cans too. I find them kind of harsh and oppressive in a room with 8' ceilings but in a 10'+ ceiling they bother me much much less.
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Aug 4, 2021 17:38
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:I think ceiling height is important with cans too. I find them kind of harsh and oppressive in a room with 8' ceilings but in a 10'+ ceiling they bother me much much less. yeah that makes sense, I have 10' ceilings, which also means I can get smaller fixtures as the light will spread more on the floor. I ended up getting that dals light, and since I know the beam angle of 110 degrees, some basic geometry using an angle of 20 degrees and 10' tells me that I will get 3.6 feet of coverage on each side, which is plenty for my purposes. I really just hate any kind of overhead lighting though, so I use it as little as possible. I have a similar light to the dals one in my galley kitchen, because doing recessed on the first floor of a condo is pretty expensive. But I never have it on unless I'm actually in the kitchen, because like all LEDs, I find having the light source in view is always oppressive to some degree. I can dim it super low though if I want some ambience, like 300 lumens.
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Aug 4, 2021 18:02
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cheese eats mouse posted:Having been to a Value City you are correct. 
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Aug 5, 2021 04:34
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i like nice words
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Vegetable posted:We're moving into a new home where the living room is like 16' x 13 (includes a staircase) and the bedroom's 10' x 12'. My living room is about the same size and while I'm not doing any cans in my house (they look weird and anachronistic in old timey Victorians IMHO and also all the chimney breasts are off-center by a few inches so we can't properly line up can lights even if we did want them), for that size room the max number of can lights you want is four (maybe six if you have two pairs of small cans set close together), all placed towards the perimeter of the room (NOT towards the center of the room where they will cast light directly on top of your heads). Or even do some cool sconces. Supplement with generous lamps and don't run cans at full brightness unless you're kicking guests out or something. Put the lamps on switches or whatever if you want the convenience of flipping a switch and letting there be light. The point is not having too much or any bright lighting directly overhead because it's unflattering and casts weird shadows. For a bedroom that size, you just need two nightstand lamps plus one or two additional small ones on tall dressers across the room if you want, and an attractive non-boob bright center ceiling fixture you can turn on when you're cleaning or are trying to find something. But seriously, you can't go wrong with lots of lamps.
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Aug 5, 2021 06:35
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Wallet posted:Yeah I'm not really sure why you would need/want the entirety of every room evenly lit. So you don't have to fetch a torch every time you drop something. And even more: so you can spot THAT loving MOSQUITO AND KILL IT!
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Aug 5, 2021 10:34
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Speaking of lights, I have a few rooms with an overhead light on a switch and then some number of lamps that are plugged into unswitched outlets that would be nice to control with a normal wall switch. I see a ton of wireless light switches out there but it's hard to know which ones are garbage, and I also haven't been able to find any hybrids but I might just be searching for the wrong poo poo. I don't have any interest in using a bunch of smart bulbs unless that's my only option. Anyone have any recommendations?3D Megadoodoo posted:So you don't have to fetch a torch every time you drop something. It doesn't have to be evenly lit to not be a dark hole.
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Aug 5, 2021 13:54
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Wallet posted:Speaking of lights, I have a few rooms with an overhead light on a switch and then some number of lamps that are plugged into unswitched outlets that would be nice to control with a normal wall switch. I see a ton of wireless light switches out there but it's hard to know which ones are garbage, and I also haven't been able to find any hybrids but I might just be searching for the wrong poo poo. I don't have any interest in using a bunch of smart bulbs unless that's my only option. Anyone have any recommendations? I’m using hue smart bulbs for this, with their stick-on remote wall switch, but it would be cool if there was a wired wall switch replacement or cover for the rooms that haven’t been smartified yet If you just want to switch the lamps, you can get wifi-controlled plugs which you can switch remotely
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Aug 5, 2021 15:10
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More lighting, we just bought a house and we need some reading lights so I've been looking at plug-in sconces for convenience's sake. I'm looking at this one and this one and this one with the wider shade. In black, any opinions? My bed is a bludot in walnut if that helps a bit.
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Aug 5, 2021 16:48
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hypnophant posted:I’m using hue smart bulbs for this, with their stick-on remote wall switch, but it would be cool if there was a wired wall switch replacement or cover for the rooms that haven’t been smartified yet If you use hue bridge and compatible lights and have toggle switches, the Lutron Aurora is very cool. If you have decora switches there are a million options. And there are definitely smart switches that will give smart functionality to dumb lights, and I’m sure control compatible smart outlets with the same switch. Most smart switches require a neutral wire, though, so you have to check if you have one before you install. BigFactory fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Aug 5, 2021 |
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Aug 5, 2021 18:12
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thinking about that tweet where the tech worker has no "smart" anything in his home, and keeps a gun by his printer so he can shoot it if it makes weird noises
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Aug 5, 2021 18:35
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https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DQELHBS?psc=1 We use a set of these for a few lamps and the Christmas tree lights in the winter. Works fine, no app, no wifi. I use 6" extension cords to make sure I don't lose a plug to the size.
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Aug 5, 2021 18:41
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BigFactory posted:And there are definitely smart switches that will give smart functionality to dumb lights, and I’m sure control compatible smart outlets with the same switch. Most smart switches require a neutral wire, though, so you have to check if you have one before you install. I don't want or need any kind of smart functionality, I just want to be able to wirelessly control an outlet with a regular rear end lightswitch really.
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Aug 5, 2021 22:01
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Wallet posted:I don't want or need any kind of smart functionality, I just want to be able to wirelessly control an outlet with a regular rear end lightswitch really. Like this? https://www.lowes.com/pd/Utilitech-...wE&gclsrc=aw.ds
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Aug 5, 2021 22:32
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Sort of. If I'm being picky I'd like it to both be a regular rear end light switch (e.g. wired) and a remote control for an outlet, but I don't know if they actually make such a thing.
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Aug 5, 2021 22:44
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Wallet posted:Sort of. If I'm being picky I'd like it to both be a regular rear end light switch and a remote control for an outlet, but I don't know if they actually make such a thing. Doubt it. Just hire an electrician to put your outlet on the same circuit as the light switch.
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Aug 5, 2021 22:45
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Wallet posted:It doesn't have to be evenly lit to not be a dark hole. Yeah but you still want a ceiling lamp.
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Aug 6, 2021 00:31
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BigFactory posted:Doubt it. Just hire an electrician to put your outlet on the same circuit as the light switch. I could do that myself but I don't actually want the rest of the outlets on the switch, I just want the lamps on it. It's probably easier to just replace all of the bulbs with smart ones and get a compatible switch but I find something about the idea of light bulbs with networking revolting.
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Aug 6, 2021 00:40
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I think at this point the thread has covered all your possible options, be they networked, wifi, offline, or hardwired, heh.
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Aug 6, 2021 02:00
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Wallet posted:I could do that myself but I don't actually want the rest of the outlets on the switch, I just want the lamps on it. It's probably easier to just replace all of the bulbs with smart ones and get a compatible switch but I find something about the idea of light bulbs with networking revolting. https://youtu.be/OgwSCcUDSaI
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Aug 6, 2021 04:29
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So I am trying to come up with a solution for my living room. I have a fairly long wall where I currently have my TV placed and I have a 1990s builder grade house in Texas with no built in storage space of any sort. I remodeled the kitchen a few years ago and added an island and bar countertop where the fridge used to be. I would like to build or commission, or buy an off the shelf solution that would add a low-ish set of cabinets along this wall to mount the TV and store AV equipment, game consoles, etc. I think it would also be nice to have some book shelves or display shelves on this wall. My dilemma is figuring out if, years ago I screwed up by adding this bar and if there is actually space to ever have bar stools there. In addition, my wife and I would like to get a new, longish sofa/sectional, probably with a chaise on one end. I have modeled out my house, roughly on Sketchup, and then grabbed some random, pre-modeled furniture including the cabinets, bookshelf, couch, and stools. I've pasted those below. Can I get some suggestions on where to start looking or what might look good here? Should I be trying to hire an interior designer for this? I don't have a grasp of what that would cost and if it's worth the money. For the entertainment center and bookshelves, the thought has crossed my mind of constructing the lower cabinets and shelving myself with baltic birch ply, but I've gathered that lumber is still quit expensive and that may be difficult to source. I would also need to buy some additional woodworking tools for that project, and I don't know if my finish carpentry would look good enough or not. For a couch, my in-laws had offered to pay up to about $5,000 as a wedding gift for a new sofa or furniture. So maybe consider that as a budget for that piece. I've looked on the various direct-to-consumer sites, along with Room and Board, DWR, etc., but I think DWR is probably out of that price range. TL;DR What do I do here to make my livingroom look good, and be a practical space?        
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Aug 6, 2021 08:04
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:All you need in a bedroom that size is a lamp or two. I think overhead lighting is great in the kitchen, maybe living/dining, but I don't think you need it in a BR unless it's also your office or something. I like it if it's part of a ceiling fan. Can keep it off 99% of the time and turn it on to dust/vacuum or find that annoying small item you just dropped.
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Aug 6, 2021 11:00
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MetaJew posted:So I am trying to come up with a solution for my living room. I have a fairly long wall where I currently have my TV placed and I have a 1990s builder grade house in Texas with no built in storage space of any sort. If the couch is placed where the current couch is in the photo, I don’t see why you couldn’t use the bar. Maybe look for low profile stools without a back or with a small, low back. I have a similar situation in my house where the bar side of the kitchen island is along the main traffic path (not as tight as your situation, but same idea), and we just spent time finding the right stools to make it work. Being choosy about your couch will be super important too. You might not be able to go with a big, oversized sofa or you’ll end up making the living room feel tiny. You might want to ditch the idea of the chaise right off, or at least the idea that it’s something you absolutely need. I don’t know how big or versatile the rest of your house is, but maybe you could move away from the idea of having the focal point of your main living space be an entertainment center. We took the tv out of the first floor living room and I think it was a great decision. in your situation, you could still have a bookshelf or a credenza with a stereo or something against that living room wall, but for seating go with a small loveseat and a couple smaller arm chairs, maybe a coffee table. They wouldn’t need to all be pointing at the back wall because there’s no tv there. People could be sitting at the bar and in the sitting room area and it would feel like one space instead of two. Could the guest bedroom split time as a tv watching room on a smaller scale? Sleeper couch, downsize the TV if you had to, that sort of thing. A lot easier to set up surround sound in a small room, too. Kitchen looks nice!
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Aug 6, 2021 12:20
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I had not considered this. That would actually work!
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Aug 6, 2021 12:40
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Wallet posted:I had not considered this. That would actually work! Bear in mind i’m not an electrician, that was the first video in the search on youtube, don’t burn your house down, etc. I’ve lived in apartments with outlets that worked like that though so it is possible
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Aug 6, 2021 14:10
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MetaJew posted:TL;DR What do I do here to make my livingroom look good, and be a practical space? Have you considered: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/tv-media-storage-14885/ I like combos that put some shelves or cabinets above the tv to give you extra storage
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Aug 6, 2021 14:19
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BigFactory posted:If the couch is placed where the current couch is in the photo, I don’t see why you couldn’t use the bar. Maybe look for low profile stools without a back or with a small, low back. I have a similar situation in my house where the bar side of the kitchen island is along the main traffic path (not as tight as your situation, but same idea), and we just spent time finding the right stools to make it work. Being choosy about your couch will be super important too. You might not be able to go with a big, oversized sofa or you’ll end up making the living room feel tiny. You might want to ditch the idea of the chaise right off, or at least the idea that it’s something you absolutely need. Yeah low back stools are a good start since they would tuck away under the counter. I think you are probably right about nixing the chaise-- and maybe I just aim for getting an extra long sofa that's still good for naps. Or possibly a sleeper sofa. Here's the issue: My house is about 1600 sq ft with the living room being the most spacious of the 1 story homes I've seen in my neighborhood. Since my wife and I both work from home, both spare bedrooms are our offices, and we both do some PC gaming so both rooms are occupied, and the TV doesn't have another place to be set up short of the master bedroom. But you've identified most of the points I'm struggling with-- that is not going overboard and suddenly making a large-ish room feel cramped or small. hypnophant posted:Have you considered: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/tv-media-storage-14885/ We installed a Besta system in my mom's house a few months ago now, and the construction and materials are pretty flimsy feeling. I'm very happy with the Ikea kitch (Sektion) cabinets and hardware, but the Besta line of stuff is that cardboard/corrugated paper construction with plastic fasteners and cheaper quality hinges. It doesn't feel like it will hold up or last.
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Aug 6, 2021 17:50
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I have some concerns looking at this picture. The first is that there appears to be very little space between the back of the stools and the back of the sofa. You always want 36" minimum I'd say. It appears to be about 18-20" based on the other measurements. As it is now, if people are sitting on those stools, no one is going to be able to pass through behind them. Could you give me the following: length of media unit distance from media unit to back of sofa distance from back of sofa to back of stool (when stool is in use, not pushed in) dimensions of the sectional actionjackson fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Aug 6, 2021 |
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Aug 6, 2021 18:37
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MetaJew posted:Yeah low back stools are a good start since they would tuck away under the counter. Some Ikea stuff is more flimsy, some is less. Hemnes is solid pine, fjallbo is steel and solid wood. You're right that none of it is heirloom quality but you can get at least a few years out of it while you save up for/decide on longer term stuff, especially if you build it well (it's not called for in the instructions, but a lot of pieces can be glued for extra rigidity) and use appropriate fasteners to fix it to the wall. Re: layout: swap the positions of the dining table and tv/couch complex. The tv area will feel cozy instead of cramped since it's in a nook instead of a travel area, and the dining table will have room to breathe. Or get rid of the dining table altogether since you have your bar seating and enjoy having some open space, which I guarantee will make your house feel much larger.
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Aug 6, 2021 19:24
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actionjackson posted:I have some concerns looking at this picture. The first is that there appears to be very little space between the back of the stools and the back of the sofa. You always want 36" minimum I'd say. It appears to be about 18-20" based on the other measurements. As it is now, if people are sitting on those stools, no one is going to be able to pass through behind them. Could you give me the following: There’s a bunch of weird stuff going on with the sketch-up I think. The media unit as shown is 26” deep - that can’t be right, or at least you can certainly get much shallower furniture than that. 14” sounds more like it to me. So just making that change is moving the couch at least a foot away from the island without changing the distance from couch to media unit. I don’t think the space is actually as tight as the drawing makes it look. All he really needs to do to make it work is not get an oversized couch and gently caress with the placement until it’s a good balance between distance from the island and distance from the tv. Or completely reconfigure, which is what I would do. But I don’t watch much tv, so having a big tv in my living room is not something I’m interested in.
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Aug 6, 2021 20:02
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hypnophant posted:Some Ikea stuff is more flimsy, some is less. Hemnes is solid pine, fjallbo is steel and solid wood. You're right that none of it is heirloom quality but you can get at least a few years out of it while you save up for/decide on longer term stuff, especially if you build it well (it's not called for in the instructions, but a lot of pieces can be glued for extra rigidity) and use appropriate fasteners to fix it to the wall. yeah ikea is good while you save up for something you really want. they use pine because it's the cheapest wood available. i've had a pine ikea dresser and nightstand for a long time that I stained. it still works fine, but being ikea whenever you shut the drawers, it makes a loud banging noise and wobbles. gets a little old.
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Aug 6, 2021 20:29
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actionjackson posted:I have some concerns looking at this picture. The first is that there appears to be very little space between the back of the stools and the back of the sofa. You always want 36" minimum I'd say. It appears to be about 18-20" based on the other measurements. As it is now, if people are sitting on those stools, no one is going to be able to pass through behind them. Could you give me the following: Again the stools, sofa, and media unit in the drawings are just stock models I found in Sketchup. Currently I just have an Ikea-hacked media stand, and the couch I have is pushed farther back-- since there are no stools to use at the bar. I'll insert some measurements from the wall where the media unit would be to the bar. 
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Aug 7, 2021 01:46
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Ah ok, thanks. The first thing I'd recommend is seeing how well a 9x12 rug would work. So I picture it like this 9x12 rug 92" sofa with the back about 9 feet from the tv wall, which will give plenty of clearance a chair on each side here's a fake room where the longer wall is the same length as the tv wall. the other wall is the 146", which is the distance from the tv wall to the stool when the stool is pulled out. there is close to a 3' gap so people can easily walk between the back of the stool and the back of the 92" sofa. lighting, side tables or both can easily go on both sides of the sofa, and a small coffee table could go in the middle. I think the 9x12 is a great rug size to build this area on. Besides the 92" sofa, a right (actually left - whichever one where the chaise would be at the bottom of the image) hand sectional might work. actionjackson fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Aug 7, 2021 |
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Aug 7, 2021 03:36
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I actually have this 8'x10' rug, currently, but I'm all for big rugs: https://www.homedepot.com/p/nuLOOM-Lexie-Ombre-Black-8-ft-x-10-ft-Area-Rug-RZBD15A-71001010/206985036 I'll take a few more looks at sofas to get an idea of dimensions and see how the measurements look sometime this weekend. Do y'all have any suggestions of particular couch/sofa/sectional brands or stores to look at? I did discover the bougie-gay-tiktok where a guy described how to order sectionals from Restoration Hardware's manufacturers in China. Specifically, I located one selling the Cloud sectionals. For a 4-piece (3 meter long with one chaise/ottoman) set, they quoted me $1600. That is with two caveats: https://hzvangogh.en.alibaba.com/pr...ional_sofa.html 1) I assume that the RH models are stuffed with goose down, and this was with a foam cushion + duck feathers. 2) They haven't gotten back to me about a freight of shipping fee yet. I'm familiar with cheap feather-stuffed pillows to know that that is not going to be anywhere near as comfortable as goose down, but it is a neat thought. Edit: I found this last night and like it, or the general idea quite a bit: https://rexhillstudio.com/lowstoragebench MetaJew fucked around with this message at 03:55 on Aug 7, 2021 |
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Aug 7, 2021 03:45
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