I am renovating my family room and looking for ideas. I do a ton of remodels and i am sick of 4" recessed lights. Every house i walk into doesn't seem any different than the next. I renovated my upstairs hall bath a few months ago and used a 2" trimless for the shower and 2" square recessed lights for the main lighting and legrand adorne series switches. It looks very cool. When I google lighting ideas I don't see any unique features. Does anyone have a website or any input where I can get ideas? I am also about to renovate a house where the customer speced out trimless recess everywhere, also trimless doors, and trimless baseboard. Im trying to get ideas for them also.
Lighting Ideas for Family Room
- Thread starter HuntNJ
- Start date
ramsy
NoFixNoPay Electric
- Location
- LA basin, CA
- Occupation
- Service Electrician 2020 NEC
Silence means no one knows, or know one wants to break forum rules.
DIY projects are against the rules, but DIY on other people's homes is Ok.
DIY projects are against the rules, but DIY on other people's homes is Ok.
brantmacga
Señor Member
- Location
- Georgia
- Occupation
- Former Child
You need a layered approach based on room type, size, and budget.
Family room can use a small amount of recessed lighting for general floor lighting, or to highlight specific furniture/wall elements. You need lamps in a family room, and if you have a fireplace, sconces on the side can be a good choice. Any room for reading, conversating with others, etc, you need light at the face. Same as a bathroom, you need light at the face.
Lookup the IES recommendations for footcandles for each room and multiply that by sq/ft to get the necessary lumens. If your family room needs 30 footcandles, and it's 350 sq/ft, you need 10,500 lumens. Now divide that by the lumens of the lamps you're using to determine how many fixtures.
I like to highlight interior pathways with small 2"-3" aperture fixtures. Hallways are a good place for sconces to make them inviting, but most residential hallways really aren't wide enough for that, thus you end up with a ceiling flush-mount or recessed and it becomes a narrow hospital corridor.
Bathrooms I like a combination of sconces and recessed.
For kitchens I try to use a small aperture about 12" off the cabinet fronts and a lot of under-cabinet task lighting. If it's a large kitchen put a decorative semi-flush in the ceiling as well.
Overall, just make sure to put the light where you need it. In the ceiling is not always the best answer in a dwelling.
Family room can use a small amount of recessed lighting for general floor lighting, or to highlight specific furniture/wall elements. You need lamps in a family room, and if you have a fireplace, sconces on the side can be a good choice. Any room for reading, conversating with others, etc, you need light at the face. Same as a bathroom, you need light at the face.
Lookup the IES recommendations for footcandles for each room and multiply that by sq/ft to get the necessary lumens. If your family room needs 30 footcandles, and it's 350 sq/ft, you need 10,500 lumens. Now divide that by the lumens of the lamps you're using to determine how many fixtures.
I like to highlight interior pathways with small 2"-3" aperture fixtures. Hallways are a good place for sconces to make them inviting, but most residential hallways really aren't wide enough for that, thus you end up with a ceiling flush-mount or recessed and it becomes a narrow hospital corridor.
Bathrooms I like a combination of sconces and recessed.
For kitchens I try to use a small aperture about 12" off the cabinet fronts and a lot of under-cabinet task lighting. If it's a large kitchen put a decorative semi-flush in the ceiling as well.
Overall, just make sure to put the light where you need it. In the ceiling is not always the best answer in a dwelling.
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
I've always liked indirect lighting in family and TV rooms, like linear lights above a perimeter crown mold.
- Occupation
- Licensed Electrician
That's what I did in my house and it's great.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
Ignore that previous comment. Nothing wrong with trimless recessed lights. I prefer recessed lights when they're done right, meaning the right number of lights for the space, the correct size, and a good layout.
James L
Senior Member
- Location
- Kansas Cty, Mo, USA
- Occupation
- Electrician
I'd say post a drawing of the room, with furniture if possible.