Home Lighting for Your Health & Well Being
Does your home lighting bring out the best in you? The signs of poor lighting go much further than straining to read a prescription bottle….
Lighting can affect the way you feel emotionally, it can be the cause of injuries and impair your ability to function at your best AND relax when it’s time to wind down.
Home lighting for your health and well being takes consideration. It’s more than selecting a pretty fixture.
The key is…..Layers of light
A well designed lighting plan should include General Lighting, Task Lighting, Safety Lighting, Accent Lighting & Ambient Lighting. By implementing all five into your home you’ll achieve good distribution and create a space that brings out the best in you. Let’s explore how to achieve the five layers for a home lighting plan that improves your health & well being.
Layers of Light offer even distribution
General Lighting
This is your powerhouse for your home lighting. Your general lighting goal is to mimic the sun.
It’s a tall order, isn’t it?
The sun is what brings out the best in you. It fills you with Vitamin D and makes you smile :) Your general lighting needs to live up to this.
How do you achieve this?
Recessed Lighting is your best option. It gives you the opportunity to distribute the sunshine evenly throughout a room. Fortunately, recessed lighting has come a long way over the years. Your ceiling doesn’t need to look like Swiss Cheese anymore. The 4” option is a great way to go. They offer this recessed fixture in round and square. I like to use round in a traditional space and square in a contemporary space.
However, there is some math involved. This will aid in distributing recessed lighting evenly and avoiding the Swiss Cheese look ;)
Start by determining the length, width and height of the space to be illuminated. This helps in selecting the quantity and wattage of the recessed downlights to have installed. To obtain uniform lighting in a room using recessed downlights, a general rule of thumb for a floodlight (not a spotlight) is:
Each recessed downlight may cover an area up to 4 times its mounting height.
Example: For a 9’ ceiling, a single recessed downlight will cover 36 sq. feet of space on the floor (i.e. 6’ x 6’)
Drawing out the dimensions on a piece of paper will allow you to sketch out a lighting plan consisting of recessed downlights that will provide the proper uniformity.
Ceiling Fixtures can also offer good general lighting. There are two main things to take in consideration when choosing a ceiling fixture as your general lighting. First is the size of the room. Second is the lumen requirement for the size of the room.
To determine the lumens required, you will need to multiply your room square footage by your room foot-candle requirement. (See the guide below) For example, a 100 square foot living room , which needs 10-20 foot-candles, will need 1,000-2,000 lumens. A 100 square foot dining room, which needs 30-40 foot-candles, will need 3,000-4,000 lumens.
In the example of the dining room, if you chose a fixture that holds 5- 60 watt bulbs (60 = 800 lumens) you would have 4000 lumens which would be the maximum needed for a 100 sq ft dining room. I recommend a dimmer to create ambient lighting when appropriate.
Guide
Lumens ~ Incandescent light bulb (watts)
800 lm -60 W
1100 lm -75 W
1600 lm -100 W
Room ~ Foot Candles Needed
Living Room 10-20
Kitchen (room) 30-40
Kitchen (above sink/stove) 70-80
Dining Room 30-40
Bedroom 10-20
Hallway 5-10
Bathroom 70-80
Task Lighting
The 4 primary fixtures that fall into the category of task lighting are pendants, under-cabinet lighting, bathroom vanity bars and sconces, & reading lamps. Task lighting is really essential for home lighting that offers health & well being to avoid eye strain and injuries.
Pendants serve well over a kitchen island. They allow you to bring the light closer to where you are prepping food & especially important when you are chopping meats or produce. The nice thing about pendants are they can also serve as accent & ambient lighting if you add a dimmer switch. I always recommend that you do!
Under-cabinet lighting used to be a luxury but now it’s essential. The counters under your cabinets are another important work surface in the kitchen. LED stands for Light Emitting Diode, this is the best option. LED eliminates the extra heat that halogen add to a kitchen and they have improved the color rendering over the years offering a warmer look than earlier versions. Under-cabinet lighting is another place I recommend adding a dimmer to offer an ambient look when you want.
Bathroom lighting should always include wall lighting in addition to ceiling fixtures. Vanity lights and sconces serve to illuminate your face for shaving and applying makeup. You’ll find that having both will be the most flattering to your face. See my earlier post, Creating a Spa Bathroom right here, where I go in to this in more depth.
Lamps can aid in reading. The 2 main places you’re likely to utilize reading lamps are in a living space near a chair or on your nightstand in your bedroom. Be sure to select a lamp that has a 3-way switch and can function for reading as well as creating ambient lighting when you’re relaxing.
One of the keys to home lighting for your well being & health is to provide extra lighting that eliminates the need to strain your eyes.
Safety Lighting
Have you ever stubbed your toe or missed a step? This is where safety lighting is here to save the day. Safety lighting might sound like something for old people but everyone can benefit from this superhero.
It’s become more and more common to add LED lighting in the toe kick of cabinetry. This is a great option to provide safety & avoid injuries in the middle of the night. I recommend that you take it one step further and add a motion detector so it automatically lights up when entering the room.
Have you ever been in a restaurant or commercial space where they use low voltage lighting to illuminate the stairs? This can also work well in a contemporary home setting for providing safety.
Essentially, any area that you are likely to walk when the general lighting is not on or set for ambiance is a place to add safety lighting.
Accent Lighting
Accent lighting might seem like a non-essential, however this is where lighting can add value to your emotional state. Whenever you have the opportunity to graze an architectural element such as a fireplace, it serves to warm your heart, mind and spirit.
Do you have a special piece of art you purchased on vacation? This is another opportunity to properly illuminate your treasured piece and stir up beautiful memories.
Accent Lighting can be a simple picture light that hangs over the frame. This works fine to make them pop. A better option is to install a recessed spot light that pivots and adjusts to zoom in the art or accent wall. Another simple way of adding accent lighting is tucking a flood light behind a piece of furniture and have it cast up on accent wall or feature.
Sconces can also fall into this category. A beautiful sconce on either side of a picture or mantel can add detail that lifts your spirit.
Accent lighting is very similar to landscape lighting. It can have a big impact on bringing out your homes best features.
Ambient Lighting
Last but certainly not least is Ambient Lighting. This is the perfect way to light your home when you want to relax, watch television, or for entertaining. It’s also nice for an overcast day when you want some indoor lighting but don’t require your home to be fully lit.
You can achieve ambient lighting with floor lamps and table lamps. You should also add ambient lighting by installing dimmers to switches that control ceiling fixtures and sconces. There is no limit to where you can use dimmers. Dimmers allow you to adjust the light for the mood you want to achieve. They also help save significantly on your electric bill and extend the life of the bulb.
Speaking of bulbs…..be sure to check out next weeks blogpost when I dive in on what bulbs you should be using. I’ll be continuing down the path of creating home lighting for your health & well being.
Meanwhile, when you take the time and consideration to implement the 5 Layers of Light I have recommended, you will find that your home feels sunny even on a cloudy day.