If you are installing lighting in a home, a bit of lighting design knowledge will make all the difference and win you more business from future recommendations. Here’s seven tips to help you take your residential lighting business to the next level.
Tip 1 – Layer the light
It’s time to move on from flat one-dimensional lighting if you want to stand out from the crowd.
Good lighting design combines ambient, accent and task lighting to create a multi layered scheme that brings a room to life.
- Ambient lighting is the primary source of light in a space providing general background illumination.
- Accent lighting provides points of focus and highlights to add depth and interest.
- Task lighting focuses light on areas for specific tasks.
Consider each of these elements and work to create layers of light. Start with ambient or general lighting and then work with your customer to highlight features or artwork. And then add task lighting where your customer needs it for extra concentration.
Tip 2 – Understand colour temperature
People respond emotionally to light and its colour and quality will affect the way they feel in a space. The colour of the light you use in a room will help create the mood. The correlated colour temperature is a measure of how a light source’s colour appears.
Depending on what your customer wants to achieve, you can install lighting that ranges from a very warm relaxing light of 2200K to a cool white light of 4000K that will aid concentration. Your customer will use rooms for different things, see diagram 1 below for what colour temperature light we suggest and where.
Tip 3 – Be creative with light
Skimming light onto textured materials will really bring shadows to the fore and amplify the effect of that texture. It will create a dramatic visual feature and even add interest to a plain surface.
You can also think about using colour temperature in feature lighting to further enhance the material you are highlighting.
Warm lighting tones tend to suit more traditional buildings and materials. For example, consider highlighting wood or sandstone with 2700K to 3000K.
To bring out the natural elements of stone or brick use a colour temperature of between 2700K to 4000K, depending on the colour and type of stone or brick.
If you or your customer wants to add drama to white materials, then 4000K will make it pop with a fresh, crisp feel.
Tip 4 – Get the beam angle right
Look at what you are lighting. Is it a room to provide general ambient lighting or are you focussing on a feature to add interest? You need to direct the light where it is needed and to do so you need to get the beam angle of the fitting right.
Narrow 12o
A narrow beam option is ideal for highlighting features and provides a greater intensity of light.
Medium 240
Medium beam widths are good for lighting individual paintings or for providing general light in a space with higher ceilings or in corridors such as the hall or landing.
Wide 45o or 50o
A wide beam angle will create an even spread of light across a wide area. It’s often used for general or ambient lighting. You can also use it to provide a wash of light to display a collection of pictures.
Tip 5 – Use lighting control
Adding control gives your customer the flexibility to change their lighting to suit the room’s function and create a desired mood.
The more lighting circuits a room has, the more flexibility there will be. Dimming adds the ability to change the light levels, and adding more circuits allows your customer to use different lights at various times and dim them to meet their needs.
In larger multifunctional spaces, such as a kitchen diner, it can be a good idea to look at using a pre-programmable control system. For real sophistication, smart home systems control the lighting for the whole property and can include the control of blinds, music, cinemas and more.
Tip 6 – Lighting for function
Be aware of how your customer will use each area. For example, food preparation and cooking needs more concentrated lighting, so use spotlights or even under cabinet lighting to provide extra task lighting.
And people will use a bathroom for getting ready in the morning, but also for soaking in a bath. Dimmable lights can create different moods while task lighting around a mirror using wall lights at cheek height and a tiltable downlight will provide enough illumination for shaving or applying makeup, without the harsh shadows of one fixed downlight. You also need to be aware of what lighting you can install in the different zones of a bathroom.
A family will use areas differently, so each room will require its own lighting design. For advice on what lighting to install in each room download our “An Electrician’s Guide to Lighting Design for the Home.”
Tip 7 – Don’t be afraid to ask for help
There are occasions where it is best to seek professional help. Our in-house lighting design team can help you create amazing lighting designs for your customer.
From a single room to an entire building project, we will provide you with customised designs to match your budget.
