10 Most Frequently Asked Questions on Lighting

So much of a room’s appeal rests on the way it’s lit. Get it right from the get-go with these expert answers

Melanie Shaw 27 August 2018

Houzz Contributor. Partner and Design Director at Brilliant Lighting.

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If you’re building, remaking or renovating this year, it helps to consider your lighting from the start. The right lighting can vastly improve a space and there may be options you haven’t considered or realised were possible. Designers are often quizzed on the same topics by each client, and this collection of most-asked questions and answers will help you plan and visualise your next big lighting project.

Mark English Architects, AIA

When should I plan my lighting?
If you’re going to be changing anything substantial in a room, think about the lighting early on. Building from scratch or totally renovating is a chance to completely transform your space with light. That means getting lighting cables of the right kind in the right number to the right locations as early as possible.

Building lighting into the fabric of a building, as with this beautiful, modern bedroom, means treating the lighting and its associated cabling as an architectural item.

Mia Karlsson Interior Design

How much should I budget for lighting?
This is a tricky question because everyone’s project is different, but as a rule of thumb, people who really want to invest in getting their lighting right, with good design and high-quality fittings and control, typically spend as much on lighting as they do on their kitchen or their windows and doors.

I’ve come to that rule from working on hundreds of projects over the past 10 years and it’s proved a remarkably accurate guideline.

Find out how to get the lighting right in your home

Brilliant Lighting

What’s the difference between dedicated LED fittings and retrofit LED lamps?
They both use LED as a light source, but they’re very different. LED lamps are sold and used as a replacement for traditional incandescent or halogen lamps (bulbs). They have to fit into the light fittings that were designed for those traditional light sources and that usually means a compromise on light output.

Dedicated LED fittings are designed from the outset to house LED chips. Good-quality fittings incorporate sophisticated thermal management to take heat away from the LED chips, which means they can deliver the same level of light output. LED is a flexible light source – linear fittings like the ones shown, built into the stairs, can be specified to custom lengths to give a truly integrated look.

Brilliant Lighting

Can I use LED lights in the floor with underfloor heating?
Yes, you can, and it’s a very effective way of delivering accent lighting, or even uplighting rooms in which there are issues with fitting lights in the ceiling, such as pitched roof spaces.

Just as important as selecting the right fittings for this sort of project, however, is planning ahead. The cabling and installation points for the lighting need to be planned for before the screed for the underfloor heating is laid. The fittings can then be installed later in the build, but the essential first fix work will have been done.

To give you an idea, the miniature LED uplights in this bathroom were cabled for 18 months before the bath was installed.

Here are 10 reasons to say yes to LED lights

Brilliant Lighting

Can I use LED lights outside?
Absolutely! The lighting in this modern courtyard is entirely LED. Select your fittings with the right IP (Ingress Protection) rating – this indicates the level the fitting is protected against moisture and foreign bodies such as dirt. A good rating for outdoor lights is IP68. Then make sure the connections are suitably IP rated and think about where you might locate the drivers for the fittings.

One route often used is to make sure the fittings have extra-long leads, so you can connect to drivers located inside the house or a garage. The connection is the most likely part of the installation to fail, so make things easier and put the drivers in dry locations.

Janey Butler Interiors

What’s the difference between architectural and decorative light fittings?
Decorative fittings are designed to be seen; they’re attractive in their own right, like this striking pendant over the bath.

Architectural lighting puts the focus on the light itself, rather than the fitting. The niche behind the bath is lit in this way, as all we see is the light framing the niche.

One type of fitting isn’t better than the other – they both do different jobs and, if used well, will complement each other.

Chris Snook

How do I hide lighting in my ceiling?
Cove or coffer lighting takes us right back to the beginning of this feature, in that you need to plan early and treat the lighting as an architectural feature. Your architect, designer or builder can specify a dropped ceiling with a ledge, or a ledge around the room, to contain the latest LED linear fittings.

The effect can be subtle or make a real statement, depending on the output of the fitting, how much you dim it or whether you specify colour-changing RGBW fittings. Be brave and have fun with your lighting.

Learn about the elegance of cove lighting

London Audio Ltd

Can I integrate lighting with my smart home?
Smart lighting is possibly the most common type of smart home technology. Not everyone has or wants a home cinema or whole-house audio system, but everyone needs lights.

All the major lighting control system brands are network-enabled, meaning they can be integrated into a wider smart home with ease, giving you improved energy efficiency, enhanced security and the ability to control all your home’s lights at the press of a button.

Cassidy Hughes Interior Design

Can I control my lights from my tablet?
Yes, you can. The lighting control systems I’ve mentioned sit on the house network and all the major manufacturers offer apps for their own system. The leading home control systems offer apps that manage the whole house (heating, lighting, audio, video, security etc) from one single app, which is much more streamlined.

A word of caution – install keypads as well as an app-controlled system at all the locations you’d normally expect to find a light switch. Just because you can turn on your home’s lights with your phone doesn’t mean you want to be fishing around in your pocket for it on a dark, wet night when you’ve got an armful of groceries.

Powell/Kleinschmidt, Inc.

Can I use sensors to turn my lights on and off?
Yes. Lighting a corridor at night with triggers from motion sensors can make your home feel more welcoming. If you want to be really slick, you can specify a triggered sequence, making the corridor seem to open up in front of you.

Other areas suitable for this kind of lighting include wardrobes, utility rooms and places where you’re not likely to be stationary for too long. Again, consider where you place this option – anywhere in your home that has the potential for you to stop and become engrossed in the newspaper won’t benefit from being thrown into pitch black after 60 seconds!

Read more:
A Guide to Lighting Your Home

Tell us:
Which questions would you recommend asking a lighting designer? Share them in the Comments below.