recessed lighting in old house

kelley4180 · 11-16-2009, 09:04 PM

Was on a business trip and ended up in an ultra-hip DC hotel recently. One thing that impressed me was their use of 3-inch recessed lights. Really made a tiny hotel room have dimension to it.

We've got an old plain austere '52 ranch in the near suburbs of Atlanta. I'm thinking about putting some small recessed lights in our living room. But, would love to hear thoughts on whether that's a mismatch of styles. (I.e. Are 3" recessed lights good for big city condos/hotels, but not suburban brick ranches?) I'm attaching a picture of our 17/11 foot front room. I've thought about putting three 3'' lights above the fireplace wall (one above each of the bookshelves, another in the center of the fireplace), and then two more along the ceiling above the couch. Design thoughts greatly appreciated.

kok328 · 11-18-2009, 08:13 PM

Nothing wrong with your plans, should look fine.
Have you thought about track lighting for the book shelves/fireplace and perhaps wall sconces over the couch?

Plumbing And Lighting · 11-19-2009, 03:42 PM

Yea, I would also go with track lighthing for the fireplace. However, you may find that with all that added light along the wall, you won't need anymore above the couches.

I don't see anything wrong with using recessed lights in a small space. Actually, it's a good idea...just make sure you don't go overboard.

lou19604 · 12-20-2009, 11:43 PM

That is a nicely designed and laid out room. So in being with my radical styles.

First I would tear out the wooden shelves and replace them with glass then use a 3" dead center of the square . For the fireplace I would go 1' In from the outside edges and 3' from the wall. I would also go with the directional eyeball type.

Then I would put 2 6" lights on either side of the room above the couch maybe keeping them in line with the 3" from the fire place

I WOULD ALSO USE SEPERATE DIMMER SWITCHES FOR THE 6 AND 3

olivia751 · 12-21-2009, 03:25 AM

Hello,

Nice designs i got here. Thanks for the images.

Regards,
Olivia

samj520 · 01-05-2010, 04:57 PM

My wife and I remodeled a brick home and we put recessed lighting in every room. For starters -- please understand there is no such thing as too much light. You can only have too little light. We discovered that 6" IC remodel cans work the best. You will want to place these about 4-5' apart from each other.

Remember your ceiling is a canvas. People's eye's tend to look up when they enter a room. So you may want to keep it balanced [ 3 on the left and 3 on the right.] You may also want to highlight your cabinets and the artwork over your mantel with some low voltage 2" cans with MR11 bulbs.

I always put dimmers on everything. This gives you total control of your room. Lutron makes some great dimmers and you can even get them with remote control -- really nice! You may want (1) dimmer for the 6 cans (1) dimmer for the 2 cans highlighting the bookcases and (1) dimmer highlighting the artwork.

There is no right or wrong -- just have fun. Anything you add in the way of ceiling lighting will be of value to you and when it comes time to resell.

lightingking · 02-04-2010, 12:05 PM

After doing a lot of projects in the southeast, I can definitely say you would be perfectly fine putting in recessed lighting in this space.

However, just as mentioned before, don't go overboard.

Track lighting will work, but for the clean, sleek look I would go with recessed all the way!!

:-)

Wuzzat? · 02-04-2010, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by samj520

there is no such thing as too much light. You can only have too little light.

Nah. . .

Lux - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

frozenstar · 02-11-2010, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plumbing And Lighting

Yea, I would also go with track lighthing for the fireplace. However, you may find that with all that added light along the wall, you won't need anymore above the couches.

I don't see anything wrong with using recessed lights in a small space. Actually, it's a good idea...just make sure you don't go overboard.

I totally agree on this advice.

Just don't go overboard and it will definitely look good.