Home lighting projects: everything you need to know

To achieve this, we need to make the most of natural light and ensure our lighting plans are an integral part of construction, refurbishment and remodelling projects. Last of all, lighting should complement the interior design of our home.

Key factors in any home lighting project

The first thing to consider when taking on a home lighting project is the presence of any existing lights and the overall effect we want to achieve with the completed installation. The project will need to be coherent throughout while remaining specific to each space since each room in our home has its own characteristics. The illumination demands across bedrooms, kitchens, hallways and bathrooms vary greatly. Plus, we need to account for other factors such as optimising energy consumption and limiting our carbon footprint.

Over the last few years, LEDs have become the most popular type of light used in homes because they guarantee excellent overall lighting and are available as recessed lights, strip lights and spotlights, among others. Lamps, spotlights and other wall or ceiling lamps can round installations off and create a more inviting ambience or provide extra light in areas that can benefit from it. For example, kitchens and reading corners.

Distribution and areas

Home lighting projects should always factor in how we use each space. Measuring and drawing to-scale plans of each room can be a very useful exercise when we take decisions regarding distribution. We also need to take the colour temperature and colour rendering index (CRI) into account. The latter measures how faithfully a light reproduces the colour of objects. The higher the result, the more faithfully the colour is reproduced with regards to how it appears under natural light. A CRI of 90, for example, corresponds to a very faithful rendering of colour.

Luminaire distribution

A quality home lighting design project should account for all the different types of luminaires and circuits or levels in each room. Recessed spotlights working independently to lamps, strip lights and other wall-mounted lights function well in living rooms. The combination gives us the option of customising the lighting to suit our preferences, needs and electricity bill budget.

The same applies to the kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms and hallways. There should generally be a main source of light alongside others that vary in intensity to avoid creating shadows and to give us the extra light we need when we are performing tasks.

Aesthetics

It is also very important to plan each detail so that our installation looks good. The lights in a home help to shape its personality. We can choose from classic, modern, youthful, colourful, relaxing and many other types of finishes. Luminaires with LED technology can give us the customised look we are after, but our style of home – more traditional or more contemporary – should be our guide.

The right lights for each space: key factors to keep in mind

All homes have a range of rooms, spaces and ambiences. Here are some of the main considerations we need to take into account in each case.

Living room

In rooms with televisions, the light intensity should be somewhere around 100 Lux, but dining areas need around 150 Lux. Given that living rooms are often used for a range of purposes, there should be direct and indirect lights and it should be possible to adjust them to suit the circumstances. Warm lights are best for creating an inviting and relaxing mood.

Kitchen

Lux levels increase to up to 200 in kitchens. Kitchens also need more than one circuit: a general one and a secondary or focal circuit with an elevated chromatic reproduction index. This helps us to clearly identify the colour of the food (meat, fish, etc.) in front of us.

Bedrooms

The aim in bedrooms is to create a relaxing and calming environment. If we are to achieve this, we need to go the extra mile and install luminaires that have an intensity control option. Indirect lights or marker wall lights are a great way of highlighting wardrobes. Reading lights on headboards compliment bedside lamps perfectly. The light should be warm with a variable intensity of between 50 and 200 Lux.

Bathrooms

Irrespective of if we are inclined to go for warmer or cooler lights, the key to bathroom lighting is to install a combination of general lighting and additional lights around the mirror. The light in the shower also needs to be strong enough that we can shower comfortably, but not so strong that there is glare. 100 Lux options work well for the general light.

Hallways

The important thing in hallways is to provide sufficient intensity so that we can see properly. Recessed, surface or marker wall luminaires work best.

Outdoors

Directional lights that we can shine towards sections of a façade, garden or swimming pool are great for outdoors. Aesthetics and functionality combine to deliver great results. There are decorative, fun and customised options on the market.

SECOM lights

SECOM has a number of options suitable for any home lighting design project. The following are just a selection.

• Circular or square Aircom. This interior downlight system employs LED technology.
• Aliket Infinit LED. This continuous line lighting system ensures there is no loss of light between modules.
• Loop. This downlight employs LED technology. It comes in a range of finishes so you can create a customised look.
• Twin. This luminaire, in surface or suspended light options, comes with LED technology.

There are many ways of executing a home lighting project. The options are endless and choices should be based on functionality, aesthetics and energy savings. With this in mind, we can design beautiful, inviting and efficient spaces. Appropriate LED technology luminaires are pivotal to making our home lighting project a success.