Designing With Light In The Living Room Or Family
Room
When designing a lighting plan for a living room or family room, you
need to consider the variety of activities that occur there. You'll want
to include general lighting for entertaining and watching television,
task lighting for reading or sewing, and accent lighting for artwork,
plants, and interesting architectural features. Dimming controls are
ideal for the living room because they allow you to design the lighting
to suit each mood and activity (see lighting controls).
Fireplaces made of brick or
stone can be emphasized with recessed downlights installed in the
ceiling over the mantle to create an intriguing grazing effect across
the surface (see wall grazing). Wall sconces on each side of the
fireplace are an attractive addition that draws attention to the
fireplace area, while providing general lighting for the living room.
Reading
requires task lighting that comes from behind the reader's shoulder.
This can be accomplished by placing a floor lamp either at the right or
the left of the reading chair. The bottom of the shade should be located
at eye level to avoid glare.
Paintings can be highlighted
with low-voltage, tungsten-halogen picture lights. These frame-mounted
lights spread a beam of bright, white light across the face of the
painting.
House plants can be accented by aiming an uplight can at the wall
behind the plant, creating a dramatic silhouette of the plant against
the wall.
Bars can be
lighted from above with recessed or track fixtures, or with miniature,
low-voltage pendants that hover intimately over the bar.
Glass shelves and glassware can be accented by two recessed
adjustable fixtures. The use of low-voltage fixtures with
tungsten-halogen bulbs will emit a bright white light that will make
glassware sparkle, while providing added illumination for serving and
cleanup.
TV, video games, and computers require
low-level general lighting that does not wash out the screen's image nor
reflect into the viewer's eyes. Miniature track lighting can be
installed under shelves to provide both general and accent lighting.
Choose from accent spots, mini-lights, and compact or linear fluorescent
light sources.
Game tables
require bright, even overhead lighting. Shaded pendants equipped with
either incandescent bulbs or energy-efficient compact fluorescent tubes
are one solution. Or, install two recessed downlights over each half of
the table.
