Types of Light Fixtures

Track Lighting

Track lighting is mounted or suspended from the ceiling on a linear unit that contains several light heads,
which can be positioned anywhere along the track. The direction of the heads can also be adjusted. In
this room, the track lighting is used to highlight the artwork and wall and provide overall light for the
space.

Recessed Lighting

This light fixture is installed above the ceiling and has an opening that is flush with the ceiling. Recessed
lighting sends a relatively narrow band of light in one direction, so it can be used to provide ambient,
task or accent lighting. The recessed lighting in this kitchen adds sufficient light without overwhelming
the space. Design by Andreas Charalambous.

Under-Cabinet Lighting

Mounted underneath kitchen cabinets, this type of lighting is extremely popular as task lighting in a
kitchen. The under-cabinet lights in this kitchen brighten up the room and enhance the contemporary,
clean feel of the space.

Floor Lamp

A versatile and portable light source, lamps come in a wide range of sizes and styles. This floor lamp
complements the room's design scheme and provides task lighting for the bordering chairs. Design by
Shelley Riehl David in Wayzata, Minn.

Table Lamp

A stylish table lamp can add character to a room while providing task light. This sophisticated lamp could
easily be used for reading. Design by David Scott.

Desk Lamp

Desk lamps provide task lighting, directing light downward on a work space. Design by Luis Caicedo.

Chandelier

Suspended from the ceiling, chandeliers direct light upward. They are typically installed over a table or
in a main entry foyer, but they are not strangers to bedrooms and bathrooms. Chandeliers enhance the
decorative style of a room and provide ambient lighting. Design by Dina Manzo.

Wall Sconces

Wall sconces are very versatile. Surface-mounted to a wall, they can direct light upward or downward.
Wall sconces can add a stylistic touch to a room and can also provide ambient or task lighting. The
sconces in this bathroom provide flattering lighting while not subtracting from the impact of the tiled
wall.
Pendant Lighting

Suspended from the ceiling, a pendant light directs light down. It can easily enhance the decorative style
of a room and add character. In this space, the pendants are positioned to hang low over the bed-side
tables. Photo courtesy of Lexington Home Brands.

Cove Lighting

There are three common forms of architectural lighting, and cove lighting is a popular form. Cove
lighting is placed in a ledge, shelf or recess high up on a wall, and the light is bounced toward the ceiling
or upper wall. In this bedroom, the cove lighting illuminates the ceiling above the bed, adding a romantic
feel. Design by Jennifer Charleston.

Soffit Lighting

Soffit lighting, another type of architectural lighting, radiates downward, washing the wall with light. In
this bedroom, soffit lighting adds interesting dimension behind the bed. Design by Jennifer Duneier in
New York City.

Living Rooms / Family Rooms

The concept of layering light is particularly important in the living/family room, an area of the house
where people tend to gather for long stretches of time and engage in an array of activities, including
conversation, watching TV, reading, playing board games and using a laptop. "In rooms where people
spend a lot of time, I like to get away from recessed downlights, and instead use lights that bounce off
the ceiling for ambient illumination," says lighting designer Markus Earley, of earleylight, in Providence,
R.I. "Bouncing light off the ceiling creates a sense of brightness in the room, and avoids the shadows or
downward direction of recessed lights."

Earley also favors bouncing light off the ceiling because it suits the human tendency to visually perceive
vertical planes—looking up—versus looking at our feet.
To accomplish ambient lighting that bounces off the ceiling of a living room, Earley suggests integrating
cove or valance lighting into the room's architecture. "Or, if you have bookcases or an entertainment
unit that doesn't go all the way to the ceiling, there's an opportunity to add a piece of millwork and put
a linear fluorescent behind it," suggests Earley, who likes the new slim T5 fluorescents that are
dimmable and have good color rendering and a warm appearance.

Another way to provide ambient lighting in a living room is to wash the walls with light, which can be
accomplished with soffit or valance lighting, recessed or track lighting that is directed toward the walls,
or even with plug-in floor lamp torchieres with translucent upward facing globes.

Task lighting for a living room may be provided by table lamps, such as pharmacy-style adjustable lamps
placed near a reading chair or game table. "An apothecary-style reading lamp with an LED or
incandescent light bulb is one of my all-time favorite choices for task lighting," says interior designer
Cheryl Katz of C&J Katz Studio in Boston.

Accent lighting in a living room may be used to focus on an architectural element, such as a fireplace or
bookcase, or on a painting, sculpture or plant. Uplights placed on the floor may be used as accent
lighting for a plant, while track lighting may be used as accent lighting for artwork. When lighting an art
collection, the brightness and heat generated by a type of lighting must be considered; for some lighting
designers, accent lighting for artwork is a particular area of expertise.

In a large living room formerly lit by recessed cans and table lamps, a new lighting design that includes
architectural lighting might consist of two valances running the length of two opposite walls (mounted
about a foot below ceiling height), one soffit installed directly above a fireplace (at ceiling height), and a
table lamp placed next to a reading chair. Wall switches would control the valance and soffit, or a
keypad could control all the lighting with preprogrammed 'entertaining,' 'reading,' 'all on' and 'all off'
settings.

In a modest living room that has one wall switch wired to an outlet, a homeowner fix that provides
energy efficiency and versatility would be to replace the wall switch with a dimmer, and add faux-cove
lighting by concealing a fixture behind a piece of millwork added to the top of a bookcase, and wired to
the outlet controlled by a dimmer.

Lumens: Ambient lighting for a living room should be 1,500-3,000 lumens. Task lighting for reading
should be a minimum of 400 lumens.
Kitchens

With its heavy focus on the functions of food preparation and cleanup, as well as its tendency to be a
gathering spot, the kitchen requires careful consideration of task and ambient lighting. Think in
particular of the task lighting for the counters, where most of the work takes place, and over the sink.

One of the main reasons sinks have often been located at a window is to take advantage of natural light,
and this layout is still highly recommended by lighting experts. Augment the natural light with a ceiling
mounted or recessed fixture above the sink. Using undercabinet lighting is a good way to illuminate the
countertop work surfaces without relying on an overhead light that will cast shadows on the person
working at the counters.

When Providence lighting designer Markus Earley, an adjunct professor at the Rhode Island School of
Design, upgraded the lighting in his own kitchen recently, he compared LED and compact fluorescent
lighting options for his undercabinet lighting, and chose T5 linear fluorescent light bulbs that are
dimmable and emit a warm light with a correlated color temperature (CCT) of 3,000 Kelvin. "My one
concern with LED technology is that the LED chip is a tiny little directional light source so that in a linear
undercabinet LED light, you have a multiplicity of little tiny light sources that create shadows," Earley
says.

A basic lighting plan for a modest kitchen might consist of a central, ceiling-mounted fixture providing
ambient light, with undercabinet fixtures providing task lighting for the counters, soffit lighting providing
task lighting above the sink, and a pendant providing task or ambient lighting over the island. This
traditional lighting plan is adequate for many kitchens and can be improved simply by putting all lighting
on a dimmer, and choosing energy efficient light bulbs.

A new lighting plan for a medium-sized kitchen might call for cove lighting along two opposite kitchen
walls to provide ambient lighting that bounces light off the ceiling, instead of recessed downlights or
ceiling-mounted central fixtures, both of which primarily send light straight down. Valance lighting
above the sink and undercabinet lighting would provide the task lighting.

Lumens: Ambient kitchen lighting should be 5,000-10,000 lumens, with task lighting at counters, sink
and range a minimum of 450 lumens in each area.

Bathrooms

With its emphasis on personal grooming that requires viewing oneself in a mirror, the bathroom
requires careful consideration of lighting placement. Too many bathrooms feature a central ceiling-
mounted fixture that casts shadows on a person standing in front of the mirror. "One of the best
improvements you can make in a bathroom is to light both sides of the mirror," says Patricia Rizzo of the
Lighting Research Center. In small baths, where one may have to choose between a wall-mounted
fixture on the side of the mirror or an overhead fixture, lighting designers say to always go with the wall-
mounted placement. "You don't want to cause shadows in a bathroom," says Rizzo.

A common lighting design for older bathrooms may feature a central ceiling-mounted fixture plus a
fixture above the mirror. An improved lighting plan would eliminate those fixtures and replace them
with three wall sconces, two on either side of the mirror, and one on an opposing wall (offset from
mirror position).

Lumens: Ambient lighting in a bathroom should be 4,000-8,000 lumens, with task lighting at the mirror a
minimum of 1,700 lumens.

Outdoors

Several purposes are served by outdoor lighting, including safety (on pathways), security, and pure
aesthetics (playing up a beautiful plant or tree). Jody Pritchard, a lighting designer in San Francisco, says
one of her first bits of advice regarding landscape lighting is to choose quality fixtures for durability. "The
outdoor environment is so harsh, particularly on the coast, that it is worth paying a little more up front
so you don't end up replacing fixtures every three years," says Pritchard.

When planning landscape lighting, Pritchard suggests thinking in threes: light something close to the
house, something midrange in the yard, and something in a far corner. "That way you create interesting
focal points when viewed from the house at night," she says. One overlooked benefit of outdoor lighting
is that it minimizes the reflection of glass surfaces viewed from inside the house at night. "If you provide
something outside that is lit, even a plant just outside a French door, you will be looking beyond the
glass reflection," notes Pritchard.

Avoid the mistake of using too much light outdoors. "People often think more is better, brighter is
better, but outside wherever you create a super bright area you've also created super dark areas, and
that can be unsafe. It's better to have low levels of lighting all around," says Pritchard.

The front door is one of the few outdoor areas where a brighter light is acceptable, with a traditional
lighting plan calling for two wall-mounted fixtures flanking the door.

Lumens: Lighting at the front entry should be 1,000-2,000 lumens; on pathways, a minimum of 300
lumens is recommended.
Dining Rooms

The primary focus of dining room lighting is the table, and fixtures placed directly above the table may
provide both ambient and task lighting for this room. Dimmers are particularly desirable as they provide
flexibility in establishing a relaxing atmosphere when entertaining. An important consideration in a
dining room that has French doors is to light something outside the doors (see "Outdoor" section) so
that people using the dining room at night have a focal point beyond their reflection in the glass doors.
"Light one element outdoors and you have a simple solution to the problem of glass reflection in a room
at night," says lighting designer Lana Nathe.

Another consideration when lighting a dining room is to consider the wall treatment, as dining rooms
often have decorative paint treatments or wallpapers. A darker color paint on the walls will reflect less
light, so more lumens may be required in the room's light fixtures.

A traditional lighting plan for a dining room consists of a chandelier above the table, plus a pair of wall
sconces flanking a prominent breakfront or sideboard, with all lighting on a dimmer. An upgraded
lighting plan might include cove lighting on two opposing walls and a dimmable chandelier over the
table.

Lumens: Ambient and task lighting combined in a dining room should be 3,000-6,000 lumens.

Bedrooms

Bedside reading and closet lighting are two of the primary concerns in a bedroom lighting plan. For
bedside reading, lighting experts suggest wall-mounted light fixtures with adjustable arms so that the
light can be directed on the reading material. Each bedside light should operate on its own switch, either
directly on the fixture or a wall switch within easy reach.

Ambient lighting may be provided by floor lamps, architectural lighting, or a pair of sconces flanking a
wall mirror. Because the bedroom is a room where a relaxing, sympathetic atmosphere is welcomed, it
may be best to avoid central ceiling-mounted fixtures that might be perceived harshly when viewed
from bed. Consider the paint color of bedroom walls when planning light output as dark-colored walls
reflect less light. For a closet, ceiling-mounted or recessed fixtures are commonly used.
A traditional lighting plan for a bedroom might consist solely of floor and table lamps, with table lamps
on nightstands and dresser. A new lighting plan might include either wall-mounted fixtures flanking the
bed or table lamps on the nightstands, plus a pair of wall-mounted sconces near the dresser.

Lumens: Ambient lighting in the bedroom should be 2,000-4,000 lumens, with a minimum of 500 lumens
for each reading light, and 400 lumens for closet lighting.

Entries, Hallways & Stairs

The entry points and pathways through a home typically require nothing more than ambient lighting,
unless there are focal points such as artwork or architectural elements that should receive accent
lighting. A small entry may be sufficiently lighted by a ceiling-mounted or recessed fixture or a wall
sconce. A double height entry with a staircase may require a chandelier with lighting controls at both
the bottom and top of the stairs. Ambient lighting in hallways may be provided by recessed fixtures,
ceiling-mounted fixtures or wall sconces.

If a hallway is used as a gallery for artwork or photographs, consider accent lighting, which is achieved
by precise positioning of directional fixtures that use light bulbs emitting very narrow beams of light.
PAR (parabolic aluminized reflector) and MR (multi-faceted reflector) light bulbs are often used for
accent lighting; fixtures include ceiling-mounted track lighting or recessed fixtures. Proper accent
lighting of artwork requires professionals with skill and experience in locating and aiming the fixtures to
avoid glare and ensure that artwork is not damaged.

Lumens: Ambient lighting for entries and stairways should be 1,200-4,000 lumens; ambient lighting for a
hallway should be 1,200-2,500 lumens.
Zoning

Living Rooms / Family Rooms

The concept of layering light is particularly important in the living/family room, an area of the house
where people tend to gather for long stretches of time and engage in an array of activities, including
conversation, watching TV, reading, playing board games and using a laptop. "In rooms where people
spend a lot of time, I like to get away from recessed downlights, and instead use lights that bounce off
the ceiling for ambient illumination," says lighting designer Markus Earley, of earleylight, in Providence,
R.I. "Bouncing light off the ceiling creates a sense of brightness in the room, and avoids the shadows or
downward direction of recessed lights."

Kitchens

One of the main reasons sinks have often been located at a window is to take advantage of natural light,
and this layout is still highly recommended by lighting experts. Augment the natural light with a ceiling
mounted or recessed fixture above the sink. Using undercabinet lighting is a good way to illuminate the
countertop work surfaces without relying on an overhead light that will cast shadows on the person
working at the counters.

Bathrooms

A common lighting design for older bathrooms may feature a central ceiling-mounted fixture plus a
fixture above the mirror. An improved lighting plan would eliminate those fixtures and replace them
with three wall sconces, two on either side of the mirror, and one on an opposing wall (offset from
mirror position).
Dining Rooms

The primary focus of dining room lighting is the table, and fixtures placed directly above the table may
provide both ambient and task lighting for this room. Dimmers are particularly desirable as they provide
flexibility in establishing a relaxing atmosphere when entertaining. An important consideration in a
dining room that has French doors is to light something outside the doors (see "Outdoor" section) so
that people using the dining room at night have a focal point beyond their reflection in the glass doors.
"Light one element outdoors and you have a simple solution to the problem of glass reflection in a room
at night," says lighting designer Lana Nathe.

Bedrooms

Bedside reading and closet lighting are two of the primary concerns in a bedroom lighting plan. For
bedside reading, lighting experts suggest wall-mounted light fixtures with adjustable arms so that the
light can be directed on the reading material. Each bedside light should operate on its own switch, either
directly on the fixture or a wall switch within easy reach. Ambient lighting may be provided by floor
lamps, architectural lighting, or a pair of sconces flanking a wall mirror. Because the bedroom is a room
where a relaxing, sympathetic atmosphere is welcomed, it may be best to avoid central ceiling-mounted
fixtures that might be perceived harshly when viewed from bed. Consider the paint color of bedroom
walls when planning light output as dark-colored walls reflect less light. For a closet, ceiling-mounted or
recessed fixtures are commonly used.

Entries, Hallways & Stairs

The entry points and pathways through a home typically require nothing more than ambient lighting,
unless there are focal points such as artwork or architectural elements that should receive accent
lighting. A small entry may be sufficiently lighted by a ceiling-mounted or recessed fixture or a wall
sconce. A double height entry with a staircase may require a chandelier with lighting controls at both
the bottom and top of the stairs. Ambient lighting in hallways may be provided by recessed fixtures,
ceiling-mounted fixtures or wall sconces.