How to Create a Lighting Plan

If you're starting to renovate your home, you will benefit from creating a lighting plan at the start of the process. You should think about your lighting before your electric cables are laid out, or you could face difficulty later on in the process. You can use your lighting plan to be more creative throughout the rest of the renovation - for example, using LED strip lights on your units.

Starting the Plan

When you're making the lighting plan, go round your home with a notepad and pen, and make note of the following things:

What is this space used for? The lounge might double up as a home office, you may eat as a family in the kitchen and so on.
Do you have any features in the room that you'd like to highlight, such as a plant or a painting?
Who uses the room? Older people need brighter lighting than teenagers.
What time of day will you be using the room?
Where does the natural light come into the room?

Making the Plan

When making your plan, use a piece of graph paper and draw a plan to assist you in working out where to place your lights. Try and make it to scale, but don't worry if you can't.

Make sure to mark down any features that you can't move i.e. alcoves and fireplaces.
Mark arrows to indicate where people may face - towards the TV, towards the wall if they're working or by the window.
Mark down the existing plug sockets, and decide if you need any more.
Workaround the entry and exit points of a room to determine where the light switches should be placed, for ease of access.
Note down where you'll be placing large pieces of furniture such as the sofa and bed.
Treat every room as an individual area, but use light to link them together - you don't want to go from one dark room to an extremely bright one.

Circuits

You should think about the circuits in the room. Do you want to be able to switch all of the lights on at once, or would you prefer individual switches? You may wish to use dimmer switches to control the level of lighting. Each circuit should have no more than two lights with a wall-mounted panel. If you put more than three switches on a panel, you may struggle to remember what they are all used for.

Layer Lights

Any well-designed room will have layers of lighting. You can use layers to create zones in an open plan room, set the mood or make the room feel cosy during the winter months. You should mix wall lights, floor lamps, pendants and downlights. Your main sources of lighting should use dimmer switches so that you can easily change the mood of the room.

Type of Bulb

When you're thinking about lighting, it's important to consider the type of bulb that you are using. LED lights are available in both cool and warm lighting. Cool lighting is bright white and feels very stark and almost hospital-like. Warmer lights are more comforting, and better for social rooms like the living room or bedroom.

If you need assistance with planning lighting in your home, we can help. At Light Supplier, we have multiple years of experience in providing lighting for home and commercial environments. Give us a call and we will help you plan your lights.