Designing with Light

Installed on either walls or ceilings, surface-mounted fixtures are integral to most home lighting designs. They’re especially good at providing diffuse ambient light, though some fixtures are highly decorative too. Under-cabinet strips can supply effective task lighting in kitchens and workshops.

Most surface fixtures come with their own mounting hardware, adaptable to any standard fixture box. Heavier types – such as ceiling fan/light combinations or large chandeliers – may require beefier support, such as a mounting bar, hickey, or J-hook. Some pendants, wall sconces, and under-cabinet lights plug into a nearby receptacle.

FLUSH-MOUNTED FIXTURES, which mount directly to a housing box, provide general illumination in traffic areas such as landings, entries, and hallways. Kitchens, bathrooms, and workshops often benefit from the added light of surface fixtures used in conjunction with task lighting on work surfaces.
Models in this category range from functional frosted glass globes to delicate, decorative wall fixtures. When considering a fixture, look closely at how light bounces off the wall or ceiling to make sure it will be directed where you want it.

Most traditional panels sit against the ceiling, they’re loosely named shoplights; when they’re flush – as within a suspended ceiling – they’re called troffers. The only real difference is that troffers aren’t finished on the sides. Except in utility spaces, the tubes these fixtures house are usually covered with acrylic diffusing panels. Multiple panels may be grouped or “ganged,” end-to-end or side-by-side, to make one large light source.

CHANDELIERS AND PENDANTS add sparkle and style in high-ceilinged entries and above dining tables and breakfast nooks. Depending on your needs, these decorative fixtures can give direct or diffused light – or a combination of the two. It’s always a good idea to wire such fixtures to a dimmer, allowing you to fine-tune their output. Swag-chain suspended pendants with cords and plugs – offer a movable alternative.

The size of a fixture relative to it’s surroundings is critical. A pendant used over a table should be at least 12 inches narrower than the table to keep diners or passerby from colliding with it. In an entry, be sure to allow enough room below a chandelier to guarantee safe passage for tall people.

WALL SCONCES, available in a huge array of styles, are great for hallways (providing
they don’t impede traffic) and for indirect lighting in living spaces. From the photos in the previous section, “Great Lighting Ideas,” you can see that sconces often travel in pairs, flanking windows, doorways, fireplaces, or furniture groupings.
Place sconces about 5 1/2 feet up from the floor, and keep them away from corners- otherwise, they’ll create hot spots.

CEILING FAN/LIGHT COMBINATIONS can reduce your dependence on an air conditioner when the fan is used regularly. Or you can use one only as needed to improve the comfort of a room.

BATHROOM MAKEUP LIGHTS should fulfill two basic requirements: provide shadow-free task lighting and offer warm, smooth-toned color temperature. The classic choice is so-called “theater lighting” – strings of incandescent globes on a striplike base; you’ll find several versions at most home centers. Other options abound, including vertically mounted fluorescent tubes, incandescent tubes, and wall sconces flanking either side of a mirror.

UNDER-CABINET TASK LIGHTS come thin and narrow to fit the space below a kitchen’s wall cabinets and shine on the countertop below. Fluorescents are popular here, in both plug-in and wire-in versions. These units, as thin as 1 3/16 inches, screw to the bottom of the cabinets. Lengths from 12 inches on up are available; some can be “ganged” together to make longer runs.

Incandescent and halogen strips also make sense for under-cabinet use – particularly if you wish to be able to dim the lights.

STRIP LIGHTS are partly for fun, partly for effective task lighting. They add a splash of light and color to display niches, kitchen soffits, stair railings, architectural columns, or just about anywhere.
You’ll find both rigid and flexible versions. Rigid strips, equipped with tiny incandescent or halogen bulbs, are wired into a line with a semigrid metal or plastic backing; often they can be joined end-to-end to make longer strips. Fixtures with larger bulbs are also available; these are essentially miniature track systems.

Flexible versions called rope lights feature tiny bulbs encased in flexible plastic tubes. Rope lights are finding their way into home improvement centers, along with a full line of connectors to install them and splice runs into whatever shapes you choose.