How
much light does a room need? Most homes are light poor. In my career I
have found this to be very true.
Did you know there is actually a
formula to figure out how much lighting a room needs in your home?
HELPFUL TIP:
I
read a little formula a long time ago that said find your square
footage (example 12ftx16ft = 192sq.ft) then multiply your square footage
by 1.5 (192 x 1.5 =288) so that means your room will need 288 watts of
lighting sources.An average room should have approx. 4-5 lamps.
Anyone
who knows me well, knows that I require light and air so I always have
enough lighting in my room.
I am a big proponent for ambient lighting as
well so most of might lighting has dimmers.
In
my new kitchen I have, in my opinion, way too many over head recessed
lights I have never been a big fan of overhead recessed cans, or the
Swiss cheese look for ceilings, but I do understand their use, and most new
built homes are going to have recessed lighting.
This is a picture of the model, I think I counted 8-9 can lights. I am NOT a fan. These babies will all be on dimmers.
I like different types of lighting in a room, not just overhead lighting. I like lamps, sconces and overhead lights.
In
kitchens we are all use to mostly overhead lighting, but there are
other ways to use the different types of lighting in our kitchens.
Recently a friend of mine showed me a picture of a kitchen that she just knew I would love and little did she know it renewed an idea I had thought about for years, but did not have the opportunity to do this idea in my previous home.
(Thank you Jeanette!)
LAMPS ON KITCHEN COUNTERS:
When I had lamps on my counter in my other home I made sure I could hide the cord.
Downside
of that was the lamp had to be close by an outlet.
If you look closely
you can see the cord running underneath the mirror tray. I had it like
this for years, until I got under counter lighting in the kitchen.
Because of the height of the cabinets I also had to make sure the lamp was low enough to go under the upper cabinets.
This entire kitchen is stunning to say the least. I love the lamps on the upper portion of the breakfast bar.
It appears that these lamps are permanent fixtures. no cord to be seen. However I know that cords are often photo shopped out.
This
is a picture of Ina Garten’s kitchen. This island measures 18ft long,
and I thought my island was BIG!!! I just noticed there is a cord in
this picture, but take a look at this next image…..
At
first I thought it was the same lamp as in the other image, but it is
slightly different.
Notice no little feet, and this appears to have
silicone, or some type of caulking around the bottom edge, and there is
not a cord in sight.
Maybe
Ina was like me at first, not sure she would want it as a permanent
fixture, and then she decided she like them there so much she made them a
permanent fixture. I really have no idea, this is me assuming.
I would like to know, wouldn’t you. So INA if you are reading this,
(fat chance that would happen) could you tell us about your lamps on
your counter in the comments!!
Since
I do not plan on having lamps on my counter permanently I have to
figure out a way to do it without the cord showing. This made me start
to look for some ideas on how to accomplish that. I did find some
possibilities.
Nice
looking is she? (her name is Marilyn,) If the lamp was going to be a permanent fixture forever
it might be worth the price of $425 to not have a cord, but there are
other ways to get around the CORD issue.
I found a blog post that shows how to make a cordless light using LED strip lighting.
This
is the particular strip lighting we used as under cabinet lighting, and
inside our cabinets in our old home, and we also plan on using it in
our new home. It is easy to install and very inexpensive.
This
blogger is so generous in showing just how to do it and she uses
rechargeable batteries so it sounds to me like this just might be the
way to go in order to stay within a reasonable budget that hubby will be
happy with.
So now I have a plan of attack if I decide not to do any lighting over my island, and decide to do lamps on my island instead.
You all know I am a girl that has to have a plan of attack.
Could you see a cordless lamp in your future, or a lamp on your kitchen counter top?
I definitely can and just might!!!
For a great blog post on lamps in kitchens be sure to read “Things That Inspire,” Holly’s post HERE!!
Since I am a planner you can bet I will be doing more blog post on my kitchen lighting ideas!!
Stay Tuned!
