What I want in a room are options. That means several different type/sources of lighting, some with dimmers. I have lived in many houses with inadequate lighting. I hated having to remove lamp shades, or bring in work lights, to be able to see a task properly! Ideally, a room should have a range from mood/night light to being able to see everything clearly with the touch of a switch, or two.

My 1951 MCM split has no ceiling lighting in most of the rooms, and I wish there were some, not for constant use but just for convenience. The bedrooms have wall switches for part-switched duplex outlets, but in some rooms the receptacles were replaced and not hooked up correctly, I think.

I do not see any need to have full even lighting everywhere.

I also want a room with options so lights/lamps can be turned on/off as needed. But I am in total agreement that recessed lighting has taken on a life of its own. Most new construction has a look of Swiss cheese to me with holes in the ceilings!! Placing those recessed lights is also problematic - you're constricted by joist placement which may or may not creating a pleasing or useful spacing. Nothing would bug me more than those black holes in the ceiling being off center to a significant room feature or seating pattern.

Personally, I love to be able to turn on a ceiling full of can lights when I'm cleaning or painting or doing some other activity that requires lots of light. I put them on a dimmer switch so that I can use them at a lower intensity and I turn them off if I want just the ambience of lamplight. The older I get, the harder it is for me to see and I hate rooms with no option for bright lights when I need them. Newer cans have a smaller diameter and there are even LED options for energy savings.

I hate can lights.

In my house in PA, we did 1 chandelier/room and we use lamps. I really like that.

In the FL house we just bought, the people must have put the electrician's kids through college. There are more lights in this house than I've ever seen. Dimmable lights around the room's permiter, up lights lighting up windows, and lighting up trey ceilings, ceiling fan lights, built-in night lights that come on when you walk by and it is dark, etc.

One thing to think about is the sheer number of switches all this lighting requires! From where I am sitting on the couch right now, I can see 10 separate switches just for this one room! Ten. It took me 25 minutes when I got here to figure out what each one did and there's still one I'm not sure of. The more lighting, the more switches and the more confusion.

The other thing is, they have SO many lights, each switch turns on like 5 separate ones. Our electric bill is much higher here than in PA because each time I turn on a light, it turns on more lights than I need to turn on.

So I'm not entirely crazy? Thanks! I feel better. Now, I do like something to be able to be switched on from a doorway, and I don't mind ceiling fixtures one bit, and I do like my kitchen lit up well enough to perform surgery, and I'll even admit that recessed cans in certain locations are really nice, but I guess I just like fixtures.

Good point about the numbers of switches. We're including a tiny guest bath....the switch count in there for all these newfangled devices is amazing! I'm such a Luddite.

Next question: What's so bad about toggle switches? :)

We're planning to add additional can lighting in the kitchen area, but I don't believe I'd want anymore beyond that. I feel lamps are more appropriate for my home and I like to use them. I was looking at photos online recently and wondering if people actually USE them all at once. I was mainly perplexed about areas like living rooms.

Dlm said,"Nothing would bug me more than those black holes in the ceiling being off center to a significant room feature or seating pattern."
I agree. When we were adding the can above our sink the electrician started to mention about how it might not be centered because blah, blah... I was standing there shaking my head no. No, sir. Centered is the only option for the single. He asked if I had a plan B to which I decided if it couldn't be centered I'd want to use two 4" cans. Plan A was successful.

There are three men in this house and, probably due to the fact that they don't do the majority of the housecleaning, smudge switches and doors throughout the house with newsprint ink, dirt, etc. Toggle switches need a toothbrush, toothpicks and considerably time to get the dirty ones clean. If someone in the household is ill, they are also much more difficult to disinfect. Rocker switches are comparatively very quick and easy to keep clean. Worth the few extra cents required for purchase from my point of view! I think they look nicer, too.

But Gyr, without all the spotlights, who would even notice? =D

We built 4 1/2 years ago. In hindsight, I wish I had done more ceiling fixtures and fewer cans. I was so used to those ugly builder boob flush mount ceiling lights and 8' ceiling limitations. that I thought I hated fixtures. But it turns out there are tons of beautiful fixtures out there and when you have 10' ceilings, the possibilities are endless. Oh well, that will be phase 2. I do like to have some sort ceiling light in every room. Our Library, family room, office, and all the bedrooms have lamps as well so there are a lot of options.

I like can lighting, but I discovered too late you have to really watch where you put them. When we redid the kitchen I let the contractor decide and some of them are just not placed well. We had cans installed in our family room as well and the electrician advised on placement. Well, one of the lights is directly above the chair I sit in to watch TV. It was so annoying.....not only the glare, but it was as if I had been captured by the enemy and was being interrogated! I finally had DH unscrew the bulb just enough so that this one light does not go on. I use a table lamp next to my chair for reading.

I like recessed ceiling lighting. I do like to see in all the corners of the room. We have the ceiling lights on dimmers, but we rarely dim them. We also have lamps, many lamps, in each room but the fact is that they are not enough to light the rooms, especially at night. We use lamps and ceiling cans at the same time....our power bill is higher than if we used lamps alone....I am okay with that, I like light!

----But Gyr, without all the spotlights, who would even notice? ----

lol Because my husband won the color-of-the-trim & switches battle---he wanted white, I didn't--I guess, me. They would not have shown as much against black, or some other dark color. ;)

Don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of can lighting--preferring fixtures in most rooms. But I cherish it over the lack of the adequate lighting I found in the houses where we have lived.

For example, our previous rental had one of those round opaque lights (I call them moon lights) in the kitchen, hung from the vaulted ceiling so that it was 7' above the kitchen counter, and off to one side. Other than a tiny 25 watt bulb "nightlight" in the range vent, that was the sole light source for the entire eat-in kitchen! Unbelievably, it was like that for 20 years before we moved in and got around to installing several ceiling fixtures and under-cabinet fluorescents.

Just one example of many during my life thus far, so yeah, I lean towards a mass beacon option for every room.

Haha! Y'all are too funny! I do like to be able to have lots of light. I guess I just want to control it!

Currently I have ceiling fans EVERYwhere thanks to the PO. The kind with 4 bulbs each. And thanks to our 8-ft ceilings, we DO unscrew bulbs that are bugging us at the moment. (Okay, I have to call someone to do that for me, but close enough.) So I know exactly what you're talking about, Joanie. There is a bulb not shining on me right now.

I'm not above swagging a clunky old fixture wherever I need it. I have one over my stove right now. I do plan on having lots of switched sockets, because, frankly, a clapper just doesn't quite do the trick.

We have recessed lighting with dimmers in all common rooms and hallways but only in one guest room because it's primarily used as an office. We have an older home but have remodeled all living areas and bedrooms except the master. The bedrooms all have central lighting with a ceiling fan and also lamps for task lighting.

I do like the recessed lighting in the living areas because I can have more light when needed.

It is so interesting how different the world is. I'm in iceland and it would be hard to sell a new house with out recessed lights. But the lights we have are much smaller than the one you have in the west. We here need all this light, the winter months are so dark. All lights are on dimmers. ahref="http://s304.photobucket.com/user/icei/media/IMG_8901.jpg.html"; target="_blank">{{gwi:2139322}}{{gwi:2139323}}
Sorry the last photo is so blurry.
p.s we had a electric engineer decide where all the light would go.

This post was edited by ice1 on Fri, Jan 9, 15 at 5:42

I like a central fixture in most rooms operated by a wall switch. I'd only ever want cans in a kitchen. All of my main rooms have a center light/fan fixture. Love it. For the fan lights that are ugly, you can buy new globes that aren't so ugly. Some are etched and really nice. I'd replace the fluted ones.
I do like lamps in a room and have a good number of them. I have 6 or so (old) ones still to be rewired (from my MILs house). 3 are floor lamps.

I also do like a switch at the entry door of a room that controls a lamp in the room cause I don't always want the ceiling light on.

I also have several of those motion controlled 'night lights' that plug into a low outlet. I find them great for when I get up at night. I have 1 between my bedroom and bath and 1 on my way to the back door (for taking dog out). They light the walkway for me. I want to get a few more.

I've also had a remote control box to plug into an outlet to control a lamp in my bedroom. It's wonderful to use to turn out the light at night from bed. They don't seem to last very long (maybe a yr) and I have to replace them. That's probably the only place I'd have one.

When my sister built her house (maybe 8 yrs ago now) they put in 13 of those can lights in her probably 13x13 kitchen! I think it looks terrible. she has a skylight over her island too. It wasn't their idea and they don't like it now but have to live with it. It was way over kill in lighting.

As with anything, you can have too much or too few. Balance is the operative word. No one wants to read using the light from a can light, however, no lamp can properly illuminate an architectural feature like a stone fireplace. So think carefully about what is important to light from above, perhaps a wall that will receive some artwork, add chandeliers if the rooms requires some texture, because their light if often just for atmosphere in a room, and make sure you have outlets in the right location for your the lamps you'll certainly need. Then make sure they are all switched separately so you are in control of the lights in your room.

Then make sure the can lights have dimmable LED bulbs (available at the best price from Costco) and you'll never have to replace a bulb in your lifetime and it will keep your energy costs down. IKEA has LED chandelier light bulbs.

One consideration is how many holes do you want in your ceiling? Depending on construction, each hole is a potential energy loss. You can do other options like track lighting, cable lighting, mounting lighting to beams, cove lighting...lots of options besides cans.

I think about lighting a few of ways....I want it to be full and bright enough to clean, but I want it to soft enough to feel cozy, I want it "spotted" enough to create accents on things I want to emphasize, and I want it to be useful for whatever I'm doing, be it reading or TV or entertaining. So I use different kinds of lights in different areas with lots of dimmers to control the look and function. Some of it can be at the ceiling, some of it can be pointed up, some of it can be on the walls, and some of it is from lamps, some of it hanging like chandys and in our house some of it is from solar tubes.

I always have overhead lighting in bedrooms so you can see into drawers. But it is a harsh, flat light, so that's why I supplement it with other lighting.

I have can lighting in a relatively new kitchen remodel in my NJ house....and keeping up with burned out lights (don't believe that every longlife bulb is actually going to do it....some last only a few months) is an irritation. I can't imagine doing that all over the rest of the house.
Second, if you have good plaster in your house, the last thing you want to do is start chopping holes in it. Lamps on a switch by the doors or a single ceiling fixture for safety on entering a room, plus lamps for me.

I like it dark dark dark in the winter. I feel like its more cozy that way. But, we had been without ANY source of light in the dining room until last week (except for one table lamp on the floor) when we installed our new chandelier. Thank goodness. Its one of three lights in the house that operates on a switch and was greatly needed.

Our kitchen has one overhead boob light and it throws off the most unflattering light. So much so that I have a table lamp on the counter that I turn on when I'm cooking. It drives my husband nuts.

There is one more overhead in the bedroom that we don't use for the same reasons. Instead, table lamps again.

In the summer I feel like the lights don't matter as much. It stays light out until nine so they are barely used.

**this is Hydragea - I changed my screen name**

I'm not anti-pot. I love the light from my pots in the kitchen. They're warm and bright, and make everything look clean and new. There is a soft reflection on the stainless steel.

But in the living room, pockets of incandescent light are so much more pleasant, to me. Having the dark and light bits together makes the room more...dynamic (?), and definitely more home-y. I like the glow of yellow light in the evening.

Now, I live in a small small house by American standards, and a single lamp illuminates a lot of area. I see in some of the above pics that the houses are very large. Seems like pots might be a good idea in big spaces, but I don't have a lot of experience in that arena.

For the people who just unscrew the ones that seem to be causing glare, doesn't it bug you that it looks like a burnt out bulb when the rest of the group is on?

60's house here with one central fixture (ceiling fans with lights, mostly) except in the living room, where there is nothing. I'm kind of happy to see this thread, because I've wondered if people would view the lack of built-in lighting as a big negative.

Generally it doesn't bother me because I really like lamps. They're such cool little opportunities for decorating fun, style wise, and I'd hate to lose the justification to have them be part of the room. I like how they can be graceful or bold or even silly.

the house we have moved into has lots of cans-- some in almost every room often with a central chand- I only have the chandeliers on dimmers... but, I like to be able to light up a room if I want to, so I like them....what I'm not too crazy about are all of these mini floodlight type of bulbs that are in all of the cans--- they don't seem to illuminate as well as the reflector bulbs do, so as they burn out I will replace. I really like cans in hallways-- there just are not a whole lot of ceiling fixtures that are both attractive and appropriate for hallways imo...

Thanks for all the perspectives. It's good to know where people like lighting, cans especially. I will take it all into consideration. And I will not have a can ban. They do make sense in some places. Ice1, your lighting looks right. It looks like it's where it should be and it works with the house.

I've decided to not put cans in my new room but I will put a few in an odd-shaped room (currently the kitchen but an office after the remodel) where a centered fixture isn't possible because there's no actual center. I'll probably fill in a few gaps in the new kitchen lighting with cans.

If I lived in the frozen north, I'd probably want MORE LIGHT. When I redid a kitchen in Detroit, I used two commercial fixtures from the '20s with 300w bulbs to go with the pendant and UC lighting...it was a tiny kitchen.

Palimpsest, if you saw my ceiling fans, you would understand that looking half burned out doesn't actually make them look worse. They are that bad. :) They probably won't make it through the remodel because we only use the fan feature a few times a year. I think unscrewing a single can light wouldn't give a burned out impression like it does in a ceiling fan. It would just make it look like someone had the foresight to put it on its own switch.

Steph, I forgot I've had one of those remote switches before! I wonder where it is. I bet it's packed up in storage with my ruby glass swag lamp. (It came from a basement pool room decorated with a saloon theme in the 60s. It's one of the most ridiculous things I own.)

My house has two original recessed light fixtures. One has been painted over. The other is in a walk-in closet. They are the big square ones with brass trim. I kinda like them...on a flat ceiling anyway.

In our previous house I let the electrician decide on the can lights. I hated the Swiss cheese results! Had him come back & put one on a separate switch & 2 more on a separate switch. I can honestly say we never turned on the others in 5 years.

I am currently building a new home. Yes, there are cans in my new home, but the majority will be on dimmers. And they will be limited. I, too, hate the swiss cheese look. So I was very careful about where they were placed and how many there were. Each was planned for a specific area (two over my bathtub for instance) I also placed fans with lights in all the bedrooms except our master which will have an upward mood light. Since our master bedroom has a tray ceiling we will have a rope light in there. There are no cans in my bedroom at all nor in our sitting area. I wanted actual hall ceiling lights (while our electrical planner wanted cans... I said NO) So we have a lot of ceiling lights throughout our home. (Hallways mostly but also in stairwells and over tables in kitchen and dining room) I even have a crystal chandelier in my master bathroom. In spite of this we still plan on having a number of table lamps in our formal LR, Great Room, Master BR other bedrooms, and sitting room. My husband even has some cool Industrial style pendants hanging in his mancave.

A few years ago we were told the presence of a light fixture in each room is required for many first time home buyer's loans to be approved. I would not want a ceiling fixture in my living room. Perhaps a fan if we didn't have one just feet away over the open stair case. Cans I suppose would count for this requirement and would be preferred over center fixture in my space. I think of how often DH and I sit in our living room with one lamp on, watching TV, no other light source, for sure from the outside it looks like no one is home...we seem to be more in need of a smaller light bill than light itself. Cans all around the room insinuate you have art/statement piece furniture you will want lit up, in my mind. What will your home be used for? There are a lot of ideas out there, mostly designed to sell something. Practical and function are my watch words. Switched outlets are wonderful. Dimmers are wonderful. Always being able to quickly and easily get light to a room as you enter is a must. Lighting needs change depending on how many people are in the room. When we have guests all three lamps are lit as well as the light fixture on the fan. We don't entertain often enough to warrant the money of installing cans, but they would be nice when more light is wanted.

Thanks all!

I usually turn off lights when entertaining because I don't want guests to see the areas that aren't cleaned well due to insufficient lighting.

Fori: funny comment about the low light and cleaning! I had an aunt, a very good housekeeper, who always said she didn't see any point in "washing the floors" before company came, because they were going to make it dirty. She cleaned after the party!

"Do people really light up every corner in new construction?"

From what I have seen IRL as well as in pics, YES, I think they do. Unfortunately. It's one of the things I don't like about the current architectural trends. Holes in the ceiling are not attractive IMO.

Good lighting is very important but IMO rooms look much better with appropriate lighting which seldom requires them to be lit up like an airport runway. In my last house I had 12 wall sconces wired in which provides lovely lighting in 3 rooms and the stairway. Only put in 3 pot lights as I've never liked them and rarely even turned them on. LR had as many as 7 table lamps of varying styles and intensities as well as one floor lamp and the 4 wall sconces altho it is a large room and never were they all on at the same time. Current house has 7 pot lights which I turn off as often as I can. I've always liked chiaroscuro and, unless I am reading, do not feel the need for strong lighting.

My house is only cleaned during daylight so IMO it's not necessary to have extra lighting for that purpose.