Wow this stuff is confusing. So online I see bathrooms listed as needing anywhere from 56 lumen per sq ft to 80 lumen per sq. ft. (if my sources are correct). The room is 52 sq ft which means 2912 - 4160 lumen for the room. Currently we have 2 standard GE BR30 flood lights in the room which have an output of ~700 lumen each or 1400 total. Maybe we just don't like bright light, but we think the 1400 lumen in there now is plenty. The LED recessed bulbs I am looking at are about 320 - 400 lumen. I am just worried that if we use the calculations above that will be way too much light. I don't want my contractor to install this many recessed lights only to find that we need sunglasses to enter our bathroom. Not looking for a sleek modern design but actually just the opposite (traditional bathroom with sconces). Was thinking of going with LED because we want to be ahead of the curve and not find ourselves 2 years down the road with outdated traditional bulbs when everything is LED and us needing to replace dimmer switches, etc. Can anyone recommend a 3" shower (wet rated) IC recessed light that we can use LED bulbs in? Not having much luck. The ones I found appear to be with an integrated bulb and I don't like the color of the bulb or they are not IC or wet rated. I may just need to switch to 4" if I can't find anything. Or for that fact give up on LED all together.

The Cree CR series is cheaper (utilizing the attached trim piece) and probably better dimming performance, power consumption. If you want to use a custom trim piece, the cost comes out to about the same as the Halo.

Hello all, we are in the process of having a new home built. Here is the dilemma I'm focusing in on today. Our living room is going to be 19' long x 17'wide, with a vaulted ceiling that will be 14' high in the middle, then it comes down to meet 8' walls. I would like to light this room with recessed lighting. Here's where it gets a little confusing to me. I've spent hours reading on recessed lighting and I'm still not sure exactly what I should do. I know that the recessed lights are going to be the main ( and possibly only ) light source in that room, and I'd like to use LED lights. Should I use 5 or 6 in. lights ( I'm assuming 6 inch ) ? Should I have 8 or 10 lights total in the room ( or some other number) ? Should I use the "eyeball" aimable lights so that the lights can be aimed to project straight down, or would it be having those lights at the same angle as the ceiling, and naturally on opposing sides ? I had planned on putting 2 lights ( opposing each other ) on one switch, and using dimmer switches on all of them, will this be a little "overkill" ? I've talked to the builder about this, and he really hasn't been much help, he is an old fashioned guy, builds a heck of a nice house, but isn't terribly up to date with things like LED lighting. Any input from some of the pros on here would be greatly appreciated. Also, if it matters , the room will have a corner fireplace, and the one exterior 17' wall will have a lot of windows, including high mounted fixed glass. This is also the only "living room" in the house, there's no den, family room....etc. Thanks

As someone else pointed out, the retrofits do help close off the Swiss cheese holes in your ceiling for less unintentional ventilation. (Ten 6" holes is a total of over 280 square inches, partly blocked by the housings of course.) And the retrofits have come down a lot in price. If you already have LED bulbs, though, it's hard to justify junking them. With any luck they'll last many years. In fact, if they're the earlier ones that cost $30+ each, they're probably built with better quality electronic components than the newer, cheaper models (including the retrofits). If you decide you really want the new stuff, can you find someone who could use your bulbs to give them to?