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Design Dilemma Lighting Building a Home

How far off the wall should recess lighting be placed in a bedroom?

3 years ago

We noticed our electrician placed all four recessed lights 24” from the wall so they are basically in each corner of the room. It looks odd in the 12X14 room. Our house plans seem to indicate they should be 36” from the wall and a bit closer together. We are going to have a center decorative light fixture. What is the norm for placement?

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Comments (9)

doc5md
3 years ago
The tricky thing about placing them is finding room between the ceiling joists in such a way that they are in the space and symmetrical, I suspect.
PRO
Flo Mangan
3 years ago
With a center chandelier, 24” from edges is about right.
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res2architect
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I like to place adjustable (tilting) recessed lights about 24" from walls in order to light the walls so they would be placed at wall areas that might have artwork. That might or might not be in corners.

I would never use a center ceiling light in a bedroom. Many people like some kind of bedside reading lights.
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Patricia Colwell Consulting
3 years ago
I like enough lighting in abedroom so that I can have that for cleaning and I like a nice chandelier if your style lends it self to that I agree lighting the walls is the aim IMO witha center light too and of course table lamps for the night tables for that other layer of lighting. I have just a cahndelier in my bedroom which is a bit bigger than yours it does the job of lighting for cleaning and also the first light to turn on when using the spaxe. I actually dislike pot lights in bedrooms and LRs. so I think you have plenty.
cd7733
3 years ago
Will you ever have ceiling fans instead of decorative fixtures? For fans, I'd have them 2' off the wall.

In our custom home's secondary bedrooms (11'x13'), we have four 6" LED, 2' from the walls and a ceiling fan in the middle. This way the lights are far enough away from the blades and don't cause the nausea-inducing strobe effect that can happen if lighting is too close to the fans. (It happens slightly in our small 10'x12' office/playroom since we only put two 6" LEDs on the 12' length on either side of the fan.)
chispa
3 years ago
I agree, that strobe fan effect is awful when it happens.
nhb22
3 years ago
RES2 - Which brand do you recommend for the adjustable (tilting) recessed lights?
chispa
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
@nhb22, I just spoke to a lighting store and they recommend ELCO.

@res2architect, what is your opinion on that brand?
imcutnup
Original Author
3 years ago
Cd7733, thank you for that info. I didn’t know that might be a concern. But, no I don’t think we will ever have a ceiling fan in the rooms.

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