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Design Dilemma Home Decorating living room

Lighting Designer? Electrician?my light situation is a mess!

Painted Peggies (zone 6a)

5 months ago

last modified: 5 months ago

We purchased this house a little over two years ago.

I’m not sure what sort of professional I would need to help with this.

This is the lighting situation in my front room, which is a living room ,dining room and our front entry. We also need lighting help going up the stairs.

The current lights are a mixture of track lighting, a bad chandelier, and some old ceiling fans. They are all awful and have to go.

Needs:

Better, brighter lighting. I’m open to keeping one fan for airflow. I want to get rid of the track lighting, as you can see one doesn’t even have any lights on it it’s just a track🤷🏻‍♀️

We desperately need a better light over the dining table but I don’t know where to start with that.

As it stands there is no lighting on the staircase, I think that’s what the empty track lighting strip was supposed to be for. This is definitely something that is needed.

I’d like the style to play nicely with the style of the house which is a 1990 contemporary.

The high ceilings are a bit of a challenge as far as accessing the light boxes.

I would truly appreciate any and all constructive opinions and advice, thank you all so much!!

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Comments (5)

kandrewspa
5 months ago
That is definitely bizarre. I can't tell from the perspective of the pictures you attached exactly how high your ceiling is, but I had an electrician in my house recently who replaced a ceiling fan that was 18' off the floor. They have tall ladders. Any higher than that you would probably have to have scaffolding built. If you happen to also be planning to paint, the painters will need scaffolding and you could ask them to let the electrician piggyback on their installation. I don't know if they would even agree to that, but it would be worth asking.

The ceiling fans should be hanging lower in order to work better, and you can get a light added to the existing ones, or if they date from when the house was built they should just be replaced. I can't tell how big the room is and if you even need two fans. Ideally you would have recessed lighting in your ceiling, but that is usually done when the house is built. It's surprisingly difficult and expensive to do it after the fact.

In any case, your issues can be addressed by an electrician - not a handyman, a licensed electrician. You could also try going to a lighting store and see if they have someone competent to advise you. There is a place like this near me, but I don't know where you are.
Painted Peggies (zone 6a)
Original Author
4 months ago
Anyone willing to share style ideas for the chandelier?
I keep looking on Pinterest but I feel so stuck 🤔
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In order to provide adequate light, can lights have to be spaced in a specific way. The spacing depends on the ceiling height and the 'circle of light' produced by the can light. I googled 'recessed lighting layout' and this site from Forte Electric has good information. The website is not very professional looking but has good advice. This is from Pegasus Lighting Blog but is more general than detailed: To determine how far apart to space your recessed lights, divide the height of the ceiling by two. If a room has an 8 foot ceiling, you should space your recessed lights approximately 4 feet apart. If the ceiling is 10 feet, youÃ¢ÂÂll want to put about 5 feet of space in between each fixture. For my tastes and eyesight (and age!) you may not have enough light in your kitchen. The UCL will be great but the pendants over the island may or may not provide a lot of light - it depends on the bulb wattage of the fixtures you choose. My current kitchen has only recessed lights and I sure could use more light. Plus, the cans are placed slightly beyond the the counter edges so I stand in my own shadow. I think there is a lot more to recessed lighting layout than simply placing (x) number of feet apart. Here is a link that might be useful: How to layout recessed lighting
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Therese N
4 months ago
What style do you prefer for your decor? We can help with a chandelier easily enough. But in the meantime - as others have already hinted at - you may have a bigger job on your hands. All that electrical was no doubt done after the house was built and likely has code issues. I agree with previous comments, though even with recessed lighting, it’s so far away, I’m not sure it’ll help much. You still need lighting closer to the floor. I’m not even sure the fans are necessary. If you have lighting and fan done properly, you’ll probably need drywall and texture repair. Definitely get an electrician out for advice. An experienced one will tell you the status of your current circuit load, know what’s involved in improving it, and most likely be able to advise with function and design they are experiencing in the field. They can tell you what will or will not work.
Painted Peggies (zone 6a)
Original Author
4 months ago
I think the lighting was done when the house was built.
There was only one previous owner, and he had the house built in 1989.

However…we have lots of ‘questionable’ things going on that he did and we have to fix.
This is one of them🤣
PRO
Brilliant! Lighting & Design
3 months ago
The Dining chandelier is too small and at the wrong height. The fans are too small and in-effectual at the existing height. You might be able to add 1-2 wall sconces to help light the stairs themselves.
Tall spaces in a home want/need light at different levels - e.g. uplighting might be used to bounce light off the ceiling to prevent that from being a dark void and to create some ambient light, while lower fixtures will provide task light, and aome accent lights can be used to light art / architecture to create interest & contrast in the space.
To get ideas on actual fixtures you need to offer style clues so commenters can offer constructive targetted solutions for you to consider.
Ideally you want to consult an experienced design professional to help you reach the best outcome.

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