Your Lighting Plan ~ Part Two

PART TWO - DEVELOPING YOUR LIGHTING PLAN!

Having answered all of the checklist questions (see below), now think about the type of lights that you want in your space.

Lighting  your space

Are the lights to be decorative or simply functional?

Should they follow a theme?

Where is your ambient light going to come from?

It could come from a central pendant light , a show stopping chandelier, a series of table lamps or a series of ceiling lights

Lighting Circuits

A lighting circuit controls your lights. You can have more than one circuit in your room, this will give you more flexibility. Do you want more than one of your lights to turn on together? or do you want the flexibility of each one turning on independently?

If you are using table lamps as the ambient light then it is good to have all of them coming on together.

Switches and Sockets

Where do you want the switch to be that controls your general light, the most convenient place for this will be on the wall as you come through the door. There may be some rooms where you  have more than one entry point or in a hallway at the top and bottom of the stairs - do you need a double switch?

Your Questions Checklist:

• What is the size of my room?
• Colours, what colours am I going to have in the room?
• Natural light sources, that's anywhere that allows daylight to come into the room, windows, skylights, doors.
• How many natural light sources does the space have?
• From which direction is the light coming from?
• When is the time of day that provides the brightest / dullest light?
• What will you use the room for? is it a space that will have more than one use?Eg. Will your kitchen only be used for cooking? or will you use it as an entertaining space, as a dining space or as a work space?
• What time of the day will you be using the room?
• Who will use the room, Just adults? family? is it only for entertaining? or is it a living space? 
• Do you know the layout of the furniture that you propose to put in the space?
• Where do you want to put sockets and switches?
• Do you have features you would like to highlight, where are they? - Do you have a piece of architecture, a picture that you want to highlight?

Once you have all of this information together you are then ready to draw up your lighting plan, use a mood board to gather your ideas, it could be just that, a board with photos and cuttings from magazines. Or why not use an online service like Pinterest which you can make your 'board' where you can add photos from websites or a photo you have taken of something you have seen in a public building, all these ideas can be scaled to suit your home and put into the 'melting pot' so you get the desired effect you want.

Enjoy the process and you will be happy with the result.

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