- In this video you'll learn how to design lighting
for a new home including how to choose lighting,
as well as lighting for different rooms.
That's starting right now.
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- Hi everyone I'm Carl.
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So today I'm joined by Rebecca Hotchkiss, Interior Designer
with Brookfield Residential.
And we're gonna talk about lighting design
for your new home.
So Rebecca, how do you choose lighting for your home?
- I would say it starts with style
and it's just the type of light.
So you have lots of different types of lights
throughout your home,
whether that be pendants, flush mount lights,
recessed light, and then the second thing would be style.
So kind of having a main theme and then carrying that
throughout the rest of your home.
- And you're not talking about having the exact type,
same type of lighting throughout your house, right?
No, for sure not.
I mean, I would say, kind of pick a color, pick a style,
but it will vary depending on your fixture.
So your pendant light will likely look different
than your flush mount light,
even though they have any sort of from the same family.
- So when you talk about style what do you mean?
- I mean color, shape, size, that kind of thing.
They all come into play with style.
- And how much lighting do you need in a home?
- I always say go for more.
It's really a pain down the road to have to
try and add more light in.
It's better at the beginning
when you wire your home to make sure that you have enough.
- And you can add a dimmer to make sure it's,
different changes, the different mood,
or the different lighting type, right?
- Absolutely, and you can have different circuits too.
So I mean you can put your pendant lights on,
you can put one row of your living room on
all at different times.
- So Rebecca, when you install lighting in your home
or develop a lighting plan, do you think about replacement
or maintenance as part of that plan?
- I mean you should.
There are some areas in your home
like a stairwell or a high vaulted ceiling
that are gonna be a little bit harder to get to.
So think about a fixture that's gonna make it easier on you
down the road when you either have to change
that light bulb, or dust the fixture, that kind of thing.
I mean, generally speaking, an average ladder's okay
to hop on to change a bulb in an eight foot, 10 foot ceiling
but anything higher than that,
maybe take into consideration.
- Okay, and how about,
let's go through the rooms, especially the rooms
that are used to frequently, right?
So, what kind of light
would you think about using for a bathroom?
- Bathroom, I mean you have vanity lights,
you have overhead lights.
Generally we kind of say, three light sources
would be ideal whether that's natural light, a spotlight,
or a task light, ambiance light, overhead light.
Each room will be a little bit different,
but kind of balancing different types of light
really helps out.
- How about a bedroom?
- A bedroom, you have your overhead light and natural light
lots people have bedside lights.
So that kind of would check off your three boxes there.
- And how about a living room?
I guess that's the one
where you can have a lot of different types--
- For sure, you can have floor lamps,
you can have table lamps,
you can have overhead lights.
I mean even if you've got
an open concept in your kitchen,
sometimes you have under cabinet lighting.
It just depends.
It depends on your home but making sure you've,
you've got a wide variation really helps.
- And how about the kitchen?
- Kitchen, you've got pendants for sure.
That's a big one.
Generally, some overhead lights,
some people have track lighting,
like they said you can have cabinet lighting.
You can either-- - What is
a cabinet light by the way?
It's kind of a focal point under your cabinet.
You can have either a strip of lights
or you can have a few puck lights
it just adds another dimension.
- So Rebecca, what happens if
at the end of your light design,
you found out that say one or two of the rooms
is not as well lit as you thought.
What would you do about that?
- In that case I'd probably add floor lamps,
I would add table lamps.
You can get larger scale, one smaller scale
so depending on how much light you really need,
maybe there's multiple bulbs in one of those lights
that will add to that.
So it kind of just depends on the space
but I would definitely think your best route is,
is to add lighting fixtures that you can plug
into receptacles yourself.
- And in terms of design,
do you also install or think about lighting
in terms of the design?
- For sure I mean if you've got a country style home
going with countryside lights.
I mean modern with modern lights, they're different finishes
with lights as well, you could do chrome, you can do kind
of a brush stainless finish, you could do bronze,
you could do black, all sorts.
So it's definitely important to tie that in
with the look of your home.
People sometimes say
that lighting is the jewelry of the home.
- So Rebecca, do you have anything else to add
in terms of lighting design for a new home?
I really think it should be something that complements
the rest of your home,
whether that's in style, color, functionality.
I really think it's important to add
that to your whole picture.
So make sure it all works together.
- Perfect, and the question of the day
I have for you is what kind of lighting design,
did you have for your home,
and were there any structural challenges
that you actually encountered with your home
that may be prevented a certain lighting style?
Let us know and description below.
And if you want to know more
about interior design for your home.
Check out these great playlists here,
and I'll catch you in our next video.