Home lighting - how to choose? Review and instruction + Video

How to choose the right lighting for an apartment. Lighting a space from the inside is not only a technical but also a creative task. If you are wondering how to choose the right lighting in a house or apartment, then most people immediately think about the decorative attractiveness of lamps, but for some reason they forget about the effect of the level of illumination on well-being, mood and even health in general.

When decorating a residential interior with chandeliers, floor lamps, table lamps, sconces, it is important that the correct lighting scenario is created for each room.

What you need to know to properly illuminate your living space

Lighting efficiency will depend in large part on the two most important factors - the power of the lamps and the number of light sources.

The more lamps there are in the apartment or house, the wider the opportunity will be to organize the lighting scenario in the room. If you include them together or separately, then you will be able to easily create the most comfortable atmosphere for rest, reading, study or work, for communication of all family members, cooking and other equally important household chores. If you combine different light sources with different levels of brightness, there is a great opportunity to adjust the visual perception of the room, as well as divide the overall space into visual zones.

Basic types of lighting are worth considering for everyone . Primary lighting is a source of light that covers the entire room.

Ceiling mounted luminaires are capable of emitting omnidirectional even light and provide a basic level of illumination for the room. Spot lighting is a directional light that helps focus attention on a specific area of ​​the room. Backlighting is used to highlight interior items, paintings, pieces of furniture, cabinets with transparent glass facades, and more. The overhead light is used as a general background, local in order to emphasize the semantic centers, and the backlight is used to taste (not a required element).

Process description

Where to start

The most important thing to do before choosing high-quality lighting of an apartment is to determine exactly where and in which rooms the semantic centers will be.

It is worth deciding what and where you will do in the room - where to read, where to watch TV, and where you will cook food.

Calculation of the illumination level

In order to correctly calculate the illumination for any room, you must first take into account the size of the specific power of the light source, as well as the type of room and its purpose. Below we have collected the data in a table, which shows the indicators of the specific lighting power, taking into account the type of lamp and the type of room.

What is the best lighting? The next step is to calculate the light level. For an accurate calculation, the fate of the reflectivity of the walls, the distribution of light fluxes, the height of the ceiling and the location of the light sources will be required.

You can use a calculator to calculate the lighting, or you can use the following formula P = pS / N (where p is the number of watts per meter ² area, S is the area, and N is the number of fixtures).

It will be much easier to determine with the help of lamps when focusing on standard illumination indicators, which are usually considered sufficient for ordinary household chores:

• For incandescent lamps 20 to 30 W / m ² ;
• For halogen 10 to 15 W / m ² ;
• For LEDs 4 to 6 W / m ² .

In addition, you have the opportunity to determine the level of illumination empirically - according to the principle "convenient is good", and you can also follow the general rules and recommendations from the article, which you can correct based on your own preferences. All power indicators listed below are indicated for incandescent lamps, and based on this, you can choose halogen, LED and fluorescent lamps.

Please note, that everywhere above and below in the text, when indicating the power, 2 numbers are indicated.

This spread is forced and is associated with different reflective coefficients from the interior surfaces of the room. The first number indicates a room with light surfaces, and the second one with dark surfaces.

Overview of options by room

Children's room

The lighting in the children's room should be good, but in no case aggressive, and ideally multi-point, so that the child in the same room at different times can enjoy and play, fall asleep calmly, and learn lessons effectively. The main principle will be not to expose children's eyes to direct rays. For children, it is best to install the main lamp shade with an average power of 100 to 150 W.

In the study area and where the PC is installed, wall and desk brackets will be required to illuminate different points on the table surface.The reading area should be equipped with a floor lamp or sconce (100 to 150 W).

Kitchen area

The main light should be between 100 and 150 W. Bright and even light from LED, halogen or fluorescent lamps (approx. 2 to 4 x 30-50 W lamps) directed directly onto work surfaces, making cooking safe and convenient.

The dining table in the kitchen is usually the meeting place for all household members for dinner or breakfast for most modern apartments, and therefore it can rightfully be considered the center of the kitchen. It is desirable that the hell table had local lighting (approximately 60 to 100 W) with a shade that emits diffused warm light, which does not give shadows from the head and hands of people sitting at the table.

Bedroom

To choose the right lighting for the bedroom, it will be advisable to use one common source of the set in the form of a chandelier on a short "leg" or a large flat matte shade ( LED with a total power of 100 to 150 W). Several dim and local lamps are also required - a couple at the headboard with a power of 60 to 100 W, and a couple of 40 to 60 W on opposite walls, which emit warm dim light. Such an ensemble provides a calm, relaxing atmosphere in the room, and the ideal solution would be to install a switch with a dimmer (dimmer) and remote control.

Living room

The main light source in the living room should be bright (from 200 to 250 W), and this is due to the area of ​​the room, as a rule, a large number of objects furniture, as well as the fact that guests and friends, relatives and acquaintances are usually received in the living room - bright lighting promotes active communication, as well as a great mood. The number of local lighting sources in the living room is determined by what size it is and the task of creating a cozy atmosphere when watching TV, listening to music. Directional lighting from a sconce or floor lamp with a power of 100 to 150 W near a sofa or armchair is convenient for reading, and in addition, it will be beneficial to highlight the shape, texture and design of such furniture items in the interior.

Bathroom

The bathroom lighting solution must be considered with what safety requirements are put forward due to the fact that this room is with a high level of humidity, and therefore, this is an area of ​​high risks of electric shock.

Bathroom luminaires should be chosen so that they have shades that are able to protect the lamps from splashing water, and are also installed no closer than two meters from shower diffusers and faucets.

For a small room for hygiene procedures, even one, but powerful lamp (from 150 to 200 W), and one more locally above the mirror (from 60 to 100 W) will be enough. Naturally, it is required to make allowances for prevailing surfaces, light or dark.The more light-colored surfaces you have, the more reflectivity the light will have, which means the overall illumination will be even better.

Corridor

The corridor in the apartment is exactly the place where the final touches for correcting makeup or hairstyle are performed before going out, we look how clothes "sit" on us, and therefore there should be a lot of light here. Since the hallway and corridor are traditionally small rooms, there will be enough general lighting, the power of which is from 100 to 150 W, several lamps around the entire perimeter or along the opposite walls and lighting.

The light near the mirror should be diffused, soft, as close to natural as possible.

Garage and storeroom

Garages and storage rooms after some time turn into the very places where many unnecessary and sometimes even necessary things are stored. At first it may seem that there is no need for bright light, and this could be logical, since these premises are not intended for living, but meanwhile, sometimes it turns out that you need to find some thing and this is impossible in the absence of powerful lighting ...

Here you need to find the "golden" mean, based on what is the area of ​​the room, whether it has windows or not, and so on.

Techniques for changing the perception of a room using lighting

So, here are some recommendations:

1. If you want to maintain the proportions of the room, it is worth using luminaires with direct lighting.
2. To choose the right lighting, pay attention to the following - the more reflective surfaces or diffused light sources in the room, the more the interior of the room will appear.
3. In order to reduce the height of the ceiling, it is worth using ceiling lamps with a variable angle type and direct the light flux to the walls, and not vertically down.
4. To make the ceiling visually higher, you should first make it light, for example, mount a matte or white stretch ceiling, and then direct light from wall-type lamps to it.

5. It is possible to expand a narrow room if you place the luminaires on an even axis along one wall.
6. To reduce the length of the room, several pairs of fixtures can be installed on the ceiling across the room.
7. It is easy to narrow a wide room if you place the lighting fixtures in a chain along the center of the ceiling axis.

Now let's take a closer look at the types of lighting.

Types of lighting

The right choice of appliances helps to make your home comfortable and attractive.

But just choosing the lighting and its type is sometimes difficult. There are several ways, which depend on the parameter of operation and the mechanism of mounting the lighting device.

Diffuse

This is the most popular type of lighting, in which the rays of the light flux are directed relative to each other at an angle.This makes it possible to evenly distribute the light over the entire area. The diffuse lighting is soft, but sometimes it is not enough for all tasks and you have to supplement it.

Direct

Directional type of lighting makes it possible to use direct light beams. A beam of rays directs light only to a specific point or object, for example, the entire space, furniture and other interior items can be illuminated. During the day, such lighting will form shadows, and at night the room will be illuminated only where the light falls. The lack of scattering concentrates light, which can sometimes even cut the eyes.

Indirect

This type of lighting is also used, but the lamp is directed towards the ceiling so that the light is reflected, which causes dimness.

This form of lighting is highly regarded by designers. Spotlights and sconces are used to create.

Mixed

This is a combination of several types of lighting at once, and at least all three previous varieties can be used indoors. The installation of table lamps or different floor lamps ensures the simultaneous use of both directional and diffused light.