How to Plan for Recessed Lighting for False Ceilings in Homes [Expert Ideas]

Recessed lighting systems are a good choice for the modern home. Recessed lights provide an elegant method to provide illumination to a room by doing away with the obtrusive lighting fixtures. But it all depends on the type of ambience you want to create with your lighting, the size of the room or area, brightness requirement and type of room whether – bedroom, living room or the kitchen.

These lights come with the option to increase or decrease their intensity.

But first what is a recessed light?

Recessed lighting has two main components, the housing for the light and the trim(the silvery reflector bit). Choosing the trim is largely a matter of taste. Nowadays recessed lighting fixtures are available in a large number of configurations.

Now we are going to talk about how to go about making your recessed lighting layout plan.

Step 1: Make a Floor plan

• Take a measurement of your place. Now rescale and draw it on a graph paper.
• Next draw all the positions of your furniture.
• Next mark the position of all movable and immovable objects like windows, doors or even the seating arrangement as per your wishes.

Step 2: Make your furniture layout

• Now you need to decide what a particular area is used for. Also keep in mind that rooms may have multiple functions during different parts of the day.
• Decide on the amount of light required for individual areas.

Step 3.1: Layout for Uneven Lighting

• If you require single part of the room to have more light, start by putting the first focal point in that area.
• Then space out the other lights as shown in the figure.
• To know number of lights required see step 4.

Step 3.2: Layout for Even Lighting

• Place the first light in the centre of the room.
• Then evenly space out the other lights as shown.

Step 4: Calculate no. of Lights Required

• To get the number of lights right you need to use the ceiling height rule – divide the ceiling height by 2 to get the spacing between lights.
• For example if your ceiling is 8 feet high, you need to space your light 2 feet.
• For a height of 12 feet, you need to space you lights 6 feet.

This rule holds true for all room sizes when it comes to recessed lighting. If you still feel unsure of the number of recessed lights you require, we recommend you always over-light the room and use dimming lights. This will enable you to increase or decrease the brightness of the room as per décor or occasion requirements.

Step 4.2: Start Lights installation from the Centre

• Place the first light in the centre of the room, or as centrally as possible.
• Then evenly space out lights as shown.
• Lights can be close together or farther depending on the room requirement.
• If you are not sure, then install more lights close together, which gives you the flexibility to switch-off alternating lights when not required.

Step 5: Avoid Shadows

• Mark the areas with circles where you need the lights to illuminate.
• Avoid overlaps and dark areas in-between.

Step 6: Locate Switches at Convenient places

• Another thing to keep in mind is to keep placement of the switches in mind when marking the light placements.
• It will be ideal to place the light fixtures and the light switches close by or wherever is most convenient. Like close to the door on entering a room or next to the sitting area. Mark then alphabetically.
• If possible keep switches and dimmers close to the area of lighting.