Saturday's Question of the Day: Feb 1

Good morning peoples!

I thought of this question(s) today as I am contemplating it myself.

Which do you prefer in your living space, overhead lights or lamps around the room/area, and why? 

I like overheads. I usually trip over lamps or I can't find enough power plugs around. I'm also a big fan of really bright spaces, and overhead lights does that better for me. My current living room doesn't have any lights, so I'm using lamps, but my landlady allowed me to fix my own overhead lights, so I'm looking at various lighting options (including whether I want orange or white light). So bonus question too - white or orange lights for you? 

I've got to have both overhead and lamps. Lamps for reading, relaxing, etc. Overhead for everything else. Brightness is my preference, too. I don't know about the bonus question as I've only had white lights. Seems that any other color of light would alter the color of other things , and I don't think I'd like that.

We have overhead lights in the kitchen and dining room, as well as under-cabinet lighting and above-cabinet lighting. We also have a large 3-light chandelier hanging over the sink. I like lots of light in the kitchen....can't exist without as much light as I can get. We installed two sun tunnels in the kitchen, too and it's truly amazing how much natural light they bring into the area. Overhead lights in the bathroom and a chandelier light in the foyer at the steps down to the front door. The living room, bedroom, and computer room have no overhead lighting and I rather like it that way. We have quite a few lamps for light in those rooms. Both the living room and our bedroom face south, so we get lots of sunlight.

We plan on installing a sun tunnel in the bathroom when we remodel that room. And we may install a tunnel in the hallway, too. Those sun tunnels are wonderful.

When Rick goes to Oregon in March, I'm planning on surprising him. I gave him a ceiling fan/light several years ago for Christmas; it's for the bedroom, but he's never bothered to install it. He had wanted this fan for a long time, but once he got it, he didn't do anything with it. I've already talked to our electrician and he'll come in while Rick is gone that week and will install the fan. Rick knows nothing about it, so it will be a nice surprise for him. (Actually, it will be interesting to see how long the fan will be there before Rick even notices it.   I'm serious.)

I don't plan on overhead lighting in the computer room. We have one large window and a large double window in that room for during the day and plenty of lamp for lighting at night. That room is good.

Not sure what you mean by orange lighting? If you're talking coolish versus warmish, I had coolish under-cabinet lighting installed in the kitchen. Cooler light is whiter light and it's better for task lighting. That was important as I need to be able to see when I'm working in the kitchen; even at night, I tend to work with just the under-cabinet lighting turned on. I think I went with about 4000K for the under-cabinet lighting, which is really more neutral instead of being warm or cool. It's a whiter light.

I have overhead lights in the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.  Also have lamps in the bedroom and in the living room.  I prefer lamps in the living room, for me it makes it more homey.

We use overhead lights in the bathroom and over the dining room table, and when we're cleaning we turn all the lights on, but I have a very strong dislike of overhead lights! They make me really uncomfortable, and the brighter the overhead light, the more agitated I get. I feel like I should be wearing a hat or something while I'm at home. Light up the walls, tables, or floor, but leave the bright overhead lights for outside!   

We use overhead lights, but we have a lamp in the bedroom. I like lamps, but my daughter is a cord puller so we can't have any until she grows out of that.

SwampWitch said:

We use overhead lights in the bathroom and over the dining room table, and when we're cleaning we turn all the lights on, but I have a very strong dislike of overhead lights! They make me really uncomfortable, and the brighter the overhead light, the more agitated I get. I feel like I should be wearing a hat or something while I'm at home. Light up the walls, tables, or floor, but leave the bright overhead lights for outside! :lol3:  

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I'm the same way about thinking I need a hat or something! I have as little light on as possible in my home, unless I'm in the bathroom or kitchen.

Overhead lights with a dimmer in the main room.  Strong overheads in the kitchen.  But in the bedroom and where I work on the computer, knit etc just lamps.. I rarely turn on the overheads there.

Winchester said:

Not sure what you mean by orange lighting? If you're talking coolish versus warmish, I had coolish under-cabinet lighting installed in the kitchen. Cooler light is whiter light and it's better for task lighting. That was important as I need to be able to see when I'm working in the kitchen; even at night, I tend to work with just the under-cabinet lighting turned on. I think I went with about 4000K for the under-cabinet lighting, which is really more neutral instead of being warm or cool. It's a whiter light.

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Yeah warm vs cool. I didn't know the terms for those. 

I grew up in a house where there's like a million fluorescent lights all over the house. We lived in a tropical country with 100 degrees all year long, so harsh, cold, white lighting is used to "counter" that. Or that's what my parents said anyway. For 17 years I lived there, our house looked more like an elaborate operating theater. I never thought anything about it growing up, of course, since it's very common. It's just that went I came to the States and started seeing warm lights, I realized that I like the home-y atmosphere of warm lights - while cold lights remind me of offices, hospitals, etc.

Fhi09 said:

 

Winchester said:

Not sure what you mean by orange lighting? If you're talking coolish versus warmish, I had coolish under-cabinet lighting installed in the kitchen. Cooler light is whiter light and it's better for task lighting. That was important as I need to be able to see when I'm working in the kitchen; even at night, I tend to work with just the under-cabinet lighting turned on. I think I went with about 4000K for the under-cabinet lighting, which is really more neutral instead of being warm or cool. It's a whiter light.

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Yeah warm vs cool. I didn't know the terms for those. 

I grew up in a house where there's like a million fluorescent lights all over the house. We lived in a tropical country with 100 degrees all year long, so harsh, cold, white lighting is used to "counter" that. Or that's what my parents said anyway. For 17 years I lived there, our house looked more like an elaborate operating theater. I never thought anything about it growing up, of course, since it's very common. It's just that went I came to the States and started seeing warm lights, I realized that I like the home-y atmosphere of warm lights - while cold lights remind me of offices, hospitals, etc.

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Yes, I know what you mean about the fluorescent lights ... would that have been Malaysia?

It's the reason I don't use the overhead fluoros in my sitting room.

There are so many jolly ways of lighting around now!  Which is the most energy efficient/environmentally friendly/nicest light??  I did heaps of research just to buy one lamp (which I use a lot).  I ended up going for an LED as, even though the light is bright, I could direct it to where I'm working, and they are extremely energy efficient.  The downside is, they get hot.  It's Summer here and really I'd prefer not to add to the heat, but on balance it was a good choice.

I normally like both, but I have poor vision. The more lighting, the better. My previous apartment was pretty small and had no overhead light in the living room. it worked out with lamps because the white walls reflected some of the light. In my current industrial loft, there are lighted ceiling fans in the living room, but they are so far up in the air (11+ feet from a 15' ceiling), the light diffuses too much to be very useful to me. There are also wall lights. Those help, but they're even higher up (though brighter). And the ceiling lights have a yellow glow to them while the wall lights are bright white LED. It's weird. I also have my same lamp from the last apartment, but since everything is sitting in the middle of the room and the closest wall is brick, it's not very useful. The lampshade is too thick and dark, I think, for it to be useful in this space. 

My bedroom has the LED wall lights and the same lamp from my last apt. Lighting is good there. And my kitchen here has a bright overhead light plus inset lights under the cabinets, so it's great. Very easy to cook in there. Bathrooms have both vanity lights, and these dim yellow shower fan lights in the middle of the ceiling. I like a dimmer room when I shower, so I like those a lot.

I prefer white light. Cleaner looking and brighter.

Fhi09 said:

 
Yeah warm vs cool. I didn't know the terms for those. 

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Gocha! Definitely warm for my lamps, dining table, wall sconces. Boo & hiss on fluorescent lighting. It's improved over the years, but not enough to want it in my house. I see enough of it at work. My favorite lighting is in my kitchen, both ceiling and under cabinet lights use halogen type bulbs. It's sparkley (don't know how else to describe it).

There's one lamp in my bedroom, halogen warm and another in the other bedroom. Fluorescent int the kitchen and bathroom. Warm everywhere else with s dimmer in the sitting room and my bedroom. I once had a ceiling fan/light but had no take it down. My gentle was terrified of it.
Poor baby.

In Australia you can buy " cool white" globes they give an almost blue light and " warm white" which is a yellow light. Plus fluro tubes. I prefer warm white. Every room in our house has a central overhead light, bigger rooms have two. I like overhead lights in the day and lamps or LED down lights at night. The kitchen, bathroom, and office have down lights. Our lounge room and bedrooms have lamps.

I actually prefer the cool white tubes, but, yeah, they do give off an "operating room" vibe :lol3:. So I usually get the warm white tubes, or put one warm and one cool in a 2-tube fixture. Which looks weird when you look at the fixture but I like the light it gives off.

I prefer overhead lights. Lamps annoy me for some reason.

Overhead/built in.  Cats can not knock them down!

I like the light they give off. My house only had built in overhead in bath/kitchen and hallway. PAIN as I feel I never can get enough light where I want it

Mani said:

 
Yes, I know what you mean about the fluorescent lights ... would that have been Malaysia?

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Yep. My friends here complain about snow, but it's why I love snow. At least I can go throw snowballs at people, hear the crunch of footsteps under my feet. Can't do that with 100 degrees. Walk outside and you become hot, bothered, sweaty and smelly and generally unsexy.

Turns out the electrician is quoting me $426 to wire my living room so I can install an overhead light. I think it's probably better for me to just put lamps around the place, considering 1) it's a rental, 2) I don't get to "take" the light and wires with me when I move. Any ideas for lamp types for a medium-sized living room (though cluttered?). Facing upward, downward? Stand lamps, table lamps? Style? Wattage?