Recessed Lighting
Has anyone seen recessed lighting in a prewar style room/apt done and look good. Having grown-up in CA and lived in older buildings in NYC s an adult, I associate recessed lighting with adequate lighting and more traditional style with darkness. Now I’m trying to figure out what could work in my new home. Don’t…
Has anyone seen recessed lighting in a prewar style room/apt done and look good. Having grown-up in CA and lived in older buildings in NYC s an adult, I associate recessed lighting with adequate lighting and more traditional style with darkness. Now I’m trying to figure out what could work in my new home. Don’t want to create a tacky or mismatched look.
This is a 1920’s brick house, not a brownstone. 9 ft. ceilings, picture moldings and larger window/baseboard moldings, parquet wood floors.
Any pictures of this type of old/new combination much appreciated.
i also want to see some pics..thanks the one who post us the pics..
Recessed lighting in prewar multifamily buildings rarely work well due to the relatively low ceiling heights. I’ve seen instances where a small dropped ceiling has been installed for recessed lighting and in some cases it looks fine, but as for any original decorative mouldings running horizontal or vertical at ceiling height, they usually end up either being covered or “chopped”. Those rooms with original picture moldings always seem to suffer in terms of proportion when dropped ceilings apply.
On the subject of chopping, I’ve seen some nightmarish installations where not only lighting fixtures but conduits and transformers as well, have been recessed directly into the original concrete slab/beams via chopping. A potentially hazardous solution.
In my humble opinion a simple picture light over the Renoir always looks nice…
I think recessed lighting as one element looks good – sort of pin lighting that creates nice dramatic shadows and hightlights. Not a good idea if its the only source. We have sconces, chandeliers and 4 in recessed and the combinations work out perfectly in lots of different situations but the recessed lighting would not be good alone.
Thank you brownstoners! The password is ~ SCONCE! I had not thought of this. A family friend architect will be called in after summer vacation, and I’ve just been batting around ideas in the meantime. Not strong ideas obviously. Recessed lighting felt wrong, but I want to walk into a room, flip a switch, and have lots of light sources illuminate at once. That was the only thing that occurred to me, but sconces could be wried this way too, and look much better.
I’ll be back.
Try wall sconces and lots of lamps. Overhead lighting is very unflattering.
How many lights and what wattage to use is a matter of individual taste. Right now we have on average two lights plus a ceiling light in each room, but it’s inadequate (we’re still renovating).
A living room could have sconces next to the fireplace, a couple of table or desk lamps and a floor lamp — or more. A bedroom could have two reading lights on either side of the bed and five to seven other lights on the floor, dresser, and mantle.
In the kitchen, rather than recessed lights, you can use old-fashioned pendant lights over the sink, table, and appliances in any niches. Examples include small schoolhouse style lights and two-armed gasoliers. See http://www.rejuvenation.com/ for examples of how to hang lights in various rooms, and google “historic lighting” or “antique lighting” to see actual antique fixtures for sale.
I have never seen it look good. They were really into wall sconces in the 1920s in dining rooms and living rooms, often without overhead lighting at all. In my 1919 house, there were no wall or ceiling lights in the master bedroom, only lamps, though the smaller bedrooms had ceiling lights. My approach has been to install dimmers for the living room and dining room wall sconces so that I can turn the lights up bright for cleaning etc, and down low for normal use with reading lamps to supplement.
I’ve seen lighting recessed into crown molding look good. A couple of recessed lights at an accent point (e.g., above a mantel) can also look okay. But going overboard on recessed lighting in a prewar usually looks bad.
I’d never use recessed ligthing except a few (FEW) in the kitchen where it makes sense.
Traditionally a single chandelier (and you can get many styles) is more than adequate to provide overall light, and floor/table lamps are good for the rest.
Too much overhead light is bad, bad.