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We have a room that is 14' x 19' (floor area) which does not have any overhead lighting. It's a royal PITA to light that room with lamps (one switch, can you believe it?), and try to have enough light.
Talked with our electrician and he said overhead is not an option because our bedroom is above and there is no access, so he suggested sconces.
Question... how do I figure out the size that would look best? I just drew up the sizes on poster board and pinned them up (two different lights) but don't know if there is a rule or if I go with whatever I "think" looks best.
Mari: I'm not sure if there is a rule of thumb for this .. Eva probably has one - but to me the other furniture in the room would factor into it as well...
I really liked the look of the first one ... note also - the first one has 100 watt max and the second one is only 60 watt max. If the room doesn't have enough light I'd think you'd want the sconces to have 100 watt max ... that's just my personal opinion though - since I live in a dark house (log house) and it seems I'm always looking to add more light - except in my new kitchen where I have so much light now that I have them on a dimmer and don't operate them at max power! Guess I went in the opposite direction from what I started with there ... better to have too much light than too little ... as there are cheaper options for dealing that!
Doreen
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Mari: I'm not sure if there is a rule of thumb for this .. Eva probably has one - but to me the other furniture in the room would factor into it as well...
I really liked the look of the first one ... note also - the first one has 100 watt max and the second one is only 60 watt max. If the room doesn't have enough light I'd think you'd want the sconces to have 100 watt max ... that's just my personal opinion though - since I live in a dark house (log house) and it seems I'm always looking to add more light - except in my new kitchen where I have so much light now that I have them on a dimmer and don't operate them at max power! Guess I went in the opposite direction from what I started with there ... better to have too much light than too little ... as there are cheaper options for dealing that!
Doreen
I chuckled at your kitchen lighting description I had to push for more light in our kitchen and even added the laundry room into the picture. Now DH said I have enough light for the entire house!!
I tend to agree with you on that 100 watt fixture. The wall is kind of bare except for this imported rug thingie we have up there. I have two living rooms and that one is sort of a forgotten area because of poor lighting. Am trying to spruce up the house to match my kitchen...*sigh*
Here is a pic of THE wall. Feels a little like Pink Floyd now. It's very blah and we haven't done a thing to this room in months, but I wanted to put something on the wall to show the sizes of fixtures. On the left is your phallic fixture, and on the right is #3 which would give more light. I would of course get new stuff to put on the wall but it's such a tall, wide wall that everything seems lost.
i googled this, an A19 is just your standard medium base bulb from what i can see.
i like the last one too... are you going traditional? i didn't mean anything bad by modern yet deco. and by modern i meant current, not "modern contemporary" though it could go either way. i personally am VERY influenced by deco, i love it. deco transcends time if done right.
i'm not seeing any pics of your place, am i supposed to? i've only seen the sconces.
i googled this, an A19 is just your standard medium base bulb from what i can see.
i like the last one too... are you going traditional? i didn't mean anything bad by modern yet deco. and by modern i meant current, not "modern contemporary" though it could go either way. i personally am VERY influenced by deco, i love it. deco transcends time if done right.
i'm not seeing any pics of your place, am i supposed to? i've only seen the sconces.
What happened to the pic? I posted it last night!! I was trying to move away from anything traditional and bring my other rooms into a contemporary mode like the kitchen. Remember, I am looking for advice so it doesn't matter if someone tells me I am way off on a fixture, I promise, I really don't get bent out of shape that easily
So here is a pic of my wall with a sort of mock-up on the size fixture. These are not anything I particularly love but I have to keep in mind why I want sconces....for lighting that we lack in that room. I was wondering if a taller, slender fixture would look better.
You'll need an assortment of lighting, so don't get too stuck on the sconces. Our living room is 13x20 with only one overhead and one switch. And only 4 outlets, so consider yourself lucky! Our breakfast room has NO SWITCH!
Consider adding a multitude of floor and table lamps as well as uplights in the corners, behind plants, etc. I know you've probably already thought of all this, but it's my only contribution...
Susan
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The rule of thumb, IIRC, is to have one watt per square foot total lighting. So if your room is 10x14, you need a total of 140 watts in the room. That could be one overhead 100 watt bulb and one 40 watt lamp, or two 60 watt sconces and a 40 watt lamp would be more than enough.
You also want to have a variety of types of lighting, ambient or general lighting (overheads and cans usually fulfill this function, you want a general even light in the whole room), task (reading, etc) and accent (sconces). You want ambient light to be balanced around the room, so if all you have available are sconces, you'll need a lamp on the other side at least to balance them.
edited to add: I just realized you gave your room size, so you'll need 250-300 watts for a room that size. I'd go with two sconces of 60-75 watts each, and two lamps on the other side with one being a 40-60 watt and one being a three way with 50-75-100 or so. That would give you 120-150 with the sconces, 160-210 with the scone and one lamp, and 170-350 with all of them on.
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