Posted: September 2009

The right lighting makes all the difference to the atmosphere you wish to create in a space. Whether kitchen or bath, indoors or outdoors,  selecting the right lighting placements and fixtures as part of a home remodel or brand-new construction can be daunting for a homeowner. The HomeSavvi Team sat down with lighting designer Devki RajGuru from Redmond, WA-based LittleFish Lighting, Inc. to ask about how to best approach home lighting, from budgeting to style trends.

HomeSavvi: Hello Devki! There is a lot to think about when it comes to selecting lighting for a home. Where should a homeowner start?

Devki: The first expectation I always set with homeowners is the budget they’ll have to devote to lighting. I tend to find that this is the one thing that people are very uncertain about when it comes to remodeling or building a brand-new home. Typically, 10 percent of the overall budget should be devoted to good-quality lighting basics. This budget should also cover all electrical costs, such as wiring or dimmers. It does not include any special, trendy or extravagant extras, such as the beautiful grand chandelier for the entrance hall. What is also important to keep in mind is that the lighting budget will depend on the room that is remodeled. The most expensive room to light is typically the kitchen, followed by the living room and the bathroom.

HomeSavvi: How do you categorize the various types of lighting that are required in a room?

Devki: Lighting can be classified in three basic groups: 

• •    Ambient lighting: This is general lighting that everyone needs.
• •    Task lighting: This is additional lighting for a work surface in a kitchen, cellar or garage to avoid accidents, or on a desk in a home office to avoid eye strain.
• •    The third category is what I call the sparkly bits that you buy for their looks and decorative value, e.g. the grand chandelier I was talking about earlier, or wall sconces that match other floor or desk lamps.

Some of these will obviously overlap, and can do double duty. A beautiful floor-standing lamp in a living room can be decorative, as well as serve as task lighting for reading e.g. Typically, most of a lighting budget will be spent on ambient lighting. Lighting is one place where homeowners tend to try and save money, but like plumbing or electrical wiring, once lighting is in, it is difficult to change it. It’s not like carpet and paint that you can change tomorrow if you don’t like it any more. That’s why choosing the right lighting the first time around is so important, and needs to be thought through carefully.