How to create a light plan
Tuesday 12 October 2021
Lamps, don't think too lightly about them
When furnishing your home, you probably paid a lot of attention to choosing your furniture, wall coverings, floors and decoration. But has enough thought been given to the lighting? Lighting not only enhances the atmosphere and determines the atmosphere in the home, but is simply a necessity. But what is wisdom when you have lighting installed or purchased and what is the optimal lighting? What should you take into account? Making a lighting plan can certainly help you with this. Here you can read what a lighting plan is made of and we will give you tips on what to pay attention to.
take your time
Don't think too lightly about making a lighting plan. An ill-considered lighting plan is not so easy to change afterwards. A good lighting plan contains contrasts. Compare this contrast effect with a sunny day on which a room consists of both illuminated and shaded areas. Furthermore, a good lighting plan is characterized by lighting that is located at different heights in the room. If you follow the following steps, you can put together a lighting plan yourself.
Sketch
Use an existing floor plan of your house and preferably print it out per room. Don't have a map available? Make one yourself to scale, for example 1:50, preferably on graph paper. Draw your furniture on the floor plan and leave some white space for notes. Indicate where connection points are already located. Also indicate on the map the paintings hanging on the wall or the location of any art objects. Draw a circle where an activity takes place (sitting area, dining area).
The basic lighting
Now draw the basic lighting on the floor plan. Use a cross for direct lighting and a circle for indirect lighting. Basic lighting is logically the basis of all lighting and must consist of direct and indirect light. Furthermore, basic lighting must optimally illuminate the room from a central point or from multiple points. Recessed spotlights (or surface-mounted spotlights if possible) form an excellent basis for direct light. Wall fixtures or floor lamps provide beautiful indirect light. Choose dimmable lighting. This way, if desired, you have sufficient work light, but also mood light. Always choose warm white (2700 Kelvin) as a light source.
Connection points
Do you have a new-build home? Lucky you! This means that you often still have a say in the number of connection points and where they should be located. Installing lighting can easily be fitted into the work yet to be carried out. Do you have an existing home? Don't be limited by the connection points in the lighting plan you have in mind. It is often possible to hang or attach lamps decentrally at the location of your preference.
Decorative lighting
By adding accent lighting or decorative lighting, you can add a little more atmosphere to certain parts of the room. With decorative lighting, it is not the function or lighting of the room that is paramount, but the appearance of the fixture and its beautiful effect. Think of a beautiful standing lamp or a table lamp. Choose lamps that spread soft and diffuse light. Direct light only illuminates small areas. The range of decorative lighting is enormous. You can choose lighting in the style of your interior or for an eye-catcher in a completely different atmosphere. In addition to your personal preference, the budget also plays a role.
Even more tips for creating a lighting plan
Do you want to make the living room appear larger than in reality? This is possible with indirect light. Because indirect lighting reflects the light through the ceiling or walls, it creates a spatial effect. Colors already present in your home influence the lighting. Light colors and shades will reflect light while dark colors absorb light. That is why more lighting is needed in a room with dark colors than in a light room. Glossy surfaces reflect light better than matte surfaces. White colors become even whiter and bright colors become even brighter. While pink and red tones appear to be even deeper in color in artificial light, colors such as green and blue, on the other hand, fade.
Although the choice of fixtures is personal, you can create unity in your interior with colors, shapes and materials that match each other. Older people “need” more light than young people. Someone aged 65 needs more than three times as much light as someone aged 25. Dimmers and dimmable lamps are ideal for this. This allows each user to set the light intensity desired for him or her. Do you not want to switch on all the lamps separately? Then switch to smart lighting or a system such as click-on-click off.
Smart lighting
You can go one step further and switch (partially) to smart lighting. With smart lighting you will never come home in the dark again and the lighting will automatically turn on at the time you set. You can control the lighting from the comfort of your chair. A good example of smart lighting is Hue from Philips. Hue LED lamps are not only smart, but also very energy efficient. They are available in all kinds of models, shapes and sizes. Together with the Hue Bridge, you connect these smart lamps to your devices. The Hue Bridge is suitable for connecting up to 50 Hue lamps. Together with the Hue App you can control your lighting quickly and easily.
Have your Philips Hue Starter Kit installed quickly and easily by a professional, such as the Smart Home installer from Zoofy. This professional replaces existing lamps with Hue lamps, connects the Hue Bridge to the router and installs the Philips Hue app.
You can book this professional in your area quickly and easily via Zoofy. All you have to do is indicate three times when the professional can contact you.
Before you know it, your (smart) lighting will be a fact.