Interior Design Blog by Jil Sonia McDonald of Jil Sonia Interior Designs

Task lighting, what is it and how do we use it?

6/14/2022

How to calculate the distance & spacing for Task lighting

Task lighting, what is it and how to use it?

You hear about the different types of lighting. Recessed lighting, Ambient lighting & Accent lighting, but what is Task lighting?

In a nutshell, task lighting is extra lighting used to highlight spaces where you need either extra light, or specialized lighting.

You may want to add:

under cabinet lighting,
pendant lights over the island
Office table lamps
articulating scones which have moveable arms to bring the lighting closer to the work area.

What is task lighting? Jil Sonia Interior Designs

FINNICK 20" 1 LIGHT WALL SCONCE

If you are using an articulating wall sconce for reading, like this brass beauty above, place the fixture approximately 60" off the ground, so that the light (not the base area that attaches to the wall), is in the perfect position for reading. Of course this varies depending upon the structure of the light, height of the bed, how far down it moves etc.

What is task lighting? Jil Sonia interiors office lamp

LED task lamp by Home Depot

Office lamps are probably the most popular form of task lighting as they can be moved around easily.

Led Under Cabinet Lighting Puck Lights With Remote Control,

Under cabinet lighting is the most important type of task lighting in my opinion, place them 8-10" from the back of the wall, under your 12" upper cabinets in the kitchen or elsewhere. These ones are from Amazon, note they are 4,000K, which tends to be blue-ish in colour. I recommend going with 3,000K for a soft white that is bright, but not glaring. Read more about colour temperature.

what is task lighting how high do I hang my pendants over my island?

Task Lighting - Pendant lights

Where to position your pendant lights over your kitchen island?

how do I place my pendant lights over my kitchen island?

Jil McDonald - Kitchen Pendant light placement.

Pendant lights can be so very important over your kitchen island. I suggest placing them 36-40" above the island, this may vary a little depending upon your height & the height of the room. Here's a good rule of thumb:

For spacing 2 pendant lights, measure your island's width, divide that by 4. That number is how far from the end of the island you should place your pendant light.

i.e. 8' wide island divided by 4 = 2. Place the center of each light 2' from each edge, this provides a 4' space, in between the lights, and works well for most standard pendant lights.

Have recessed lighting questions? Have a look at our popular blog Recessed lighting spacing - How many recessed lights do I need? How far apart do I place my lights?

Happy Lighting!

How to calculate distance & spacing for Task lighting

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What's the difference between Watts & Lumens?

5/15/2021

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Are you wondering what's the difference between lumens and wattage? Look no further!

Virtual interior design Jil Sonia McDonald Canada

Lumens measure the total light sent out by the light bulb.
Watts measure the amount of power used by the bulb.
So watts do not tell you how bright the bulb is - but Lumens do.

However, since we are all used to discussing wattage often people use 'wattage' as their term denoting the brightness of a bulb, rather than 'lumens'.

Let me know if you have any other lighting questions, I'd be happy to help.
Here's a great post showing "How many recessed lights do I need?"

Here's a helpful Incandescent to LED conversion chart, to help you when selecting a new LED light bulb.

Happy Lighting!

Watts to lumens conversion light bulb chart

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How do I calculate the correct width of my dining room light?

9/13/2018

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Would you like a few quick tips on how to calculate the correct size chandelier or pendant light for over your dining room table?
Here we go!

dining room glass table, square, white chairs, sputnik pendant light

Interior design by Jil Sonia Interiors

In general:
Add the width and length of your dining room ie. 10' + 14' = 24.
We need a light approximately 24" wide!

Or here are a few general dining room table sizes, and the width of lights that would complement the table nicely.

Oval table 42" long - light should be 18-20" wide.
Oval table 48" long - light should be 24" wide.

Square tables? Just take the table size and subtract 12" off each side.
ie. 42" sq. table. -12" and -12" = 18" wide light.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Of course there are variables, but this will get you in the right ballpark!

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Recessed lighting spacing - How many recessed can lights do I need? How far apart do I place my can lights?

6/9/2017

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how far apart do I place my recessed lights? Jil Sonia Interiors

Recessed Lighting plan Placement guide. Jil Sonia Interior Designs

I've been an interior designer for over 16 years now and I've realize good lighting placement is key for any space, especially so for recessed lighting - (we call them pot lights in Canada - no - not those sort of lights!). I've written this handy post to show you how it's done!
(We'll talk about bathroom lighting in another post!).

Note: Lumens measure the total light sent out by the light bulb.
Watts measure the amount of power used by the bulb.
So watts do not tell you how bright the bulb is - but Lumens do.

However, since we are all use to discussing wattage, often people use 'wattage' as their term denoting the brightness of a bulb, rather than 'lumens'. For this article we'll use the term "wattage" as most people are more familiar with that term.

recessed lighting Interior design by Jil Sonia Interiors Maple Ridge

Interior design by Jil Sonia Interiors, Photos by Tracey Ayton-Edwards.

Recessed can lighting design layout:

Part A: How many pot / recessed / can lights do I need?

Step 1: Measure the length x width of the room. Now you have the area or total square footage of your room. ie. 12' x 20' = 240' square feet.

Step 2: Multiply the area x 1.5 to get your total wattage needed. (Note in some areas where you need a lot of light, or have a very high ceiling multiply by 3). If the lights will be installed in a ceiling taller than 16-feet, you may also want to use PAR type light bulbs. They have a tighter beam control which will get more of the light down from the ceiling to the surface plane. ie. 240 s.f. x 1.5 = 360.
Step 3: Total wattage, divided by the bulb wattage you plan to use, ie. ( 40 watt, 60 watt, 75 watt, 100 watt etc.) = amount of total recessed lights you will need. ie. 360 divided by 60 = 6

Formula: total sq. footage x 1.5 = total wattage needed. Total wattage divided by 60 watts (or whichever wattage you select) = total amount of recessed can lights.
Example: 240 square foot room x 1.5 = 360 divided by 60 (the bulb wattage I'd like to use) = 6 recessed lights needed.

Part B: Draw up a ceiling diagram (reflected ceiling plan) showing the amount of can lights you need (Part A formula). The cans / pots / recessed lights should be evenly distributed around the room, usually they are in rows with an equal number of cans in each row. Here's a great example of a kitchen lighting layout, the yellow dots show the recessed lights, the red dots show the pendant lights:

Recessed can lighting spacing - How many recessed lights do I need? How far apart do I place my lights?

Recessed Lighting Spacing

Now we will calculate the spacing between each recessed light.

Part C: Light spacing in a row:

Step 1: Pick a starting point, where do you want your most important can light placed? Then arrange all the lights an equal distance from that light.
Or, if you want general lighting, start in the middle and work outwards.
Step 2: Measure the length of the room in feet.
Step 3: Room length divided by # of lights in that row = distance between light units in that row. Example: 20' long room divided by 3 cans = 7'6" between each light, note see step 4.
Step 4: Calculating distance of lights from walls: (Note: The can lights near the wall are 1/2 the measurement between the other can lights distance. Keep each light close to 3 feet away from the walls or corners - we don't want to cast shadows!) Don't install recessed lighting with equal spacing between the lights and the walls. If you do, you end up with bright spots between the lights and dark edges.

Step 5: Now do the same for the width of the room.

Electrical can recessed plan layout Jil Sonia interior designs, Abbotsford, BC lighting calculation

Recessed Electrical plan layout example - Jil Sonia Interior Designs

Part D: Task Lighting Layout:
Task lighting is extra lighting used to highlight spaces where you need either extra light, or specialized lighting throughout the home. You may want to add under cabinet lighting, or pendant lights over the island in the kitchen, to bring the lighting closer to the work area.

How to calculate the distance and spacing for task lighting:

Step 1: Determine the distance from the ceiling down to the surface you wish to light, i.e.. the floor or a countertop.
Step 2: Divide this distance by 4 to obtain the distance from the wall to the first light unit. I.e.. 8' ceiling lights should be placed two feet away from the wall.

Part E: Wall washers recessed lighting layout: (lighting that shines down onto a wall in order to highlight art or a wall feature)

Step 1: The rule for installing wall wash recessed fixtures is approx. 1.5' to 3' away from the wall.
Step 2: Fixed lights can be placed closer to the wall.
Step 3: Place adjustable lights farther away from the wall. The optimal aiming angle to minimize glare is 30-degrees from the ceiling, that way we avoid glare.
Step 4: Space wall wash fixtures the same distance from each other.
Step 5: A good rule of thumb is that your accent lighting should be 3 times brighter than the ambient light in the room. This is useful for living rooms, hallways and dens/offices.

Part F: Beam Spread
There are generally 2 types of recessed lights - Spot lights and Flood lights.
Spot lights have a narrow beam of light casting light to a focused area, usually these are used to highlighting art or important design elements in the room. They cast beams 45 degrees or less.
Flood lights case a wider beam on the floor area and are used for lighting larger, more general areas. They cast beams up to 120 degrees.

Lighting Beam calculation: Angle of beam x 0.18 x ceiling height = Beam spread in inches.
Example: 60 degrees x 0.18 x 10' ceiling height = 108" divided by 12 = 9' wide beam spread.
To create overlapping beams of light for ambience, make sure that your beam spread diameter is equal to or greater than the distance between light sources fixtures.

Recessed lighting design & installation:
Now that the recessed lighting placement locations are determined, we need to find out if they can be installed in these locations. Use a stud finder to determine where the ceiling joist are located. You might have to adjust placement locations to avoid hitting a ceiling joist. It's always best to pre plan the lighting design before your renovation or new build in your home.

Please remember to contact your electrician before making any electrical decisions.