Why Bringing In a Lighting Designer Is a Truly Bright Idea!

Building a custom home is an investment in luxury, comfort, and aesthetic appeal. From the architectural design to the artwork on the walls, lighting plays a crucial role in creating an atmosphere of comfort and opulence. One aspect that is often underestimated but can greatly enhance the ambiance and functionality of a custom home is lighting design. Hiring a professional lighting designer can be a game-changer, ensuring that your dream home is illuminated to perfection, and often more importantly, easy to use. In this post, we will explore the numerous benefits of engaging a lighting designer when building a custom home in the Seattle or Kirkland area.

1. The difference our expertise provides is illuminating: A lighting designer possesses extensive knowledge and expertise in the art and science of lighting. We understand the interplay between natural and artificial light, different lighting techniques, and the latest trends in lighting technology. By leveraging our expertise, we can create an exquisite lighting design that complements the architectural features and interior design of your home, enhancing its overall appeal.

A typical home building process looks at general lighting requirements, which is usually a formula based on lumens per square foot. Often this is calculated at 10-30 lumens per square foot for a family room, bedroom, or other room that doesn't have specific tasks. In a kitchen, bathroom, or even a garage where brighter lighting is often required for tasks, we usually step up to 30-70 lumens. Of course, you likely won't be asked what Kelvin temperature you prefer and will probably end up with the same poorly dimmable LED bulbs in each room of the house. At minimum, you should be using different color temperature in the rooms, with bathrooms and kitchens getting a cooler/higher Kelvin temperature of 4,000+, while bedrooms and family rooms often are served by a warmer/lower Kelvin, closer to 2,700-3,000 depending on your preference. Of course, with proper lighting design you don't have to choose, you can adjust the Kelvin temperature depending on the task, say from cooking, to eating, and then relaxing.

So why aren't the architect and electrician typically asking these questions? They have a lot on their mind designing and engineering the house, and the electrician is focused on getting wire pulled to the proper locations, while making sure everything is built to code from a safety perspective. Building a custom home is really a team sport, so if they aren't spending the hundreds of hours a year required to keep up on the latest trends, products, technologies, and programming requirements, that's not a problem – that's why they have lighting designers to partner with.

2. Lighting solutions tailor-made to you: Every custom home has its unique characteristics and requirements. A lighting designer will work closely with you, taking into account your preferences, lifestyle, and the purpose of each space. We customize the lighting plan to suit your specific needs, whether it's creating a cozy ambiance in the living room, setting up task lighting in the kitchen, or highlighting artwork in the hallways or gallery. The result is a personalized lighting plan that adds functionality, beauty, and a touch of luxury to every room.

You should expect an engaging conversation on how you plan to use the various rooms in the home, how and where you entertain, even specific walls that may contain artwork or have architecturally significant materials you want to highlight. Our job isn't to make sure you aren't tripping over things, although we do that too, it's to make sure your home feels like a relaxing trip to the spa after a long day, and to make sure people notice those big and little details you've added to your home.

3. Lighting designers help to set the mood: Proper lighting can transform an ordinary space into a stunning visual masterpiece. Lighting designers understand the nuances of color temperature, intensity, and direction, enabling them to create captivating effects. By utilizing a combination of overhead, task, accent, and decorative lighting, we can highlight architectural details, create focal points, and set the mood in different areas of your home. The result is an aesthetically pleasing environment that reflects your style and elevates the overall appeal of your home. Ready to set the mood for date night? Nothing says comfortable like a dim warm candlelight throughout the home, maybe even some whole-home audio to help enhance the evening. Time to end the party? A quick ramp from warmer or color-based lighting to a 100% bright, 5,000 Kelvin lighting scene signifies last-call in any language!

A custom home deserves premium lighting. Hiring a lighting designer for your luxury residence offers numerous benefits, including expertise in illumination, tailor-made lighting solutions, enhanced aesthetics, energy efficiency, plus it is just easier to hit one button to set a scene, rather than individually adjusting five light switches to do the same thing. By collaborating with a professional who understands the intricacies of lighting design, you can transform your home into a visually stunning, functional, and sustainable oasis that exudes elegance and charm.

If you are in the Seattle or Kirkland area and would like to learn more or schedule a visit to our showroom where you can see the effects proper lighting and shades have on a home, reach out by calling, filling outour contact form, or chatting with us below.