Layers, control, colour

Lighting Design & Installation

Recessed, under-cabinet, exterior and architectural lighting, planned as layers and put on control that people actually use.

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Planned as: Three layers
Colour temp: Consistent per room
Dimming: Matched to the driver

A kitchen with a marble island lit by three warm pendant fittings

Most rooms are not badly lit. They are lit from one place.

The most common lighting problem in a house is a single fitting in the middle of the ceiling doing every job at once — cooking, reading, eating, and being comfortable at ten at night. No fitting is good at all four.

The fix is layers: something general, something on the work surfaces, and something low and warm for the evening, each on its own control. It is not an expensive idea. It is mostly a question of deciding it before the ceiling is closed up.

What we get asked for most

Recessed lighting laid out for the room rather than on a fixed grid
Under-cabinet and in-cabinet lighting in kitchens, on its own switch
Dimming that actually works — driver and dimmer matched, not guessed
Colour temperature kept consistent within a room and chosen deliberately
Exterior, path, soffit and security lighting on sensible control
Fixture replacement on high or awkward ceilings
Switch layouts reworked so the control is where your hand already goes

The parts people regret skipping

Four decisions that separate lighting that works from lighting that is merely installed.

Dimmers are not interchangeable

The flicker and buzz people blame on cheap LEDs is very often a dimmer that does not match the driver. Getting that pairing right at specification time costs nothing and is miserable to fix afterwards.

Colour temperature is a decision

Warm for living space, neutral for work surfaces, and — more important than either — consistent within a sightline. A kitchen with three colour temperatures in it looks wrong and nobody can ever say why.

Where the switches go

Half the value of a lighting plan is switch placement and grouping. If the evening layer needs three switches in two rooms, nobody will ever use it.

Fewer, better fittings

A ceiling does not need to look like a runway. Most rooms we are asked to fill with a dozen downlights are better with six and a decent under-cabinet run.

How this is priced

In writing before anything starts
Readings and findings left with you
Nobody paid a percentage of the invoice

Fixture replacement and small additions are flat-rate per fitting. A full room or a whole-house plan is quoted after a walk-through, and the layout drawing is yours whether or not we do the work. If you are working with a designer or a builder, we will work to their drawing and flag anything on it that will not dim quietly.

Questions we get

About lighting

Why do my new LED lights flicker or buzz?

The most likely reason by far is a dimmer that is not compatible with the LED driver in that fitting — often an older dimmer left in place when the bulbs were changed. It can also be a loose neutral, which is a different and more urgent problem. It is worth having someone check which of those it is.

How many recessed lights does a room need?

Fewer than most layouts assume. It depends on ceiling height, the beam angle of the fitting and what the room is for — a kitchen with good under-cabinet lighting needs far less overhead than one without. We would rather walk the room than answer that with a formula.

Can you add lighting without tearing up the ceiling?

Usually, yes. Remodel-style fittings and careful routing get most jobs done with small, patchable openings. Where a ceiling has blocking, insulation or an awkward joist run, we will tell you before we start what the making-good will look like rather than after.