Our lighting orders have been placed and here is our selection of fixtures and our lighting plan for our little home at the edge of the orchard. If you’d like to look more closely at this plan, click on it for the larger version.
My main objective for this lighting project was to strike a balance between custom, full-function lighting and a small budget, while expressing my lighting design skills. I believe it is more challenging to design for yourself, as maintaining objectivity is no easy feat!
All ceilings are sloped in our home so the lighting needs to be ceiling suspended or wall mounted. 
Lets start outside. The exterior lighting is mostly on the north side for path finding. At 10″D, this will provide ample light in a sleek modern package. I was lucky to pick up 6 of these at $26 a piece! Ours are in a pale grey powder-coated finish. Bulbs for both inside and out will be energy efficient LED at 3000K colour temperature for bright, crisp white light.
In our Foyer, this lovely, cone-shaped glass pendant will set the tone for the rest of the lighting in the home. Notice how the exterior lights feature the triangular shape in the circular glass. Creating a flow through the spaces with repeated shapes is an elegant way to create a custom thoughtful look.
A design objective for the Entryway is to play up the notion that the home opens out onto the south garden side. The full glass entry door with the sight-line straight through to the outdoors opposite will achieve this. And a neat way to punctuate this effect is with a large clear glass pendant.
Beyond this pendant, a monopoint in the ceiling will create a spotlight on the floor where the Foyer intersects the Hall. This effect will lead arrivals toward this point. A major goal of lighting design is to choreograph movement around and through spaces.
We are using this Norbello monopoint as the directional lighting throughout. Because our ceiling is sloped and filled with insulation, there is no attic and, therefore, no space for recessed light housings. A monopoint is an excellent way to achieve directional lighting for task and accent when insulation and structure prohibit recessed lighting.
As buildings become more efficient in both energy and size, the monopoint will overtake the recessed light in popularity. It is, of course, more visible on the ceiling, but using white on white ceilings and placing them judiciously rather than plastering a ceiling with them, lends a custom look that is contemporary and a little urban industrial as well.
Upon arriving at the end of our Foyer, visitors will be guided with the use of light to the public space to the left. Here, a long time favourite of mine, the Congress pendant from Hinkley, will provide an accent point over our coffee table. My intention is to suspend this at 60″ above the floor – far lower than is customary. This will bring light down to where it is useful on the coffee table and will, in my opinion look daring and sleek.
Monopoints around the Living Room, accenting the built in cabinets and the free standing fireplace will provide light layers in a polished way in our small space.
Undercabinet light in any kitchen is a task lighting must and slim LED Swivleds from Montreal-based, DALS will be effective yet discrete. Their swivel-ability means we can keep our cabinetry sleek and light valance-free without glare.
Lighting upper cabinets and open shelves can be accomplished with directional lights or less expensively with omni-directional lights – fewer are required to achieve the same light levels. Here we’ve decided on simple round globes (remember the 70’s?)
Ours will be chrome and the metal body will repeat the lovely triangular shape featured in the other lighting.
Check out future posts for the rest of the lighting story. If you have questions about your own lighting solutions, feel free to message me or comment below. I would be delighted to help.
Until next time…
