Help me light a home office!

March 20, 2006 4:25 PM

Building a home office, and need help with lighting.

So our boarder is moving out at the end of the month, and I get back my room that I was originally going to be building as a home office before we decided to take him on. Now I'm picking the project back up again, and having a fun time planning it all out.

The lighting, though, is leaving me a little stymied. I own and have attic access so I can sort of do whatever I want (within reason), and right now it's a toss-up between recessed lighting, track lighting, or wall sconces.

I'm enthusiastic on the lattermost option, but I also recognize it will be the most limiting -- I'll get light washes on the wall, but nothing else. Track lighting is appealing for versatility, and recessed for the clean look. But I don't know what would be best for a small office/den.

The room's 10x11 (standard 8ft ceiling), one big-ish western-window, and one sliding-door closet. Floor will be hardwood, cherry finish. The room will have a desk, small recliner/ottoman and a bookshelf; I'm trying to go for a minimalist look. I expect to use task lighting for reading in the chair or working on the computer, but mostly because I feel like I'm not clever enough to figure out a ceiling- or wall-based lighting setup that'll work well as task lighting too.

Anyone had any experience with this before? Ideas? Advice?

posted by wolftrouble to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

Depending on how handy you are, there's also another option: LED lighting. links here and here. I can't remember where, but I saw a picture of someone's home office lit nearly entirely with LED lights in such a way that no bulbs were directly visible.
posted by gage at 4:45 PM on March 20, 2006

Indirect lighting is nice nice nice, especially if done using daylight-balanced bulbs, so I vote for the wall sconces, mounted high, plus a supplemental swing-arm lamp for task lighting.

Of course, there's no reason you couldn't put some track lighting on the wall and point the cans upward -- that'd be nice and indirect too.
posted by kindall at 5:18 PM on March 20, 2006

Response by poster: kindall: I was thinking that too, although I was also thinking, if I'm just going to point them at the wall, and not for example at art or something, then why not just go with a wall sconce?

gage: Nice stuff, but I'm guessing way, way out of my price range. I'd like to keep the lighting part of the project under $1000, including wiring, etc. and I'm guessing going with artistic wall art or modern-art LED lighting will catapult me past that.
posted by wolftrouble at 7:04 PM on March 20, 2006

Response by poster: That being said, this looks bad ass.
posted by wolftrouble at 7:05 PM on March 20, 2006

Wall sconces are okay, I currently use them in my office area (I live in a large concrete loft). Not great producers of usable light. Given you have attic access, check into 4" recessed lighting. Unobtrusive, dimmable, usable light. Center several lights over your work space. Try indirect lighting behind your work area? Then dim both to find that perfect balance.

You can even use this or similar to dim lights remotely. I did in my old condo, worked out well.

I'm in the lighting business--and have contacts for a highly qualified electrician near you. Email is in my profile.
posted by vaportrail at 7:40 PM on March 20, 2006

I don't have much advice for the wall sconce vs. task vs. track conundrum because I've always lived in apartments, but I would like to chime in and say that I absolutely adore the GE Reveal lightbulbs I'm using in my living room, which contains my desk, my reading chair, my painting and drawing workspace, and my television. I love them because they reduce the amber color cast typical of standard lightbulbs. They're great for women's bathrooms, too, because you can get a better sense of how your makeup looks in natural light.

I tend to light rooms at the corners with very soft indirect lighting, usually uplights with flexible necks that can be aimed at walls or ceilings. If I need task lighting I try to get full spectrum desk lamps that can be easily aimed.
posted by xyzzy at 9:02 PM on March 20, 2006

if I'm just going to point them at the wall, and not for example at art or something, then why not just go with a wall sconce?

Well, you can point them more directly at the ceiling, which will give you more usable (and whiter) light.
posted by kindall at 12:32 PM on March 21, 2006