Things you forget - summary page 32

Renman · Dec 11, 2020 5:36 pm

Hemz

For downlights make sure you use a warm white throughout the house to give it a homely feel. We aren't living in a factory. 3000k is perfect.

Cheaper ones will distort the colour of the light and not look as good, so ensure you get good quality ones.

People use their downlights so wrong these days....they are made to highlight walls and working spaces. Not to light the floor area....have them above kitchen benches, bathroom sinks and along wall edges for the most benefit out of them.

Agree with you but what do you use to light the floor and living areas?

Hemz · Dec 12, 2020 7:19 am

Renman

Hemz

For downlights make sure you use a warm white throughout the house to give it a homely feel. We aren't living in a factory. 3000k is perfect.

Cheaper ones will distort the colour of the light and not look as good, so ensure you get good quality ones.

People use their downlights so wrong these days....they are made to highlight walls and working spaces. Not to light the floor area....have them above kitchen benches, bathroom sinks and along wall edges for the most benefit out of them.

Agree with you but what do you use to light the floor and living areas?

The downlights create enough light reflecting off the walls. You can light a whole room just by lighting one wall so I'd you put a downlight on or 2 along each wall that room will be more than lit enough.

Most electricians know barely anything about lighting and say everyone uses cold white light. People regret it....I'm going to get the 3 way toggle switch ones to start with so I can compare.

All the above info is from my relative that has 30 years experience as a lighting and interior designer. She has quite the resume!

Hemz · Dec 12, 2020 7:28 am

Hemz

Renman

Hemz

For downlights make sure you use a warm white throughout the house to give it a homely feel. We aren't living in a factory. 3000k is perfect.

Cheaper ones will distort the colour of the light and not look as good, so ensure you get good quality ones.

People use their downlights so wrong these days....they are made to highlight walls and working spaces. Not to light the floor area....have them above kitchen benches, bathroom sinks and along wall edges for the most benefit out of them.

Agree with you but what do you use to light the floor and living areas?

The downlights create enough light reflecting off the walls. You can light a whole room just by lighting one wall so I'd you put a downlight on or 2 along each wall that room will be more than lit enough.

Most electricians know barely anything about lighting and say everyone uses cold white light. People regret it....I'm going to get the 3 way toggle switch ones to start with so I can compare.

All the above info is from my relative that has 30 years experience as a lighting and interior designer. She has quite the resume!

In saying the above best to check with a qualified lighting person to confirm, I just had a brief phone call discussing my layout and what I took out of it.

Builders will use the cheapest downlights they can find so it might not be like that with their ones. You can use them to light up the floor if you want but the main point is have them over kitchen benches and stovetop runs, bathroom sinks and make sure you use a warm white. If you too are unsure then get the 3 way toggle downlights.

(I'm leaving the family room downlights where they were but kitchen I've re-arranged)

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twotwopig · Dec 12, 2020 10:07 pm

Well, for me, my entire house, I went with white daylight. The first thing that my project manager says during handover is , the daylight colour choice you picked is good. Makes the house looks modern unlike the usual warm white.

So my point is, it depends on what you like the colour to be.

I agree about lighting the work area especially having a light strip under the kitchen overhead cupboard as I can clearly see what I am working on.

Renman · Dec 13, 2020 10:04 am

I don't like dark looking homes so we between 4-6 downlights for the center of the room, under mounted lights inside the over head cabinets and featured downlights on the side of the walls for the artwork and TV lighting.

All bases covered.

Hemz · Dec 13, 2020 1:12 pm

twotwopig

Well, for me, my entire house, I went with white daylight. The first thing that my project manager says during handover is , the daylight colour choice you picked is good. Makes the house looks modern unlike the usual warm white.

So my point is, it depends on what you like the colour to be.

I agree about lighting the work area especially having a light strip under the kitchen overhead cupboard as I can clearly see what I am working on.

How long have you been in the house?
Majority of newer homes have white light but doesn't make it better long term.

Projector manager doesn't really have any qualifications regarding lighting so is just telling you what you want to hear. Majority of people building have no idea about colour and regret going a bright white then replacing to a warm white down the track.

Each to their own though.

Hemz · Dec 13, 2020 1:26 pm

Areas where warm white lighting is best suited:
Bedrooms
Living Areas
Dining Rooms
Outdoor Gardens
Weddings
Restaurants
Cafes
Entries & Hallways
Traditional Applications

Areas where cool white lighting is best suited:
Kitchens
Bathrooms
Toilets
Laundries
Garages
Studies
Commercial Applications
Ultra Modern Applications

nic1 · Jan 04, 2021 12:40 pm

Hemz

twotwopig

Well, for me, my entire house, I went with white daylight. The first thing that my project manager says during handover is , the daylight colour choice you picked is good. Makes the house looks modern unlike the usual warm white.

So my point is, it depends on what you like the colour to be.

I agree about lighting the work area especially having a light strip under the kitchen overhead cupboard as I can clearly see what I am working on.

How long have you been in the house?
Majority of newer homes have white light but doesn't make it better long term.

Projector manager doesn't really have any qualifications regarding lighting so is just telling you what you want to hear. Majority of people building have no idea about colour and regret going a bright white then replacing to a warm white down the track.

Each to their own though.

Yeah, during our reno our builder tried to install cold white light as well and we had him replace it when we noticed. As I don't live in a hospital we'll definitely go with warm white again for our upcoming build (except for select areas perhaps).

twotwopig · Jan 04, 2021 1:33 pm

Hemz

twotwopig

Well, for me, my entire house, I went with white daylight. The first thing that my project manager says during handover is , the daylight colour choice you picked is good. Makes the house looks modern unlike the usual warm white.

So my point is, it depends on what you like the colour to be.

I agree about lighting the work area especially having a light strip under the kitchen overhead cupboard as I can clearly see what I am working on.

How long have you been in the house?
Majority of newer homes have white light but doesn't make it better long term.

Projector manager doesn't really have any qualifications regarding lighting so is just telling you what you want to hear. Majority of people building have no idea about colour and regret going a bright white then replacing to a warm white down the track.

Each to their own though.

Being living in the house for 1 year. Still loving the white light.
Although when I visit friend's house with warm light, it does looks more inviting and homely feel.

So far no regrets going with white light as it makes the house bright which I like the feel.
Although I know if down the road, i wanted warm light i can just pop up to the roof and switch the LED setting. The PM told me all my lighting are switchable lights - did not check though so will just take his words as it.

IamSAM · Jan 08, 2021 7:44 am

twotwopig

Hemz

twotwopig

Well, for me, my entire house, I went with white daylight. The first thing that my project manager says during handover is , the daylight colour choice you picked is good. Makes the house looks modern unlike the usual warm white.

So my point is, it depends on what you like the colour to be.

I agree about lighting the work area especially having a light strip under the kitchen overhead cupboard as I can clearly see what I am working on.

How long have you been in the house?
Majority of newer homes have white light but doesn't make it better long term.

Projector manager doesn't really have any qualifications regarding lighting so is just telling you what you want to hear. Majority of people building have no idea about colour and regret going a bright white then replacing to a warm white down the track.

Each to their own though.

Being living in the house for 1 year. Still loving the white light.
Although when I visit friend's house with warm light, it does looks more inviting and homely feel.

So far no regrets going with white light as it makes the house bright which I like the feel.
Although I know if down the road, i wanted warm light i can just pop up to the roof and switch the LED setting. The PM told me all my lighting are switchable lights - did not check though so will just take his words as it.

You can pulldown a downlight and change setting (no need to go up into the roof)

Prizm · Apr 18, 2021 1:35 pm

Looking at display homes recently, pretty much all the downlights are warm white, even in the bathrooms.

Big fan of warm white here. 3000K is the sweet spot and it's where most warm white LED downlights sit. It's not too yellow and is reminiscent of classic halogen downlights.

I hate going into a home where it's a dreary cold white and feels about as comfortable as a parking garage or dirty warehouse. But I'm realizing that a big part of the problem is that cold white looks best when the lighting is bright and very even, like a Target/Big W store. Most homes with cold white don't have enough lights/brightness, and it results in all these shadows and darkened corners. It creates a much more gloomy effect than dim warm-white lighting.

CD12JD · Apr 23, 2021 11:47 pm

If your builder uses clipsal its just a matter of pulling the unit out and switching it to cool, day or warm

I forgot to change the way the door to the garage swung... lucky my builder was happy to change it to singing into the hallway rather then swinging into the garage chewing up valuable parking space

strannik · May 10, 2021 7:52 pm

vladmari

hi everyone. I have built my first home over 6 years ago and me and my partner just made a decision to build another one. I have used this summary page with my first built and wanted to say thank you for keeping it going still with so much more information added on.

We're in the same boat. Built a house in 2014, and even though we've read this thread before building, we didn't think certain things would be as important to us as they turned out to be, so didn't do them at the time (and too expensive to fix now). So building a new house to correct all the mistakes

This time we're trying complete opposite of what we did with the current house. Before we just did a few changes to one of the standard builder plans and went with all the standard inclusions plus some minor upgrades (like electrical/data, higher ceilings, freestanding bath). Now we're trying to plan every single little detail. We've spent 3 months just drawing the house plan in floorplanner app, so we could give it to the draftsman and tell him to draw exactly that. I think we've so far spent more time looking at various colors/materials than total time we've spent on planning the whole construction for the current one (and we still haven't finalised our color selection).

Good thing that our land settlement is still few months away, so hopefully we'll pick something by then and can start building straight away.

Henry.xiao · Aug 02, 2021 10:25 pm

Marked.
Great post.
Thanks.

domwild · Aug 03, 2021 7:47 am

I managed to get the builder to install plugs (sockets) on the rafters. If the LED burns out or I do not like the colour, then I do not have to call in the electrician. I can just crawl into the attic and change the LED myself.