Hi,

Your fireplace does not appear to have any accent lights on it. I would suggest, you use a pair of low voltage can lights to accent a painting you place over the fireplace and/or a pair or sconces (both would be nice). Of course, if you are placing a TV above the fireplace, that would necessitate a different plan. I have also seen in lighting design books, up lights used at the fireplace floor area to up light the stone.

Carol

BTW, your elevation pictures look great, Andrew. Love the symmetry.

Carol

I just checked my lighting plan done by a lighting designer. For the fireplace, she advised two low voltage can lights (not sure the size -- I will have to double check) but likely 3 or 4 inch size). She positioned them 30 inches from the back of the fireplace stone wall. She wants them to have an elbow arm on them. We will also have a pair of sconces above the mantel (the sconces will flank a painting).

All other can lights I believe (not including kitchen) are to be gimbel style line voltage (probably with LED bulbs in reg can housing). The can lights are to be set about 24 inches away from the walls with the intention of directing the light off a wall and providing indirect light bounced off a wall (it will also light any art on that wall). No downward directed can lights will be used in main rooms (except kitchen).

The kitchen can lights are a bit different. They were recommended to be set 10 inches in from the edge of the counter (we don't have many uppers though).

We have replaced many can light in the original plan with fixtures or sconces.

Carol

Bumping this up in hope of more guidance for the OP.

Carol,

Thanks for the post. I was away on business for the past couple days and just now catching up. I actually nixed 2 lights that were originally above the mantel because unfortunately we have no other choice but to put the TV above the fireplace. The architect gave us a curse/blessing in that we have a ton of windows for natural light but at the same time we now have no walls to hang things on like TVs, etc.

Andrew

Andrew,

Yes a TV over a fireplace does change the lighting. You might still consider some up lights installed in the floor or hearth ( if you have one). A pair of uplights would be positioned on either side of the fireplace right near the stone. They look like very small circular lights. These will cast a night accent light on the stone of your fireplace, and I don't think will cast a bothersome light on the TV (although you would need to check the specs on the uplights to see the distance the light spreads). Many of those design books I posted before on one of your threads show this done.

Carol

P.S. I assume you noticed I started a new thread in the lighting forum on lighting controls? I definitely will benefit from your wisdom on that subject.

duplicate

This post was edited by OntarioMom on Sat, Feb 7, 15 at 20:13

I wouldn't use low-voltage cans anywhere you plan to use LEDs. Low voltage (12V) lighting yields slightly whiter light when used with halogen light bulbs, but has no advantages with LEDs and will drive up costs with transformers and special dimmers. The best LED bulbs give off light that's about as high quality as halogen or incandescents do, and of course use much less electricity and last longer.

Good points lee675. The designer for our project specified two low voltage can lights on the fireplace because she stated you can get a much narrower beam (aperature diameter) in low voltage that she felt was better for accenting the art over the fireplace. Is there an option to get a very narrow beam/small aperature with an LED?

Carol

This post was edited by OntarioMom on Sun, Feb 8, 15 at 9:10