I would have envisioned a lighting plan to have been done BEFORE construction began and before the ceiling was installed. Too late now.

How about an elegant set of lanterns or a giant, modern blown-glass pendant? Now is the time to make a statement.

This is a custom home so lighting is being decided now - the only immediate decision which needs to be made for electrical rough is how many ceiling lights to put in the ceiling -1,2 or 3. So I am most interested in what Specific ceiling lighting you enviosion for this space. Thank you!

I'm seeing big circular iron-type thingies

That is a gorgeous room! Here are a few ideas.

I love, and have saved all of these photos. What do you think of this RH light - 72" diameter- in the center?

I love it, but I wonder if one would be enough. How large is the room?

27x20 is size of room - over island will be two moooi heracleum small lights - light and airy there

Vent hood and entryway and fireplace mantels in black steel

Everything you describe sounds wonderful! The black steel will be very dramatic. And I'm a big fan of those heracleum pendants. Regarding the chandeliers in the great room, I think you'll need two. Looking forward to seeing your house come together.

Awesome great room!!
I like the 3rd picture in smit's post - the pendants.
The 12V lights are pretty cool too. We have those running through our cabin (cedar exposed beams) and they are super neat and unique.

As a "custom" home, I would have thought this would have already been decided. A room this size need a full lighting plan, from recessed lights to large feature fixtures to table lights. It depends on the furniture placement, but I would think Groveraxle's idea plus additional layers would work.

Our custom was the same way. We didn't figure out lighting until the house was framed and the roof was on. Being able to walk through the place and not just look at it on paper were 2 very different things.
I guess that's why it took 13 months :-)
Lol

Yes the custom home build process is very iterative- naturally the can lights and fans are in the plan but there is much room and time to figure things out as you go, such a moving around ceiling light locations in case there is a new style of lighting out which you prefer. This process from architect to demo of the existing house to finish will be 2 years. Fireplaces will be limestone but in more of a planned out symmetrical fashion to give it a more contemporary and less hill country feel- lie this. As well we are planning to stain the ceiling -something like this- which stain do you prefer? Another photo of RH fixture attached. The cable lighting would be very minimalist- thinking a larger fixture would draw your eye upward more.

Hi jillmdenton,

We are the oldest open flame copper/electric lighting company in the
U.S. and hand make every one of our fixtures in New Orleans, LA. We also make iron chandeliers! We have
hundreds of different lighting combinations and offer a complimentary design
service. Based on your photo the Country French or the Arnaud are just 2 options that could work for you! Feel free to email us pictures of your space with height measurements and we
will be happy to make style and scale recommendations. Happy hunting! -Lindsey

Thank you for your input. Your work is lovely.

Since this is second posting about this space, first on stain for ceiling and now lighting, I wish all your questions would be expressed at once, since cohesive spaces require as much coordination and planning as possible to achieve best end results. You mentioned you have a design team, but I am not sure either they are serving you well, or you are questioning their judgments and recommendations. Just makes me uncomfortable trying to assist you.

Aren't the electrical chases already routed into the tops of your ceiling beams? Ours were already run prior to the ceiling/roof construction. Just curious how the lighting will be wired so it doesn't show?

There is still entry into the great room ceiling from the kitchen ceiling (not viewable for these photos) -electricians still roughing out- you don't want to start putting the recessed cans and places for hanging lighting in until the very end of rough out on this type of decorative ceiling.

I understand tweaking a lighting plan once rough in is done, but this seems like a build on the fly. I too am in the middle of a construction project and the plans took a year, the build is 9 months into it, but the basic lighting plan was completed beforehand. My impression of the space: you need uplighting to highlight the ceiling; you must illuminate the corners; you want LV LED spots for artwork, a LV LED over coffee table; do not put pucks over anyplace people will sit. The downlight will make them look dreadful. You can then put 2 chandeliers in on dimmers. In entry's consider motion sensed lights.

Good feedback. Yes it's somewhat on the fly but not the builders fault - we decided on T&G in the last month as opposed to just sheet rock and some beams. So recessed lighting in the plan but now we are working with a new element. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to make changes as we wish during this process and a flexible design and build team.

OK, Thanks for the clarification. I thought this was a traditional timberframe like ours where the SIP ceiling is the roof. Our chases were routed and holes were drilled through the overhead beams during frame raising even before the walls were up. There was no other way to access the ceiling later, so kind for stressful! You are lucky to have the flexibility to somewhat tweak your lighting as needed!

Hi Flo, just read your note. Have a great design team. I didn't realize Houzz posts were just for people without design teams. I'm new to using this advice/discussion houz posting, and thought it would be interesting to get opinions from others interested in construction/design- other just like me- wasn't necessarily expecting another design pro opinion, but I welcome anyone's advice. If I'm not supposed to be posting here just let me know. Just because I have a great design team, I enjoy getting feedback from others about items. I really appreciate the opinions you have and I'm sorry if I can't be more concise - I thought it would be more pointed and easier to understand to ask one specific question at a time, on a separate post - but maybe that is more confusing. I'll have alot more things I'd be curious to see what people's opinions are, and I'm not sure they all belong on this discussion string. Thanks again!

No this is open for all. Just better to have what I call the big picture or you kind of feel like comments aren't as cohesive as they might be. The more info we have up front the better the input usually.

Hi Beverly, I like the photos you selected - one was an early inspiration. One concept that has evolved is that we want to go more modern in the interior, and give less of a nod to traditional, with a Scandinavian/European twist. Exterior is contemporary farmhouse (see these photos

- B&B will be painted a slightly warm white-not the yellow it appears currently). Tod Arbogast (Blake too) is our fabulous builder and Jennifer Garner (Katie too) is our wonderful designer. Entry steel system with a view to a small courtyard. Entry into great room with a view of the kitchen hood which will be floating blackened steel, with a waterfall island probably calacutta marble looking material and same for blacksplash below hood. Now back to the great room ceiling lighting: See the last photo we took at the parade of homes this weekend - uplighting at the bottom edge of the ceiling. What do you think of these lights, or how would you envision best highlighting the ceiling, or best to leave alone? we are using slightly smaller recessed can lighting in the ceiling.

Here is our exterior

I'm smiling, you see the wisdom in lighting the ceiling. I don't know how they did it - but they have a lot of new LED products including LED light tape. Your electrician and lighting designer should be able to help. My ASID designer knew where to do LV LED, LED Tape lights, etc and he also knew exactly the fixtures we needed and what bulbs to use. You have to select bulbs for the color or lack of color they throw off. Next, you put in the lights and then wait for it to get dark to see how the selection works both during the day and at night. Most people think of lighting as an after thought, but it really is as important as the structural integrity of the home because it affects how much you will enjoy living in your home. Lighting creates the drama and the WOW for a living space. I would also consider LV LED for wall artwork. I utilized low voltage pin points for my paintings with a spectrum above 3000 so no yellow or blue colors. I'd rather cutback elsewhere, but not on the quality and sufficiency of my lighting. That is because I spend most of my time enjoying my home at night after work - when it is dark outside. I certainly don't want it dark inside.

And skip the pucks in the middle of the ceiling - so not appropriate as it puts downlight on peoples faces.

This photo was done with LED tape light.

Thanks Maggie- wise advice. The lighting nicely accentuates the ceiling in that photo and no bright light in the eyes when sitting anywhere in that space.

The more I see of this house, the more I love it! Be careful with the up lighting in the eaves. It looks great in the second photo (posted by bellburgmaggie) because it is nicely and evenly dispersed, but the lighting is way to hot in the first photo (from parade of homes).

smit, i see what you mean. the parade of homes lighting is there, and one sees it, but it doesn't disperse upward as much as one would hope. maggie's photo - the lighting is well done. I'm thinking for our space, there is something to be said for an understated and casual approach, The windows on each side are 10 -11 feet tall and 20 feet wide. Our ceiling is not so grandiose and doesn't scream "look at me" - it's more laid back. Even more so - i don't want the greatroom to look like a lit up chapel.

Thank you all for your insight. It really helped me crystallize a vision for this. So our designer said this and we're gonna go with it after we inquired about lighting here - whether we needed to consider something more : "I don’t think so. The central hanging fixture will cast soft light onto the ceiling, and can be dimmed. Also if you do want to add uplighting the question becomes where to place it. the architecture is very clean, and I hesitate to add coves or troughs to hide uplighting. Other way to achieve would be with wall mounted sconces/fixtures that point; again where to locate them since you have tall windows/doors that span much of the walls. If you really want to do this, then I’m happy to put more thought into it."

This discussion has ended and a decision has been made. I'll start a new thread soon here on another topic which commands my attention...so many decisions to make! Thanks again and please help me again soon when I return!

Lighting tape & ceiling chandeliers with corner cans should be enough!

Because of the size of the room -by the way gorgeous room- I would use at least three large chandeliers. Not only the room can handle them but to avoid dark spots in the room. Is better to be able to dim the lights than have a dark room. True you can always add table and floor lamps but I would like to have them integrated to the architecture of the place. RH has great oversized industrial chandeliers that would be perfect for the space. Can't wait to see the final design. Please keep us updated.

Beautiful!

A multi pendant chandelier designed with a staggering on different heights, will look just amazing! It will fill the large space and will create an interest in the design.

In Galilee lighting we carry beautiful lighting in unique styles, which can be designed in any length and size. We invite you to visit our website to view our unique lighting collections.

If you would like to receive our catalog by email and get more ideas, contact Sales@GalileeLighting.com or visit www.GalileeLighting.com

We offer free design consultation.

And som from our hand blown glass multi globe pendants chandeliers...

What a beautiful room and house!! Unnoticed this art in your great room. Would you mind sharing where you purchased it from?

Unnoticed! Ha! I mean't to say "I noticed"