I'm assuming you really like recessed can lighting! :-)

My bias is against fluorescent and recessed lights, so to me, the house seems way over done in that way (which could totally just be a personal preference thing).

No wall sconces? No pendants over the island? No chandelier in the dining? What's the architectural style of the house?

Does it bother you to have outlets not centered on walls (or not evenly spaced from corners/appliances, where there are two outlets on a single wall)?

Have you laid out furniture in the great room, and is that how the electrical plan for that space was created? I'm thinking the fan, especially, may have to be moved, since it seems centered in the room, irrespective of circulation space. I only bring this up because it would annoy me to no end if the ceiling fan wasn't centered in the furniture area, lol.

Is it too late to add windows? (Just out of curiosity; I won't go into details if you're already past that point!)

Hahah I really didn't think about the recessed lighting. The electrician brought that up as well... He said a lot of houses now are moving away from it and installing LED's. Do you have any recommendations?

I plan to remove the tube lights and add LEDs in the garage, utility, and MBR closet.

This is the actual plan, for reference: https://hpzplans.com/products/pineview

At this point we are in the process of framing so i'm still getting a feel of where furniture might go. Its not until you are inside with the walls being brought up that you get a real sense of the space.

As far as the fan... i might just get rid of it. I like the idea of a clean view with no obstructions. Plus i'm adding a couple beams which will look weird with random fan in the middle.

The framers are still adding the openings for the windows. Its pretty late in the process but i'm open to suggestions. BTW i added an additional window to the extra bedrooms on the left hand side.

I've decided to add this image that shows some of the plan changes i made. You'll see them highlighted in blue with comments in yellow.

Also, a couple important things to note. The left, rear, and right side of the house had an additional 3 feet added to each so the house is considerably larger that what the plan shows. We changed the ceiling in the great room to be 12' instead of 10.5.

I'm trying to respond to everyone's feedback and i greatly appreciate all your help!

thanks,

3 random things - I may be back later...

1. Don't you want a man door in the garage? (yeah, I know, not electrical) but it's nice to have an alternative entrance.
2. here's a weird one - a Christmas light switch if you are mental about candles in the windows or lots of strings outside, etc. And outlets under the windows....
3. Lastly - I agree - TOO MANY cans. You need some task / hanging fixtures over the dining table and the island.
4. ok - 4 things. your great room looks big enough to support 2 fans.

1. I hadn't even thought of adding a man door. But now that think about it, it might be too late. The framing is already up and the framers should be done by today. I'll have to talk to him to see what my options are.

2. I noted to my electrician about adding Christmas light switches! he said its not problem and to just denote on the plan where i want them. How far apart should i space them??

3. I want to add a couple pendants over the island, and a chandelier centered in the dining.

4. As far as fans.... i'm debating getting rid of it all together in the family room. I feel like they cut the light of sight in the room. I like the clean cut look.

Christmas lights - they should match your "plan" on decorating. If you do candles in the windows, then running a single circuit to put them all together is awesome. If you are an outside lighter, then plan that way.

I like the idea of using LED lighting, but I dislike tubes, ropes, globes, semi- and flush- mounts, tracks, and visible exposed bulbs, so I am totally the wrong person to ask for recommendations, lol! :-D

If I could, I would design for the complete elimination of ceiling lighting, but I'm waaaay weird. ;-) I prefer sconces and lamps. And only partly because I'm short and dislike changing bulbs in ceilings (especially ceilings over 8'), lol.

Since the framing is done, I won't go into anything regarding the windows. It's probably far too late, and would add to the timeline/budget significantly, if you could even add any at this point.

I really, really like that you moved the fireplace. I also like pendants over an island -- try to do odd numbers (one or three, five will be too crowded) if you can.

Oh, and furniture can totally be planned in advance, on paper!!! I like cutting out various pieces to scale, and then arranging them until I find something I like. If your brain just isn't wired that way, and you need to feel the space first, then I think eliminating the fan in that room might be a good idea. Especially since you'll have beams. That stuff needs to be all designed at the same time.

Any way your electrician could run wire up there, so you could decide if/when/where you wanted to add the fan(s) later?

Consider timer switches for outdoor lighting and (if you do it) your Christmas lighting circuit. For lights used year round, use an astronomical timer switch which automatically adjusts the on/off times based upon the seasons.

For bathroom fans, use a shorter duration timer switch.

This kind of goes along the same lines as a timer switch for outside lights.... we put our outside lights located on the front of our house on a photocell. They automatically come on when it gets dark and stay on all night until daylight unless we turn the switch off. We also made sure to add motion sensing lights anywhere we thought we would be walking at night (sides of the house getting from backyard to front yard). We have no street lights or other homes with lights around us so it was important to think about guests arriving, kids playing or outside time when it is dark.

We put in a lot of recessed lights during our build (LED) and don't regret it. On paper it looked like a lot, but in the end it was what was needed. Figured we could always use lamps or other sources of light if we felt the recessed lighting was too much. Easier to do this than trying to add recessed lights after.

Just wanted to chime in on recessed cans into an attic. Is our attic conditioned and what climate are you in?

Because cans leak air like crazy. There is absolutely nothing air tight about AT rated cans. The energy use, IAQ and humidity could be a big issue.

Other than that - I would not like the swiss cheese appearance.

We have flourescent in the garage and they are a waste. They cost serious money - since we have 4 and they are very bright. I would have been happy with the garage lights that the opener has.

1. As someone who likes bright rooms, I love all the recessed lights. Make sure you get the one piece LED bulbs and baffles, which looks so much better than having separate bulbs baffles, and are more airtight. (and plus you never have to change them) Also, consider the color temperature you want -- I like 3000k, which isn't quite as yellow as soft white 2700k.

2. I'd map out where you are going to put appliances in countertop your pantry and make sure you have enough outlets. Think about where you are going to plug phones and such in to charge, too. Better to put more in now rather than try to add later.

3. I'd put in LED under cabinet lighting. Also if you have a garbage disposal make sure they wire for that

4. I'd put a chandelier in the dining room, either in place of recessed lights, or in addition to but in a separate switch

5. I'd put 2 or 3 pendants over island. I'd probably get rid of the two recessed lights that are just west of island then, and keep the 4 recessed lights over the kitchen aisles (and possibly add and additional 1 or 2 ... hard to tell from plan how far apart they are)

Also in bedrooms figure out where bed and night stands are likely to go and make sure you have outlets in convenient places. I'd pairs of outlets behind night stands so you have 4 plugs behind them --- between clocks, lamps and phone chargers there's lots of things to plug in

Somebody please tell me what I'm doing wrong, lol... "Never have to change LEDs," is what I hear all.the.time... And yet, ours burn out after 1-3 months???

And it doesn't seem to matter where I get them... Costco, IKEA, hardware store, Wal-Mart... We'd buy more if we weren't replacing them several times a year. :-)

I saw someone note that they never have to change their LED's. Are these the ones you are talking about:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NAUM25G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If not, can you post a link so i can get an idea?

In addition to four outlets behind each night stand in the master bedroom, consider putting the ceiling lights and the fan on/off on switches behind the night stands, in addition to the wall switches by the door (3-way/4-way). Sorta over the top for me and requires good placement/measurement, but some might see it as ultra-convenience.

The problem with double doors is always where to put the light switch. In the master bath, you have to go behind the door to turn on the light. Consider using a single door.

Make sure the kitchen outlets and power to the appliances are divided up between sufficient circuits. The code minimum in your area and/or how the electrician distributes them might not be optimal, depending on how many counter top appliances you typically run at the same time.

Consider where dimmers might be useful. If you think all the can lights might be too much at times, have dimmers installed. I like the switches with separate on/off and dimmer slider. As an example, in my bathroom, I've got a ceiling light, a bar fixture over the mirror and a light over the tub. The ceiling light and bar lights are on separate switches with dimmer sliders on the side. Turning the ceiling light way down at night now serves as a night light when guests are over - no need for the small plug-in night lights.

Do you need an outside outlet on the right side?

In my house, I have 13 Halo RL56 downlight inserts in kitchen and living room that I installed 3 years ago, and another 15 Monoprice downlight inserts that were installed 2 years ago in the basement. They fit in normal recessed light cans. All of them are 3000k color temperature.

I have yet to have one burn out and need to be replaced.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Halo-5-in-and-6-in-3000K-Matte-White-Recessed-LED-Retrofit-Baffle-Trim-Module-80-CRI-RL560WH-R/203310667

https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=122&cp_id=12227&cs_id=1222711&p_id=12167&seq=1&format=2

Matt E. the monoprice seem too be very cheap! can you post pictures of what they look like. They are almost 60% off...

The lighting here is not great (since you have to turn the lights off to take a picture of them, otherwise the camera gets confused) but here's a couple photos of the Monoprice ones.

I do like the look of the Halo ones slightly more, but it's hard to beat the price on the Monoprice ones, especially if you have lots of recessed lights.

If your existing house has recessed lights, might be worth ordering 1 or 2 as a sample and installing in your existing recessed light cans.

Matt E., i think i'm going to order a few to sample. Do you have your lights set up on a dimmer? Reason i ask is some people complain that the lights are way too bright. (not these lights specifically, but the led lights in general)

I do have them on a dimmer, though we pretty much always have them on full brightness. The ones I have (linked to above) are the ones that are equivalent to a 75 watt bulb.

Many of the LED manufacturers also offer brighter versions of the lights, which I think are designed for houses with substantially higher ceilings. (Monoprice sells a 120 watt equivalent version, too).

We've got standard 8 foot ceilings, so I went with the 75 watt equivalent, which has been fine for us.

Here is the update guys

I spoke with my electrical guy yesterday and we did a walk through of the house.

We have made a couple changes that are shown in the attached files. I'll also include a legend so you can follow along.

Let me know what you think!

(location of fixtures are just approximations...)

I'm sorry but I just have to repeat that you have designed a swiss cheese ceiling. The cans in the dining room right next a chandelier is overkill.

Even bathrooms? You usually have lights over the mirror or next to it - I can't tell if you have those.

And then these lights in small reach in closets? Overkill in my opinion.

The flood lights are overkill in my opinion.

Do you plan on lamps? Do have surface mounts anywhere? Maybe your ceilings are low - I don't know.

The only argument for cans in a bedroom is for cleaning. I for one don't care than much for the light of the midday sun when I am cleaning a bedroom. A kitchen - yes.

Again - how are you addressing the huge air leak from cans from your attic. Even the "air tight" cans. Your house could be both super humid in the summer and drafty in the winter - not to mention the dust from the insulation. I'm sneezing just thinking about it. But maybe you are foaming the roof line.? Maybe you are in CA?]

But regardless of that, I think the aesthetics of all those cans is just wrong.

Just glancing at your new plan quickly, I have just a few things.....

In the mud room/laundry room I suggest installing an overhead halogen type light (not exactly sure what they are called but you can use LED bulbs). We did this in our laundry room and at first I was thinking it was pretty plain but I LOVE the light it puts out. No dark corners and excellent for seeing all those little stains from the kids that need extra treatment before going through the wash.

We have a recessed light over the bathtub in the kids' bathroom and I'm so glad we did this. Not only is it great light while showering, we often leave this light on at night so the kids can find the bathroom easily (our kids are still young and one tends to half sleepwalk at night to use the bathroom). For the rest of the bathroom we have the normal lighting above each sink (3 bulb fixture).

Question, do the fans also have lights?

I am sorry to say I agree with the previous posters who say you have too many can lights. Did you know if you are sitting/standing under a can light that shadows make you look older? I would want to plan where the seating will be in the family room and other rooms to avoid having a can light over head where someone will sit or stand for longer periods of time. Lamps, sconces, or ceiling fixtures that offer ambient/uplighting vs downlighting is much more flattering. Try for a better balance between up and down lighting. Right now, almost all your lighting is down lighting (which is not flattering).

Carol

Plus it seems like there is no rhyme or reason as to how you put all those cans in. And I certainly wouldn't do 6" cans nowadays but instead 4" cans.

I removed all your outdoor lights. What you have is lighting your house up like a Christmas tree. It's overkill, especially since you have flood lights.

Here is what I'd do:

I'd ditch the can in the front entry and instead put a sconce light on either side of the door.

You don't need more than 3 floodlights. One flood on the corner of the house can have two lights with each one pointed in in a different direction.

In the office all you need is the fan with a light on it. The rest of your lighting should be task lighting.

In the family room, you need to center the fan and lights in the room. Depending on what the rest of the room looks like, instead of cans you might even consider flush mount lights.

In the kitchen, your lights are best if they are on the edge of the counter so you don't cast a shadow as you work. Additionally you don't need a light in front of your cooktop because if you have an exhaust hood (and you absolutely should!) then the hood will have lights on it.

Additionally, 3 pendants usually work better than 2 visually.

No light is needed in front of the fridge since the fridge is lit inside.

In the dining room all you need is a beautiful chandelier. If you want more lighting, add 2 sconces on one wall.

In the hallways, instead of three more cans, much nicer would be 3 pendants, or 3 flush mounts or 3 semi flush mounts.

Instead of lighting up the master bedroom, do the fan with a light and then add a sconce on either side of the bed or bedside lamps.

Sconces over the vanity mirrors or on either side of the mirrors in the bathrooms work better than a pendant light.

In the garage you don't need cans. You get a utility light or lights.

The two bedrooms only need a fan with a light on it. You can add more light with lamps.

On the patio, do two sconces and a fan with a light. Then on the back of the patio put a sconce.

I agree with CP. You had too many, or, perhaps still needed better placement.

For example, cans in the corners of the bedrooms won't do much for general ambient lighting (if that is your intent). I have cans in my bedroom, but they are specifically designed to 1) light the TV and the dressers on one wall, and 2) light the headboard area of the bedroom in another.

Both are on dimmers and they make a nice glow. I still have reading lights on the nightstands, but only because one of us might read and the other may be sleeping.

Garage cans won't have the spread you want and will create shadows / light puddles that don't overlap.

Cans are great for closets, over the tubs, storage and some path lighting (down a hall, etc) but they need to be used thoughtfully.

If you want to do something funky for the bedroom - consider pendants instead of sconces. That way you can use them for a bedside light and not have to dust around them on the nightstand. ;-)