Nowadays, having a house with a high ceiling is an increasingly rare thing, given the current trends in the construction sector and the minimum heights required by law.
Designing an environment with a high ceiling undoubtedly provides great potential at a creative level, allowing the architect or interior designer to have fun decorating the walls with paintings, accessories, wallpaper, etc…
A high ceiling offers a wide range of possibilities, but the margin of error also increases, in particular when it comes to the lighting design project, which must be studied in detail to ensure that the environment is adequately lit and does not seem empty or flat.
In this article, we will take a look at how to light up a room with a high ceiling, analyzing the aspects to consider when choosing the most suitable systems and adequate lighting fixtures. The goal is to ensure uniform lighting, while also enriching and decorating the environment.
In particular, we will look at:
- 3 aspects to consider when lighting up a room with a high ceiling
- How to light up a room with a high ceiling: which lighting fixtures you should choose
- Cover all the levels with light to light up a room with a high ceiling
Moby Dick
3 aspects to consider when lighting up a room with a high ceiling
Clients who commission a job may think that lighting design isn't the most important aspect, but professionals know the importance of lighting in the design of an environment.
A well-structured project must satisfy the three levels of lighting (ambient lighting, task lighting, and accent lighting) regardless of the style and mood that you want to give the environment.
If you want to know how to light up a room with a high ceiling without making technical or style mistakes, here are some aspects that you will need to consider to make the ceiling's height a point of strength and great charm through the right light.
1. Apply the rule of thirds
Although its origins date back to the Greco-Roman world, the rule of thirds still finds wide application in the world of art, photography, and design.
Applied to the room you are designing, it means ideally dividing the wall into three equal and balanced parts: the top, the middle, and the bottom.
These are your three different "design levels".
Furniture will be placed at the bottom, works of art, paintings, or other furnishings in the middle, and the upper level is often used for lighting.
However, to adequately "fill" an environment with a high ceiling and provide uniform light to the whole space, the secret is to illuminate each level using different types of decorative lighting, adding, for example:
- Floor lamps in the lower level of the room
- Table lamps, floor lamps, and wall lamps in the central part.
- Spotlights and suspensions in the upper level.
Extreme attention must also be paid to choosing the right color temperature based on the type of room you are designing, the natural light available, the furnishing concept, and the atmosphere desired by the client.
Moby Dick
2. Calculate the right lumens for the space
As you know, calculating the number of lumens needed to light up a room is essential for the success of a lighting project.
Since this value depends both on the intensity of the light (lux) and the surface that will be illuminated (lumen = lux x sq), providing an adequate number of lumens is all the more essential to illuminate a room with a high ceiling, also taking into account the room type (for example, a kitchen will need more light than a bedroom).
In fact, for the same square footage, an environment with a high ceiling will need more lumens than a room with a standard ceiling, because it is more difficult to ensure that the light is projected adequately at the lower level, where it is most needed.
3. Choose a narrower beam angle
The light beam angle is precisely the width of the light beam that a light source, such as a light bulb, emits.
The narrower the angle, the more the light will focus on a precise and more limited area.
In general, opting for a wide angle turns out to be the ideal choice for the general lighting of a room. However, when it comes to lighting up a room with a high ceiling, using recessed LED spotlights is undoubtedly a good solution, as long as you take into account the specific characteristics of the environment.
In fact, in a room with a high ceiling, a wider angle that provides more delicate light in a larger area of the room would probably be too dim, and the risk is that the floor is not adequately illuminated.
On the contrary, a narrower angle, and therefore more concentrated and direct, will be able to reach even the lowest level more easily, avoiding dispersions.
For this reason, for a room with a high ceiling, an angle of a maximum of 50° is best (the value is indicative and will depend on the actual ceiling height).
If you fear that intense and narrow-angled lights may provide excess light, especially if the room is a living area where, in some moments your client will want a softer and more relaxing atmosphere, a dimmer, which allows you to calibrate the light intensity as needed, could be the perfect solution.
Alì e Babà
How to illuminate a room with a high ceiling: which lighting fixtures you should choose
First of all, a rule that has always been valid is providing for the perfect integration of artificial light with natural light. So, where possible, and if it is not already present, installing a skylight on a high ceiling is an excellent solution, which will help you to take advantage of as much sunlight as possible.
In this case, keep in mind that your artificial lighting sources will have to provide different alternatives to chandeliers, which do not go well with skylights.
As we have seen in the paragraph dedicated to the rule of thirds, all vertical space will be illuminated.
Now let's see which lighting fixtures you should choose.
- Chandeliers and pendant lamps can be chosen according to your client’s taste and in line with the style of the furnishings, which, developing in length, will be perfect for filling the space and providing character and elegance, occupying the third upper level.
Suspension lamps applied to high ceilings will not only light up the room but will become protagonists as decorative elements.
- Spotlights can be integrated with other lighting fixtures, thanks to their natural effect, and are perfect for ambient lighting preferring, as already mentioned, a narrower beam angle.
- Wall lamps, in addition to creating practical light, can also be used to create accent lighting on wall details, paintings or works of art, mirrors, etc., providing light at the central level.
- Table lamps, in addition to providing functional lighting for activities where needed (above a desk for example), are also capable of creating plays of light on the walls and the ceiling.
- A beautiful floor lamp with an attractive design can be perfect, for example, to give light to the reading corner in the living room or to give personality to a corridor that is narrow or has a high ceiling.
Regardless of the type of lighting fixtures that you will choose, together with your client, you can choose LED lights both for the considerable energy savings they can guarantee and for their ability to be able to reproduce the entire spectrum of colors, allowing you to create different decorative effects that you want in your lighting design project.
Furthermore, on a practical level, the higher the ceiling, the more inconvenient it will be to change the bulbs, and many LEDs allow up to 50,000 hours of use.
Ceraunavolta
Cover all the levels with light to light up a room with a high ceiling
We have seen how to light up a room with a high ceiling effectively both from a functional and an aesthetic point of view. It is necessary to take into account three fundamental aspects: the rule of thirds, the number of lumens, and the light beam angle so that every level is adequately illuminated.
Providing the combination of different lighting fixtures (spotlights, suspensions, wall lamps, floor lamps, and table lamps) will fill the environment with light, making it comfortable and welcoming.
