To light a living room with vaulted ceiling hang a chandelier at a height of 4 ft above the coffee table to get general accent lighting and then install track lights or gimble lights over the ceiling to illuminate the dark walls and also to counter shadows that are made on wall due to lighting from chandelier.
Additionally,, floor lamps or table lamps can also be used to add a little more variety in the lighting design of sloped ceiling living room.
Let’s see in detail how to create a lighting design for vaulted ceiling living room
Designing the lighting plan
Start creating the lighting design by adding a light source above the coffee table. The purpose of this light source is get general accent lighting around the living room.
However, when a hanging light fixture is placed at the center of living area it is noted that a lot of shadow are formed on the walls. This is because as we move away from the light source towards the walls, the brightness of light also goes on decreasing.
This creates an opportunity for shadow formation as soon as something gets in between light and the wall.
For a clear understanding, see the image of living room below in which chandelier is hanged in the center and wall are dark.
Now to avoid shadows recessed gimble lights or even track lights can be used at eh minimum brightness zones across the living room to mitigate the shadows.
In this way the lighting design for a living room with vaulted ceiling is completed.
Alternatively a light plan in which no hanging light fixture is needed can also be utilized to light a living room with vaulted ceiling in which ceiling mounted spot lights are used for complete living room illumination.
Lighting design without a chandelier is best suited for those living rooms in which there are beam on the vaulted ceiling.
Using spot lights makes it easier to get contrasting lighting which is inviting and relaxing.
How to light a living room with half vaulted ceiling.
Illuminate the furniture of living room with half vaulted ceiling by hanging light fixture and for the walls use gimble lights of 38 degrees beam angle.
In a living room with half vaulted ceiling, the light on the furniture of living room should fall directly downwards from the ceiling.
Therefore, the furniture should be illuminated by hanging light fixture because if a flush mount light fixture is used for illuminating the fixture then because of the slope of ceiling, the light falling on the sofa will fall directly into ones eyes which results in direct glare.
Instead if a hanging light fixture in installed for illuminating the furniture, regardless of the slope of ceiling, the light will fall directly downwards without causing direct glare.
To minimize the number of gimble lights used for illuminating the walls, gimble lights of high beam angle (50 degrees and above) can be used.
how bright should the light sources be in half vaulted living room
- Hanging lights (chandelier) = 600 lumens (if placed at ht of 4 feet above the table)
- Recessed gimble lights
| vaulted ceiling height | brightness of each gimble light |
|---|---|
| at 8 ft | 800 lumens |
| at 9 ft | 950 lumens |
| at 10 ft | 1100 lumens |
| at 11 ft | 1200 lumens |
| at 12 ft | 1300 lumens |
- Wall sconces = 400 – 500 lumens
- Track lights & spot lights
| ceiling ht | lumens of each spot light |
|---|---|
| 9 ft | 800 lumens |
| 10 ft | 900 lumens |
| 11 ft | 1000 lumens |
| 12 ft | 1100 lumens |
| 14 ft | 1200 lumens |
- Floor lamps = 300 lumens
what to do if sofa arrangement of offcentered ?
When the sofa arrangement of offcentered in living room with double vaulted ceiling then simply use track lights to illuminate the furniture.
Unless the living area is in open floor plan hanging a chandelier offcentered will not give a pleasant look to the living room.
In an open floor living area even if the sofa arrangement is offcentered, chandeliers can be hanged over the coffee table because the large open space of open floor plan helps to balance out the offcentered placement of chandelier.
However, for normal living areas with half vaulted ceiling, a chandelier can be used for illumination.
