What type of lighting for living room/home theatre

Blinkz · 7 Jul 2012 at 00:06

Hey all,

I'm slowly doing up my house and am currently trying to decide what lighting would work best in the living room. It currently has just 2 standard halogen 100w bulbs run off a dimmer switch. Ideally I would like to have down lighters however I just can't justify the cost! I was considering getting some spot lights similar to these link here

However it has been pointed out to me that these are far more suited to kitchens and as such would look out of place and give bad lighting in a lounge. I thought they'd look ok and with the right bulbs should give perfectly good lighting!

Any suggestions? What does everyone tend to us for their living rooms/Home cinemas. I currently just have a tv however I plan to get a projector at some-point in the future!

lucid · 7 Jul 2012 at 07:32

What is it that is stopping you from justifying the cost?

Nick1881 · 7 Jul 2012 at 10:03

We have the lights you linked to in the kitchen, if you're happy with the style then they will be fine to light a living room, though bare in mind the standard halogen bulbs are 50w each so it will use a lot of power, unless you buy LED bulbs but they cost considerably more.

Personally I have GU10 spot lights with LED's, though I mostly just have a lamp on in the corner.

Nightglow · 7 Jul 2012 at 10:20

I would prefer two triple spot light fittings, then you choose whether to have one or both on.

Looking on Ebay, there are some very good GU10 light fittings available cheaper & more stylish than your choice.

Blinkz · 7 Jul 2012 at 10:44

Thanks for the replies everyone.

lucid said:
What is it that is stopping you from justifying the cost?

There are a number of reasons. Firstly it would be extremely costly to drill into the ceiling and totally rewire the lighting, the issue as well with this is that the house was built in the 70s and as such there is a chance there is asbestos in the textured ceiling! Adding more cost if lots of holes have to be drilled in it!

Nick1881 said:
We have the lights you linked to in the kitchen, if you're happy with the style then they will be fine to light a living room, though bare in mind the standard halogen bulbs are 50w each so it will use a lot of power, unless you buy LED bulbs but they cost considerably more.

Personally I have GU10 spot lights with LED's, though I mostly just have a lamp on in the corner.

This seems to be the recurring theme! Everyone seems to have spotlights in the kitchen and not in the living room. Hence it gives me pause for thought since am not 100% sure what they'd look like in the living room. I'm a little concerned that the light will be a little too directional and so have areas of light/shade around the room. I guess this could be balanced by table lamps though.

I am planning on getting LED bulbs instead of 6/8 50w halogens.

Nightglow said:
I would prefer two triple spot light fittings, then you choose whether to have one or both on.

Looking on Ebay, there are some very good GU10 light fittings available cheaper & more stylish than your choice.

I've not decided on exactly what style I want yet, the link was just to show what type of lights I was considering. I am just looking at options at the moment. The 2 roses are controlled by the same dimmer switch, so even with two triple spot lights they would still have to both be on at the same time!

arad85 · 7 Jul 2012 at 11:01

If you're wanting to actually watch the TV, you'd be better off with lamps in the corner of the room. Whilst we have 2 ceiling roses with standard lightbulbs in controlled by a dimmer switch, they are always off when we are watching TV preferring 2 lowish light lamps in either corner of the room.

Nightglow · 7 Jul 2012 at 11:32

I have a floor mounted up lighter behind the tv, & one behind sofa other end of room, both are fitted with a dimmer & operated by a remote.

Seldom use the ordinary room lights.

Blinkz: Shouldn't be too difficult to have those lights independently switched.

Blinkz · 7 Jul 2012 at 11:33

Well the lights are usually off when watching tv anyway. As I said I plan to get a projector at somepoint, so again the lighting will be off. However I plan to mount the projector on the ceiling/high up the back wall so need to make sure lighting is out of the way. I don't see that being an issue though.

At the moment I'm just trying to decide what would look best and light the room well!