How to Design With Can Lights

Consider the room you are installing the can lights in. Certain rooms, such as the bathroom or kitchen, need brighter lighting. Bedrooms can get by with dimmer lighting, and lamps are normally used in living rooms to supplement can lighting.

Walk through the room and locate all the areas where certain tasks take place, such as counters and tables in the kitchen, mirrors in the bathroom and clothes dressers in the bedroom. These locations are where you are going to want brighter lighting.

Purchase a can light from your local home supply store. Install it in the room you are considering placing it and turn it on. Notice how much light the can light gives off and how much surface area the light covers. Normally, 4-inch lights should be placed 4 feet apart in the ceiling, 5-inch lights 5 feet and so on. However, the height of your ceiling and shape of your room needs to be taken into account. Taller ceilings and rooms with many corners will need more lighting.

Light up certain objects, such as pictures, a fireplace or bookshelf, by placing can lights 12 inches in front of the object. If the object you are showcasing is large, place two to three can lights, equally spaced, in front of it and aim each can light toward the object so it is lit from many angles.

Measure the length and width of the room. Divide this number by the number of feet your can lights will be spaced. The resulting number will tell you approximately how many can lights you will need to light the entire room. When installing these can lights, stagger them slightly so that it does not appear that the room has long rows of lights going down it.

Connect the can lights to a dimmer switch. This allows you to increase the lighting when you are in the room performing a task or decrease the lighting when the room is not in use but you are going in and out of it.