The three layers of light — a lighting design for a home

A space comes alive when it has three layers of light that can be switched separately. If the three sit on a single switch, you do not have three layers — you have one. This is the most important sentence in a lighting design, and everything else follows from it.

The section

The bottom edge of the pendant 75–85 centimetres above the table. Higher and the light scatters; lower and it becomes a head injury.

1 · The ambient layer

This is the base, but it is not the ceiling light. Good ambient light does not illuminate the room, it illuminates the wall and the ceiling — and bounces back from there, softly, without shadows.

The most common answer is concealed lighting: an LED strip recessed into a plasterboard cove or a coving profile along the perimeter of the room. Colour temperature 2700–3000 K, and dimmable without exception.

What ruins it: visible diodes. The depth of the cove and the distance of the strip from the wall together decide whether you get an even sheet of light or a row of dots. A practical rule: the LED strip should sit at least 5 centimetres from the edge of the cove, and at least 3 centimetres from the wall.

2 · The task layer

Light directed where you actually do something: the dining table, the kitchen worktop, the reading chair, the bathroom mirror.

Above the dining table: the bottom edge of the pendant 75–85 cm above the tabletop. That is the height where it lights the table but does not cut you off from the person sitting opposite.

Above the kitchen worktop: a strip fitted under the wall units is worth more than any ceiling spot — because a ceiling light is behind you, and you work in your own shadow. In a kitchen with an island the island needs a light of its own.

At the reading chair: a floor lamp above shoulder height, from behind and to the side — not from in front.

3 · The atmosphere layer

Warm points of light below eye level: a wall light, a table lamp, shelf lighting. 2200–2700 K, on their own switch.

This is the layer that makes a space feel like home in the evening — and it is the one left out of most flats. Below eye level every light is kinder: the face is lit from below rather than from above.

Height of a wall light: 150–170 cm, depending on whether anyone sits underneath it.

The switching layout is the most important drawing

In a lighting design the lamps are not the hard part — the switches and the circuits are. Which switch controls what, from where, and what goes on together.

This drawing has to be finished before the electrician pulls the cables. Moving a switch afterwards means opening the wall; separating a circuit is often impossible. That is why the lighting design is one of the earliest sheets in the full set of drawings.

A living room typically needs four circuits: the concealed strip (dimmable), the pendant, the wall lights, and floor lamps switched from a socket.

Colour temperature: one number that decides everything

• 2200 K — candlelight. The atmosphere layer, wall and table lamps.
• 2700 K — warm white. This is the keynote of a home.
• 3000 K — neutral warm. Kitchen worktop, bathroom mirror.
• Above 4000 K — office. Not in a home.

The most important thing: do not mix them within one home. If the living room is 2700, the kitchen should not be 4000 — on the boundary between the two it will look like two separate flats. Colours behave differently as well: the same beige wall is warm at 2700 K and grey at 4000 K.

Not a matter of taste but of register: a home lives in the 2200–3000 kelvin band — anything above that is working light.

Frequently asked questions

How many lumens does a living room need?

The general guide figure is 100–150 lumens per square metre for the whole system — but it is misleading, because what counts is not the total output, it is the distribution. A well-placed 300-lumen wall light gives more than a 1500-lumen ceiling fitting.

How much does a lighting design cost?

It is rarely produced as a standalone service; typically it is part of the interior design documentation, where the lighting and electrical drawings are prepared together with the furniture drawings. More on fees: what an interior architect costs.

Can concealed lighting be done without plasterboard?

Yes: with a coving profile that is glued to the wall or the ceiling and can be fitted retrospectively. The effect is a little less clean than with a properly drawn plasterboard cove, but in an existing flat this is the realistic route.

Is one dimmer enough for the lot?

No. A dimmer adjusts the strength of the light, not its direction. Three layers still mean three switches, even if all three are dimmable.

If this feels familiar — that the lamps have been chosen but the switching is still open — let’s talk it through. The first conversation is free of charge.

Next to read: Using colour at home: how to create a colour palette