Lighting high ceilings and stairwells
If you are looking for ideas for High Ceiling Lighting. Then this blog is just the place to start your search for the perfect long drop lighting. Packed full of inspirational ideas and lighting options.
To begin with, we will point out one of the most common pitfalls. This is the choice of a light which is simply not long enough to have the visual impact a high ceiling deserves. If the light is too close to the ceiling then the light will not be dispersed effectively enough. Worse still maintenance of the light fitting will become an ordeal. With long ladders or scaffolding every time you need to change a bulb!
The best choice would be a pendant or hanging light so that the source of light is lower than the ceiling. These can be bought with any length chain you require. Bespoke options are available allowing you to position the light where you think it best fits. We at The Lighting Company have a great range of hanging lights that would be great for these situations. We also allow for chain-length alteration. Our David Hunt Lighting Collection range would be a brilliant choice of light for a traditional country-style home with high ceilings or long drop stairwells.
Changing The Bulb
Often people query high ceiling lighting or lighting which is suspended over a long drop such as a stairwell with “how do I change the bulbs?”. Well, how about not needing to? Simply use LED bulbs which have a lifetime of up to 20 years. Changing bulbs will not be a worry. Or look at an Integral LED Pendant Light which does not require bulbs as it has the LEDs built in.
High Ceiling Lighting
High ceiling lighting in big rooms tends to need a feature light. Usually, people want it to make a statement. Having a small pendant light would be disproportionate and not only look odd but would not provide you with sufficient light output. So whether it’s a sparkling globe pendant for a modern home. A crystal chandelier for a traditional property. If you are lucky enough to have an open void, gallery landing or sweeping staircase then the central space would be a perfect place for a long drop light. This will provide you with the longest drop to work with. Large stairwells are often the place most people tend to put their feature light. For exactly that reason but it also looks great and really adds a touch of class to the otherwise plain stairway. Another place people tend to opt for a large feature light is an entrance hall or lobby. It is fully deserving of a decorative feature piece of lighting. After all, it is the first thing visitors will see and first impressions are important. Particularly in hotel or restaurant receptions and lobbies.
Vaulted Ceilings Lights
Now, what about vaulted ceilings? How do you light vaulted ceilings? With vaulted ceiling lighting, you may want to consider recessed spotlights on the lower section of both slopes. In numbers, these lights can provide adequate light output but may not have the impact or image you want. In such a case there are hanging lights which can be fitted on angled ceilings, for example, our Nordlux range can be used in this way and are great for high-ceiling lighting, there are a large number of ceiling pendants which can be fitted for vaulted ceilings. They are also great when used in a group for further light output. There is of course no reason why you can’t use both styles together. If your vaulted ceiling has support beams you may want to utilise this as many do and hang lights off of these, they provide a flat surface which is the ideal mount for ceiling lights and also provides a lower fixing point which allows you to use less chain and cable to achieve the correct drop.
After discovering the way to light a high ceiling, vaulted ceiling or long drop stairwell you now need to decide whether it needs to look modern or more traditional based on the property.
Styling Your High Ceiling
For a traditional home, we would advise classic style lighting in a wrought iron, brass or wood finish. We have a great collection of traditional high-ceiling lighting. If your property is a lot more modern then something sparkly, chrome or crystal should fit. Similarly to traditional lighting, we have a large collection of modern lighting which would be suitable for high ceilings. Some homes may be more suited to period lights, for example, some old houses have high ceilings with picture rails which border around the beginning of the higher section of the ceiling. In this case, the ceiling heights vary between 10 feet to 13 feet. With ceiling lights for 10-foot ceilings or lights for up to 13-foot ceilings, you should consider hanging lights above the height of the picture rail. It is always worth using up lighters or spots to wash the ceiling in light too. There are no rules about which lighting style to use in period homes- long drop ceiling lights in a period style would be great. For a period-style ceiling light feel free to browse through our products by clicking here: Period Lighting.
We hope this has narrowed down your search for a high ceiling light or long drop stairwell light or at least given you some understanding about how to go about lighting high ceilings.