Today’s post is not like my usual ones. If you’re a regular reader who recognizes my byline, you know I lean hard on the educational and the “make it work” content. But the other week, I had some friends over and one of them asked if they could dim the overhead lights in my living room while we watched a movie. I didn’t mind at all and actually had meant to do just that before we started, but it did get me thinking: Why does everyone suddenly have a vendetta against overhead lighting?
I’m not really on TikTok (and by “not really,” I mean, I just downloaded the app this last year and only open it when friends text me links). But even as someone off the platform, I know how much hatred #ceilinglights and #thebiglight are getting. A 10-second search of the hashtags I’ve seen circling Instagram leads me to the following captions:
DEATH TO THE OVER HEAD LIGHT!!
Why the Big Light Should Be Banned in Interior Design
Petition to Ban All Overhead Lighting
And while no one has ever accused TikTok of being hyperbolic (hahaha, yeah right), I just want to say, let’s all calm down. There are definitely merits to #thebiglight and I’m going to get into it today because I’m #teambiglight…mostly.
Growing up, my best friend Claudia did NOT like bright lights on in her bedroom, and I remember thinking how strange and emo that was. She’d huff and cringe when I’d come in and turn on the overheads, and she’d jump out of bed to turn them off and instead turn on her “mood lighting.” This consisted of rope lights along her metal tube bunk beds, a lamp on her desk and maybe, possibly, a lava lamp (though my memory could be making that up since I had a lava lamp and it’s hard to distinguish what’s what 20 years later). To this day, I still don’t think she turns on her overhead lights. That is her prerogative, of course. As it is yours if you’re a #smalllight, lamps-only type of dweller.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love a decorative lamp, and task lighting works wonders for, well, completing tasks. My thorough evaluation of the famed Nancy Meyers aesthetic (read that here, it was a banger) uncovered a wildly generous use of the table lamp, giving those rooms an undeniable cozy quality. But it’s simply not enough for me.
Allow me to make my case for overhead lighting.
Point #1: How On Earth Do You See Anything Without It?
As someone about to turn 40 in the coming months, I fully recognize that my vision is showing its age. I recall rolling my teenage eyes at my middle-aged parents who had to use a flashlight to read a menu and hold it out an arm’s length from their face to make out the words, and as life would have it, karma has come to take its fee. I am now my parents in this scenario, and even with a current contacts prescription, I struggle with low lighting.
I need a room to be fully awash in light. An even coating of lumens is my preferred style. That’s not to say it needs to be blinding white or blue-toned light. That would be ludicrous, but all the overhead lighting haters of the world swear that just because a light source is coming from higher than table height, it’s going to melt your flesh off of something. The home we live in currently is on a street with 100-year-old camphor trees and a few giant pines, which are unspeakably beautiful to experience when you’re outside but when you’re inside…it leaves much to be desired. It’s dim in here, and if I had to live all day with soft, cozy night-time appropriate lamps on and nothing else, I’d lose my mind (and yes, constant dim lighting truly affects my mental health).
I’ve seen some TikTok videos and Instagram Reels on the subject of people showing kitchens, living rooms, and beyond with their “big” lights on, then with them off and all their lamps on and I’m sorry but…it’s just too dark unless you know how to properly light a room (which involves layers and lighting types like ambient vs. task).
Point #2: I Have Too Much to Plug In to Add 10 Lamps Per Room Into the Mix (Don’t You??)
I know this one is fairly specific to me and my lifestyle, but I have to know: where you are getting all these outlets to plug in all of these lamps? In my last place, which was built in the 1930s, there were SO few outlets in every room. My bedroom had two outlets in total; our dining room had one, and our living room had a whopping three! We didn’t have much overhead lighting in that place and we spent our lives plugging and unplugging everything all day every day to accommodate lamps and everything else you need to run a modern life.
Where I live now has a surface area problem. I don’t have much space in my living room for side tables to hold lamps. Plus, none of my light switches downstairs actually operate an outlet, so I’d have to turn everything on (and off) manually. No. Sorry. Not doing it. Not when my canned lighting and pendants are *right there.* We thankfully have many more outlets in each room here, but even still, I have so many things to plug in: vacuum charger, wet vac, router, modem, TV, Firestick, Tonies music box, computer, computer monitor, phone chargers…etc.
Point #3: Recessed Lights Are Not Evil (Sorry Interior Designers)
I’m going to say it: I’m bothered by interior designers who feel the need to make *everything* decorative. Some things can just be functional and integrated ceiling lights and overhead lights in general (like flush mounts, can lights, recessed lights and chandeliers) are extremely functional. I agree that they don’t fit every style of home. The same can lights I have in my townhome would have been ridiculous in my 1930s Mediterranean. FINE! But I would have still loved to have found a way to install more overhead lighting had I stayed in my previous home longer. There is a way to make this work in the home’s aesthetic, but again, saying a hard “no” to ceiling lights just because you don’t think they’re “pretty” is not something I can get on board with. Overhead lighting is not evil, it shouldn’t “be banned” (stop that, TikTok), and can be a crucial part of a home’s lighting plan.
Point #4: But You Need a Dimmer Switch
Even I, president of #teamceilinglight, agree with the fact that a dimmer switch is absolutely integral to a successful “big light.” I was rocking my daughter the other night in her glider, which is directly under one of the can lights in her bedroom. I had turned them on to full power and when I sat down, it did feel like a spotlight was on me and my two-year-old was interrogating me. It was a lot. For a moment, I thought “Oh no…maybe I get what all the fuss is about?” But then I just remembered I could turn down the dimmer a bit, and move on with my life with no need to post on the Internet about how much I hate ceiling lights (yet here I am on the Internet doing the exact opposite…irony).
And frankly, I believe that as many lamps and lights as possible should be on a dimmer because this is 2024 and we deserve to be able to customize and control our lighting any way we want. Cooking a meal and need to actually see the food you’re chopping? Crank those babies up. Having a dinner party and don’t want your guests to feel like they’re performing surgery at the table? Turn it down and set the mood. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, for goodness sakes.
Just as a quick aside, I started writing this article sitting next to my architecture-school-trained husband. I turned to him and asked: “What are your thoughts on overhead lights?” just to get a sense of his feelings, and after telling him that I was writing a piece on how some people out there abhor them, I got a guttural “What?!? No!” from him. Then, my sister who is visiting walked into the room I was working from, and I asked her the same question. She scrunched up her face and said “That’s literally all I use at home…but I have my dimmers.” I felt a bit vindicated.
Point #5: It’s Not “Surgical” If You Have the Right Lightbulbs
As I was taking a break from writing, I picked up my phone to do a little scrolling and immediately was met by a post from an Internet friend on this exact subject, but she fell on the opposite side of the conversation as me. The audio of her Reel made me laugh, but after reading the comments, I saw how many people also only use softly diffused task lighting rather than flip the switch to the overhead lights. Someone commented “Why do people need to see so bad? We’re not doing surgery here.” HA.
Look, I hear you…sort of. There are instances when overhead lighting is horrific. Like all those fluorescent tube lights that used to be in so many kitchens. I can still hear the flickering, clicking, and zapping. Or if the lightbulbs have the lumen power to light an airstrip. God, please, no. But warm white light is fine in my book with a lumen rating appropriate to the space and its function. Here’s what I found at The Home Depot (which was echoed in some other places, as well):
- Workspace or garage: 8,000 to 10,000 lumens
- Kitchen work areas: 7,000 to 8,000 lumens
- Bathroom: 7,000 to 8,000 lumens
- Home office: 6,000 to 8,000 lumens
- Dining room: 3,000 to 4,000 lumens
- Kitchen: 3,000 to 4,000 lumens
- Dining room: 3,000 to 4,000 lumens
- Living room: 1,000 to 2,000 lumens
- Bedroom: 1,000 to 2,000 lumens
- Hallway: 500 to 1,000 lumens
As for how to get the correct “warmth,” you’ll want to go with either a 2,700 Kelvin rating if you like really warm light (what was often in incandescent bulbs) and 3,000 Kelvin if you prefer a soft warm white (my preference). Some lightbulbs even let you fully customize the temperature with an app so it’s *just* right.
Also, see point #4.
Point #6: Some Spaces *Need* Overhead Lighting
My last and final sticking point here is the following: What are all these overhead light haters doing in hallways? Stairwells? Kitchens? Bathrooms?!?!? Let me say it for the people at the back: SOME SPACES NEED CEILING LIGHTS! Are you placing little side tables on your stairs to hold a tiny lamp that you can’t even plug in because there’s no outlet? Are you lighting candles in your bathroom to put on your makeup? Using lantern light in your kitchen to check if your chicken is fully cooked?
—
If there’s a light switch, know that I’m using it. I thrive in well-lit spaces at all times of the day, and maybe I’m in the minority here, but I had to say my piece. If you’re team small light, please don’t take offense. You do you. Your house is your haven, but my house is my bright, overhead-lit haven, too.
Speaking of overhead lights, here are some beautiful ones I dug around for. Some I know have been used in previous EHD projects, others that have great reviews, and others that are a great deal. Most if not all of these should be dimmable, and come in a handful of other colors, and even Kelvin temperature ratings.
Bottom line: Don’t let the Internet bully you into thinking you’re uncouth if you’re opting for #TheBigLight. Take care friends!
1. Eastmoreland 4″ Fitter Semi-Flush Mount | 2. Siena Flush Mount in Hand-Rubbed Antique Brass – Small | 3. Paige 3-1/4″ Articulating Flat Cylinder Semi-Flush Mount in Polished Nickel | 4. White Drum Linen Shade 18″ Kids Flush Mount Ceiling Light | 5. Reel LED Flushmount | 6. Nello Light Sage and Olive Green Metal Saucer 18″ Kids Flush Mount Ceiling Light | 7. Hinkley Lighting Cedric 1 Light 5″ Wide Flush Mount Ceiling Fixture in Lacquered Brass | 8. Nordic Minimalist Cobblestone PE Lampshade LED Flush Mount Ceiling Light | 9. Modern Minimalist Round Spotlight Adjustable LED Flush Mount Ceiling Light | 10. Vaughan Dimmable LED Wall & Ceiling Flush Mount | 11. Recessed LED Ceiling Spot FLEXX Tiltable Square in Inox | 12. Cambridge 16″ Flush Mount in Polished Nickel
Opening Image Credits: Design by Emily Henderson Design | Photo by Sara Ligorria-Tramp | From: It’s Finally Here: The Reveal of the Mountain House Kitchen
Oh hell yes. I’m not actually team overhead light in a living room, but I put spotlights in my kitchen – so sue me – because the previous one had a low-watt light hanging over my table plus worktop task lighting – which worked great when all I wanted to do was eat a romantic meal or prep dinner. When I had to start working from home at that table in 2020, it was awful. Trying to put a desk light on the table just reflected a bright bulb off the screen, and interfered with packing the work away at the end of the day. Everyone claimed I didn’t need spotlights for the new kitchen, because it has worktop task lighting, under cabinet lights, and another pretty, low-hanging light over the table – but I was never falling into that trap again, even though I now have a home office. I use the ability to light the kitchen up like a surgery for cleaning (especially the floor), doing crafts (you try threading a needle in 60W light), grooming the dog (have to cut burrs out of his fur all the time, he’s basically made of velcro), and generally anything I… Read more »
“scattered up there like smallpox” had me going over my oatmeal this morning. 🙂
Love your playful, yet passionate writing tone. You have an opinion and share it without really trying to prove it’s the definitive rule. Gets me thinking yet still feeling like there’s space for my own opinion. I like this type of content:)
Honestly, that’s my biggest gripe with all those TikTok videos acting like their PREFERENCE is the definitive answer. I know social media videos with exaggerated points and visuals tend to draw more eyes, but come on!
Yes!!! Finally a rational lighting post! 🙂
Glad I could help! 🙂
Yes to all of this! I want bright, cheerful rooms, we need to be able to SEE, and my outlets are otherwise occupied. Dimmable overhead lights are a must for real life!
NO ONE TALKS ABOUT THE OUTLETS!!!!
Migraine sufferer here. Overhead lights can be the worst. We still have them and I can’t imagine a house without them but I totally get the hate. They create a different kind of glare than table or floor lamps and can be incredibly painful.
I’m sorry you deal with migraines. I’d imagine that lighting is pretty important to not trigger a migraine.
I didn’t think of that…maybe that’s why I hate them? I’ve been suffering from pretty severe migraines since puberty.
This would normally be one of those ‘good for her, not for me’ moments, but I thought some perspective might be helpful. I’m autistic (though passing and masking as neurotypical), and for me lighting is a super important sensory thing. Houses with bright overhead lights feel like I’m being screamed at and give me migraine. Like I have restaurants and even friends houses I need to avoid for my sanity. I think Arlyn brings up critical points here re dimmers, lumens, goals — but I also want to gently suggest that some of us aren’t bring hyperbolic when we say overhead lights (which cause different kinds of shadows) are much harder to live with than balanced sources closer to eye level. Bad lighting can literally (not figuratively) hurt sometimes.
I hear you and thank you for your perspective. It’s important to know that some people have very real needs behind what appears to be a “preference.” I think my biggest annoyance is this bandwagon sense I get any time something gets popular on TikTok.
Totally agree—the cattiness of hating on things together is (one of) the ugliest parts of socials for me, I hear you. And so glad to have this space where we all can civilly share perspectives!
I hear your pain. Share your pain of lights. If I have to go to the mall and shop, I look like a pretender wearing my sunglasses in all the stores. Maybe no one notices?
So glad I’m not the only one lol
I had to chime in to say “same,” not for myself but for my husband and toddler son, both of whom seem to really suffer even when the curtains are open and letting sunlight in (especially my 2-year-old). Neither of them are on the autism spectrum (that we know of), but both do see much better in low light than bright light and seem to find overhead light just absolutely searing. I am myself a bright and sunshine person and I’m happy to have overhead lighting, but I am overruled 🙂
I see you, I stand with you in your suffering. 🙂
As someone who has had poor eyesight her entire life and now, in her mid 40s, is both nearsighted AND farsighted, I love and NEED overhead lightning. Mood lighting just doesn’t cut it for me. I simply can’t see properly with mood lightning. I am a fan of recessed lightning on dimmer switches and have both in my home. I also have table and floor lamps but more for aesthetic purposes, rather than day-to-day lightning. I truly don’t understand why designers think recessed lightning is so ugly and consistently photo shop it out of room pictures. I am with you Arlyn. I am 100% pro overhead lightning.
THANK YOU FOR THIS! My kids will not wake up in the morning if they crawl to the couch and the room is still on our night time dimmed lights. I crank those babies back up to bright to get my kids to get their butts in gear. Not to mention, have you ever…pulled out a splinter, dusted, did homework with a first grader… in a dimly lit room? There is a reason rooms have lights. I do really like cozy evenings with our can lights dimmed, but there are other times that I just need to see! And I don’t understand how other people don’t need to see ! HA!
Love a moody room…SOMETIMES. But for that to be my only option: no thanks.
“I’m bothered by interior designers who feel the need to make *everything* decorative. Some things can just be functional…”
AMEN!!!
There are spaces that are just not functional without them, like a basement.
Thank you for this post, I completely agree with you! Could you write about ceiling fans? They are mostly ugly but also so necessary
I’m not sure I have as much to say about ceiling fans that’s unique but I’m with you. They don’t look good but I need moving air around me especially when I’m sleeping and to be, a floor fan is far uglier than a ceiling fan!
Thank you! This has been my biggest pet peeve about “the design world” for years. Can lights make sense! Overhead lights are necessary! Even track lights have their place. I also hate the trend of using tiny flushmounts instead of canned lights like in a kitchen (sorry Orlando) – it looks like pimples. I do, however, love it down a long hallway.
My husband is also very affected by low light so we use lamps and overheard and task lighting and sconces!
Three cheers for all of this!!!!
Why not plug your lamps into a remote controlled switch that plugs into your outlet and then just mount the switch next to the switch for your overhead lights? Problem solved!
Not a bad idea, honestly, but also, I just like brighter overhead lights haha! (plus, the outlet real estate is low).
(I realize that doesn’t negate your need for overheads but it at least solves the problem of constantly plugging & unplugging lamps.)
I am SO teamoverhead here. I am 44 and all that dim lighting (and blue light without blue light glasses) in my early years is (according to my optometrist) WHY I need reading glasses now and more lighting while I read, generally. I think overhead lights are lovely and in all styles, shapes, and sizes. And this post reminds me why I’m NOT on insta, tik tok, facebook, X or any of the places where people try to influence my tastes by being pushy and completely over the top. Thank you for your reasonable post. Now, I must go turn on the dimmable overhead beautiful schoolcraft light in my office because this task lighting simply will. not. do. xoxo
Arlyn, you are on the right track! At least some of the time we all need general illumination. Sometimes for safety (like a stairwell), sometimes for work or reading, etc. You found some beautiful options. The right light can be so appealing.
What I have found most difficult to find is overhead lighting that can be cleaned. If you have ever moved into a house with kitchen lighting that’s never be cleaned you know what I’m talking about.
Yes good point. I have can lights in my living room with a 15-foot ceiling so they’re impossible to dust. I can reach the lights in my kitchen, though, thankfully.
I forgot to say, I’ve been in a house with lighting designed for “aging in place.” Every single room just felt comfortable – no glare – multiple options. And motion sensors for stairs.
I have enough privacy around my home to just keep light linen curtains on most windows, so there are usually only 2 hours a day when I need *ANY* big light – the rest of the time daylight from the windows or a small task lamp+daylight is enough. 9 days out of 10, the only overhead light on in my house is the kitchen light or bathroom light. Hallways are lit by daylight from the adjoining rooms. I also have ADHD and migraines, so usually one or the other makes me disinterested in being bombarded with brightness.
Anecdotally, I’ve noticed this also seems to correlate to eye color? In my life, blue eyed people don’t seem to turn on lights as much as brown eyed people I know and someone once told me that studies show blue eyed people see better in dim lighting. However the blue eyed folks I know are also more Hygge-focused Scandinavian heritage Midwesterners so it could just be that subculture vs eye color.
I have brown eyes. That’s very interesting. My Godmother had blue eyes and I remember her being very sensitive to sunlight when we went outside. (Though, I know plenty of brown-eyed people who hate overheads. It’s likely just a sensory thing for most, I think.)
Blue-eyed here. And I’m more sensitive to sunlight as well. Even overcast days can be glare-y enough for me to need my sunglasses.
I do find it a little hilarious that in a post about how overhead light is needed for visibility, not a single one of the well lit photos you provided featuring overhead lights actually have the light ON.
HAHA you are correct, but that’s a photography thing. You nearly never shoot a room with the lights on, but that’s not in my control.
I like my spaces light and bright, too, and I agree ceiling lights are needed at times. I like the semi-flush ones that allow some light to reflect off the ceiling, not just down. And I don’t like “just” ceiling lights, usually. I think the current sentiment may be a reaction to the period of time when it seemed all lights were recessed. Like a whole living room full of recessed lights- which I don’t like. My kitchen has all recessed lights- 9 of them. I’d like to take out 3 and put in pendants- 2 over the island and one over the sink. I’d still have 6 recessed lights. And that would be fine with me! I have a hard time getting the kitchen bright enough for me with just recessed lights.
Oh yes, lighting 100% needs to be layered. Just overhead lighting is a very specific vibe. I wish I had room/outlets/surfaces in my living room for some table and floor lamps, but I don’t really. But in my dining room, I have wall sconces, a floor lamp and a soft, diffused chandelier in addition to recessed lights.
It’s so easy to say “never use the big light” when you happen to have a sun-drenched room with enormous windows (looking at you, designer TikTok) but those of us with dim spaces and poor vision are tired of being told that our ceiling lights are cursed. Would I turn on my recessed lights during a dinner party? No. When my kids are doing homework? Yes, 100%. Thanks for saying it, Arlyn!
You know what would be incredibly helpful?! A light bulb round up and review. Light bulb shopping is my very least favorite.
Me, too. It’s gotten very complex and confusing.!
My house is built 1973, so I have some form of overhead lighting in the kitchen and bedrooms, but my LR is a North facing den of darkness, so I actually had to install overhead lights. (Ultra thin LED with dimmer.) They have been a lifesaver.
And power strips people! How do you live plugging and unplugging lights? That would make me crazy. I use surge protector power strips in every room in the house, and it’s the only way to have everything plugged in that we need, especially because I lean very heavily into home automation.
Nice selection of ceiling lights – it’s not all boob lights! I think some of the very real issues presented by overhead lighting can often be solved with semi-opaque housings, shades and the like in addition to dimmers as you mentioned. Speaking of which,. I’d love recommendations for LED bulbs that dim to a warm tone (like incandescents) rather than going a shadowy and grim-looking gray.
Finally, my whole house has an exposed beam ceiling with a flat roof (like Emily’s kitchen in the lead photo, but I have natural wood beams and planks) I suspect this is difficult to photograph but any tips on finding examples of interesting ceiling lighting ideas to fit?
The Tala Lighting Dim to Warm LED bulbs change color temperature when you dim them, so they give that warm incandescent feel. They can be a little expensive depending on the size, but the light they make is really nice!
Couldn’t agree more. Our current house has very limited overhead lighting and it drives me nuts on the days I’m trying to get anything done. I don’t mind the lamp-focused lighting for general evening lounging and conversation, it just doesn’t cut it for every task.
Ithink your points about the temp of the lights and the dimmer are spot on too. Another thing that folks might consider are smart bulbs and switches. My tech-y husband has been installing them in our house and it’s a really lovely way to dial in the mood you want, while also having the convenience of only having to push one button on your phone to turn all the bulbs on/off. You can program “scenes” too so you can quickly move from “moody lighting” to “task lighting” to “good night”, etc, really quickly.
So true! I often say if overhead/canned lights existed when the Hall of Mirrors was installed at Versailles, that space would’ve had 1000 can lights in it 😂 instead of chandeliers. You know why the hall was created? To display power/money!! Do you know why homes don’t have overhead lighting today? Because builders are cheap AF, it has NOTHING to do with style just profit 😂. Don’t fall for it!
Cheap AF is also why hotel rooms never have overhead lights!
I am SO Team Overhead Lights! Living in a 50s Ranch that apparently has a deep aversion to both overhead fixtures in every room AND not nearly enough/well-spaced outlets has me questioning WTH is the plan here to see things?! It’s been on our to-do list for years to get the bedrooms and dining room wired for them … some day!!
Amen! We specifically asked for more overhead lighting in our reno, both cans and decorative flush mounts. Almost everything is also on a dimmer. I had to search for the right 3000K light bulbs because some of my fixtures need edisons or weird shapes, but once I got everything settled, it’s perfect and no-fuss. I can’t stand rooms with “mood lighting” lit only by warm yellow 2700K table lamps.
THANK. YOU. Preach it! Incidentally, I am also Team Ceiling Fan, despite being a fully trained interior designer with 15+ years experience in an industry that pretends that ceiling fans are the nexus of all evil. Has no one ever… sat beneath a ceiling fan? It’s heaven. Pick a simple one – with a Big Light, even. gasp! – and bask in the comfort. Good design is all about making your home function best for YOU! If you can function with table lamps and low air flow, then bless. Thrilled for you. But not me, ma’am. Don’t yuck my yum, TikTok.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! With all of the money that’s been poured into making recessed lighting functional and virtually trim-less/hidden, the argument to get rid of task lighting like this sends me into a tailspin. Fill your room with other softer light sources like table lamps, floor lamps, sconces, etc. and install a $25 dimmer switch for your overhead lights – voila. But for the love of god, please do not rip out tens of thousands of dollars of electrical work because TikTok convinced you they’re all ugly (they aren’t!) The next buyer of your house will make you pay for new ones to be installed as many areas now require overhead task lighting by code.
YES to overhead lighting in every room! And if it’s too much, you just leave it off. Easy peasy. But trying to install overhead lighting after the fact (e.g. our 70-year-old home) is crazy expensive. And, like you mention, older homes often have so few outlets that it makes adding lamps or other lighting options really tricky.
Great article!
Overhead lights for me, and yes def dimmers if the mood fits 🙂
My sister is always turning on the overhead fixture in our combined living/dining room. On max. It’s harsh glaring lighting to me, and I’m old and don’t have perfect eyesight either. I hate landing strip can lights, but they do have their uses — we have four in our kitchen (with a schoolhouse style pendant when we don’t need the light) and only three in our living room (two above the floor-to-ceiling bookcases, and one washing over the paintings over the mantel), and that’s enough for me.
I don’t care if others like living in very bright spaces. I don’t. And I’ve never made a design decision based on anything from TikTok.
I really hope most people also have not made serious design decisions from TikTok. Maybe like…a throw they saw someone use and liked, but certainly nothing that’s hard-installed in a home!
I also hope not!
I have to say that I NEED overhead lighting that can be bright (big fan of dimmers though). I have been this way since I was a kid despite my lighter eyes. It would drive my parents nuts lol. To each their own!
We added recessed lights to our living room so that we could have lights that wouldn’t produce a glare on our TV. They’re on a dimmer, and we usually have them only halfway lit, but I can’t watch TV without other lights on or my eyes hurt, and this allows us to have light but no glare. We do have a lamp in next to the couch, but it’s mostly used as a task lamp if I’m reading and my husband is resting with the overhead lights off.
In my opinion, a room can be well-lit (both pleasant and appropriately bright for whatever the function and vibes of the room are) with OR without an overhead light, but it can’t be truly well-lit with ONLY (or mostly) overhead lighting. Domination by overhead light _feels_ really bad, at least to many people — it casts glare and shadows, creates haze in the room, causes headaches and sensory overload, exposes ghosts, makes us question the nature of our reality — and it needs to be balanced by lots of light from other sources. Meanwhile a room with great use of windows, sconces, and lamps can be lit extremely well without overhead lighting.
On the other hand, almost every room starts with an overhead light on a wall switch, while great natural light, sconce wiring, and plugs/places for lamps are in shorter supply. So I get WHY overhead lighting dominates. The truly good lighting solution for a space is often an expensive privilege.
But that doesn’t change the fact that making people feel good in a space really does require that most of the lumens in that space aren’t coming from overhead fixtures.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for this. I need overhead light in my life- cooking, homework, daily life chores. This is like sometimes you can do work on your phone, but sometimes you need to go to your computer. There is no one size. And I use overhead lights daily!
Just wanted to mention that none of the overhead lights in your photos are actually on…… 😉
I know, I know.
Well, Arlyn, I am fine with overhead lights existing but I don’t like JUST the big light on (which is what I personally have a bit of a peeve with, especially if it’s quite bright and/or cool temperature). I would say I like for the overhead light to be about a third of the total light in the room, with a couple lamps and sconces to fill in at eye level. And it should be a diffused light with white translucent shade of some sort. (I guess I don’t count chandeliers as The Big Light – I think it means more of a flush mount situation.)
I’m not a fan of can lights, though – the modern thin LED kind tend to be too strong and cause glare/strain to my sensitive eyes when I am in the space. We have some older ones where it’s truly can-shaped and the bulb sits up pretty high, and those seem better for my eyes.
Yeah our can lights are older and the bulb sits up into the housing. Much better, I’d say!
Finally! Someone who agrees with me that you should not to through life squinting! I love my overhead lighting…from my Leanne Ford for Target gold dome to my West Elm Curvilinear chandelier. All on dimmers. And for ambient light dimmable lamps of various styles and sizes….All on old fashion timers. All lamps turn off automatically an hour after bedtime, so I’m never going to bed through a dark house. Also great for security, as the house never looks dark as if no one is home or come home in the evening to a dark house. Thanks for a great article!
Timers. Genius!
Tell me you don’t have acne scars without telling me 😂 but I get it! But also, please don’t turn on the overhead lights ever!
HAHAHAHA I have a few, but I’m more concerned with proper lighting to pluck my chin hairs 😉 HAHA
I like a bright space but the issue is when you see the bulb in recessed lights. The glare hurts!
Loved this and the roundup of overhead fixtures are lovely. Aging eyes here that need big light for chopping, actually all cooking tasks and hair, makeup, etc. By nightfall, I do prefer a low light ambiance and turn on a lamp or two in most rooms. Thanks for the lumen info by room. As Emily mentioned, more education about lightbulbs would be of immense help!
I live in an older house and I have dimmers which I love so I can control my overhead lights depending on time of day, occasion, etc. When I upgraded my lighting to LED lights I thought a ghost had moved in because the lights would flicker. I didn’t realize you need “special” dimmers for LED lights. I found this explanation on the internet:
Are there different types of dimmer switches?
There are different types of dimmers for each light technology. To this extent, only dimmable LED lamps can be dimmed and only with an LED dimmer. The different internal driver sets a minimum and maximum load that determines the dimming potential of the lamps. From https://www.any-lamp.com/blog/dimmer-for-led
So I’m of the school that says you need the big light for decor, it’s jewellery for the ceiling and ceilings look naked without them. But never, ever turn it on! But I own my house so I’ve been able to put in plenty of sockets, fit wall lamps where there’s no surface space for table lamps, etc. highly recommend Pooky’s portable table lamps! And I’m 44 and can’t see for shit, but I’m happy squinting.
My dad has baller lighting game and has his table lamps wired in so you can control them from the wall switch along with the sconces and (unused) big light, so no going around turning everything on individually. Though I kind of love the ritual of that especially in winter: as dusk begins in you draw the curtains and turn on the lamps. A big wall switch doesn’t have the same romantic appeal!
Also I don’t think hating the big light is new: TikTok did not invent this!
I have never felt more seen in a piece of writing. Thank you for spreading the good word Arlyn.
Arlen, I agree completely! At one time when I was younger I loved the mood lighting and rarely turned on an overhead light. Not anymore. We have dimmers on the majority of our overhead lights including the bathrooms. It’s nice being able to see when you need to. Thank you for another great post and for adding the selection of overhead lighting.
I just counted the lamps in the living room of my one-bedroom apartment. I think I have thirteen! And, yes, limited outlets are an issue, but I have multiple lamps plugged into surge protector cords with many plug-ins. There are two ceiling lights in here but I rarely use them.
Awww yeah time to get spicy in the design blog comments! but really: this blog is correct and my only gripe is that it could be even more forceful in its defense hahaha. I enjoy mood lighting as much as the next person but not at the expense of being able to see things clearly when I want to!! It’s like how I feel about hot weather vs cold weather—the latter is easier to deal with, because you can always put on more clothes but you can’t always take off more clothes, you know? You can always turn off (or dim) the overhead lights you have if you want it to be moodier, but you can’t turn on lights you DON’T have if you want it to be brighter. Also, I have no proof of this, disliking bright lighting feels like a fallacy borne of people who have never lived through a cold, dark, northern winter in a dark basement apartment and found themselves unable to banish all the shadows from the corners no matter how many cheap-chic Target lamps you buy… and don’t get me started on the “overhead lighting isn’t flattering” angle—it is my place of domicile and… Read more »
I’m team Arlyn!