Lighting Vaulted and Cathedral Ceilings in a Modern Home
Vaulted and cathedral ceilings present unique challenges in terms of lighting a modern or historic home, especially when task lighting is required. With the wrong lighting your beautiful open spaces can become a dark and glum eye-sore, rather than bright, fun areas to host gatherings among family, friends and colleagues. Read on for some lighting ideas, whether you’re ceiling is vaulted or cathedral.
Skylights
Whether they are operational or not, skylights present an energy-efficient lighting source for vaulted ceilings. Although not suitable for all decor styles, some areas such as kitchens, bedrooms or casual spaces can benefit from skylights.
Chandeliers
With styles that range from modern to ornately vintage, chandeliers are a popular choice for lighting vaulted and cathedral ceilings. And since these fixtures typically have a circle of lights around its circumference, chandeliers are able light even those dark corners in lofted ceilings.
Recessed Lighting
An excellent option for creating focal points in any room, recessed lighting provides an unobtrusive yet modern look for a historic home. If your home’s design is more traditional, you may wish to go with other more subtle lighting such as track lights.
Directional Spotlights
While they can clash with some of the decor in a room, directional spotlights offer light where and when it is needed. Usually pointed upward to throw light into the darker space of a vaulted ceiling, the lights can be aimed downwards as required for tasks such as reading.
Track Lighting
Another fairly modern yet adaptive lighting is track lighting. Including several fixtures on one track, this form of lighting does not necessarily have to be mounted at the highest point of your ceiling and the fixtures can be aimed for specific purposes. Track lighting can be especially effective in kitchens and baths.
With such a wide array of lighting ideas for vaulted and cathedral ceilings, it may be a challenge to know which to choose. For help with your design plans, please contact the architects and home designers at TMS Architects.
