marvin 0 Report post Posted June 14, 2009 Hi, Can someone who have the above 2 advise: - 1) Cove lights to be warm lights and down lights white Or 2) Cove lights white lights and down lights warm? Which is better? Hows the effect? Or any other suggestion? Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoubleJ 0 Report post Posted June 14, 2009 i think it depends which light you will be switching on for daily usage, just choose the what you prefer for it. if no preference. downlight in warm would be nicer i guess. but i did my downlights with white as i prefer whiter light & i'll be using downlight as my primary light more.. now i dont even on my covelight anymore unless during mahjong session when i need light from "above",cove actually quite a waste, spent about 500+ for all the wiring & holder etc.. but covelight still have use actually. haha. as playing mahjong under downlight too long quite hot actually. btw, if you intend to do covelighting. make sure your ceiling is flat/plastered or false ceiling well painted. if not when you on the covelight will see all the uneveness. and after the celing guys are done. take a vacumm and clean up the cove's before the electrician install all the lights. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pbtgal 0 Report post Posted June 15, 2009 Hi i have chosen the 1st option for most of my reno as we will be using white lights most of the times for brighter vision. We intend to on the warm lights late at night if we were only watching TV. But as Double J said its personal preference. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stormcontrol 0 Report post Posted June 15, 2009 (edited) Are you going to on both types of lights at the same time? if so, better be the same colour temperature. Actually, from an aesthetic point of view, best if all the lights in the house are the same colour temperature so there's isn't any "abrupt" feeling. Have you seen some shops where they mix both cool lighting and warm lighting? IMHO, absolutely hideous >_<" In the end light temperature affects mood. Cooler light (nearer to daylight) is good for colour but bad for skin tones. Don't you think all your facial flaws (ppimples/wrinkles) are especially obvious under daylight? Warmer light is the reverse, which explains why it's usually used for a romantic/cosy setting. However, warm light is bad for colours as the true shades are altered due to the temperature of the light. The best tradeoff is to get a light in the in-between temperature ranges (between incandascent 2700Kelvin and daylight 6500kelvin) so that its ok for skin tones and also ok for colours. But that kind of temperature of light abit hard to find in sg. It seems local consumers very extreme, either 6500 cool light or 2700 warm =p Personally i feel that the best choice for light temperature is the one they use in shopping centres. It looks like cool daylight but has a little bit of warmth/yellow in it. Brightness, or light intensity is totally independent of the colour of light you choose though. All depends on the wattage, lumens per watt etc. How much brightness you need depends on how much concentration you need for the task you want to perform under that lighting. Downlights (if only placed in strategic areas and not peppered around the ceiling as main source of lighting) creates shadows and islands of activity. It focuses peoples' attention on areas and objects. Using downlights in this manner adds drama to the room but can be a little fatiguin for the eyes. Covelights on the other hand provide ambient lighting (not ambience. they mean different things!). In other words, cove lights provides general illumination and softens shadows. It softens details and makes things in the room blander. So you might want to consider mixing the two types of lighting together. Downlight for drama and excitement, and cove lights to soften the harshness and increase general illuminance. But if using both, again don't mix temperatures! Oh yah, 1 last thing. How hot the light is is also independent on the colour temperature. It all boils down to what type of luminaire are you using. Hottest is incandescent bulb (thomas edison type filament bulb), 2nd is halogen (standard downlight bulbs), 3rd flourescent, 4th LED. Refer to this thread if you need more technical information about lights: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17171 Edited June 15, 2009 by stormcontrol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
