Three layers of light, and the one most renovations skip

Most Toronto renovations I walk into have one layer of light: a grid of pot lights on a single switch. It is the cheapest thing to fix at drawing stage and the most expensive to fix later.

Every room I design gets three layers. Ambient light fills the room so you can find your way. Task light falls exactly where hands are working: the counter, the desk, the vanity. Accent light picks out a texture, a shelf or a painting, and it is the layer that makes a room feel finished at 9 pm in February.

Stop gridding the ceiling

A ceiling full of 4 inch pot lights at 1.2 m centres lights the floor beautifully and nothing else. Faces look tired, the walls go grey and the room feels like a showroom. I would rather use half as many fixtures, placed 600 mm off the walls so the light washes down them, and let a few lamps do the rest.

Colour temperature matters more than people expect. I specify 2700K everywhere people relax and 3000K in kitchens and bathrooms, and I ask for a CRI of 90 or higher so oak still looks like oak and skin still looks like skin. Mixing 4000K strips under cabinets with warm pot lights is the most common mistake I see in condo kitchens.

The skipped layer: low light

The layer almost nobody plans is light below eye level. A strip under a floating vanity, a step light on the stairs, a reading lamp at 1.1 m beside the sofa. Low light is what you actually use after dinner, and it is what makes a 680 sq ft condo feel like a home instead of a hotel corridor.

Plan the switching at the same time as the fixtures. Each layer gets its own switch or dimmer, grouped by the door where you enter the room. Your electrician needs this on the drawings before the drywall goes up, because adding a circuit afterwards in a plaster Victorian means opening walls you just paid to close.