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weedyacres

Advice on lighting for this room-prepping for sale

weedyacres
11 years ago

We've just evicted the renter from our last out-of-state rental and will be putting it on the market. We're up here this weekend making plans and doing a bunch of the work.

The thing that's got me stumped is what to do about the lighting in this room.



It's a living room/dining room rectangle in a small (900 sf) house that's 50+ years old. There's a 3-light track fixture on one end (where the DR would be) and the room is cave-dark. We're painting the walls and removing the awning, so that will help, but it still needs lights. It's got a drop ceiling that's only about 2" below the original ceiling, and said original ceiling is aluminum so can lights are out of the question.

I think we need defined DR and LR lights. WWYD?

Comments (7)

  • camlan
    11 years ago

    Are you painting a lighter color? If so, I'd wait and see what the room looks like afterwards. It's not all that uncommon for a living room to have no overhead lighting, so I don't think it is absolutely necessary to add more lighting to the ceiling.

    Will you be staging the room or will it be empty when shown?

    One thing you might consider is painting the tracks that the ceiling panels are on. Making the entire ceiling white would improve the over-all look of the room, IMO.

  • Locrian
    11 years ago

    Hi Weedy, O.O What is the room's dimensions? Does the window(s) on the long wall extend across its length? Have a few ideas percolating in the coffee pot...

    You mentioned this is a dining/living room rectangle, and tends to be dark. Is it "dark" dark or "cozy & intimate" dark ;-)

    At 900-sq' total, maybe the house is more "cozy & intimate" overall in its appeal...especially with those luscious floors. (900-sq' sounds palatial compared to the 550-sq' I lived in a long time ago...with DH, two kids, two dogs, and two cats.)

    If you can rebox the ceiling light(s), please let me know, plus room dimensions. I can comp what I'm imagining if you'd like. A vintageish chandy in the dining room and complimentary sculpted light in the living room.

  • weedyacres
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    The room is ~12'x20'

    The front window is approximately centered on the long wall.

    It's dark dark, not cozy dark. Yes, the planned coat of beige paint will lighten it up.

    The room will not be furnished when shown.

    Yes, we could move/rebox/replace the existing light (it's not even centered).

  • Locrian
    11 years ago

    Hi Weedy. 12'x20' is an excellent size! I was figuring something like 10x12 ;-). I'll post in a bit with a mock-up. Beige walls & all!

  • Locrian
    11 years ago

    Weedy, this is the existing lamp moved into the living room. I call it Sputnik.

    The lamp in the dining room is an old-fashioned "gas lamp" style. I think it was at one of the big box in-door lumber yards. Something similar would work...something Tiffanyish would, too.

    I was playing around with the ceiling ;-) and coloured it sky blue. Hey, take a "liability" and turn it into an asset!

    Will post the room layout next...

    Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

  • Locrian
    11 years ago

    Room layout. Hope this helps a bit. Hopefully the renters didn't trash the house and this is a quick sale :-)

    Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

  • abbey_cny
    11 years ago

    I have a combo living room/dining room and the only overhead lighting I have is in the dining room end. Rest of lighting is provided by 2 table lamps. When I first viewed the house it was vacant, and it didn't bother me not to see overhead lighting in the living room. Actually I didn't expect to see any in that portion of the house.

    Abbey