Ceiling and stair lighting wanted

The issue with incorrect lighting also applies to furnishings. If you have a knack for comfortable living and proportions, you can also coordinate the lighting well yourself. If you can't (no shame, you can do other things), then you should also go to an interior designer. Many build a stylish mainstream Bauhaus house but furnish it with relics from the country house style. Some curtains radiate the 90s, plants are scattered in the house as if grandma is supposed to feel comfortable. In short, greetings

I have definitely spent about 10 hours on the topic, repeatedly drawing, discarding, and rearranging on the computer. Now I am satisfied with the result. In the children's rooms, we each have 12 GU10 spots with 60° as the main lighting. Switchable and dimmable in two groups with a series dimmer from GIRA. Due to the size of 7 x 4.5 meters, this fits quite well; otherwise, we would have needed at least 2 "normal" ceiling lamps. There is also indirect lighting in each room from floor lamps (I’m not really a fan of wall lights). However, when the LEDs are dimmed down, it is quite nice. So it works as the main lighting!

In the kitchen, you naturally need to know where the tall and wall cabinets will be later and where the work surfaces are. Spots must be above the countertop but logically in front of the cabinets, and from my point of view, they need to be placed at short distances so that the light cones already sufficiently overlap on the countertop.

We have a long hallway on the ground floor; there, I moved the spots especially close (about 40 cm) to one side of the wall. This gives a nice effect on the wall, makes the hallway feel less "tunnel-like," and will go well with our pictures, which will hopefully hang there in a few days. In general, the light cones need surfaces on which they can have an effect, and with spots, this is never the ceiling. Windows, carpets, sofas, and most other furniture are unsuitable from my perspective, but it looks quite good on our bookshelves. As a consequence, it wouldn’t fit at all in our living room.

What I see positively: If our 80 spots ever become too many, I simply open the covers on the HaloX housings and that’s it. In any case, I then have plenty of ceiling outlets to choose from for "normal" lamps.

Spots must be above the countertop, but logically in front of the cabinets, and in my opinion they also need short distances so that the light cones already sufficiently overlap on the countertop.

We are still struggling with that. You need quite a few spots for it, and ultimately your own body casts shadows on the work surface. Therefore, the good old lighting mounted underneath the wall cabinets is not out of the race yet. It costs significantly less, and the benefit also seems higher.

How about simply LED strips under the wall cabinets?

If there are wall cabinets, in my view, lighting the countertop with ceiling spotlights does not make sense. Either the countertop is in the shadow of the wall cabinet or the cook.

The issue with incorrect lighting also applies to furnishing. If you have a knack for comfortable living and proportions, then you can also coordinate the lighting yourself quite well. If you can’t (no shame, you’re good at other things), then you’d also need to go to an interior designer. Many build a stylish mainstream Bauhaus, but furnish it with relics from the country house style. Some curtains radiate the 90s, plants are scattered in the house as if grandma is supposed to feel comfortable. Best regards in brief

True. In the end, I also did it alone because there was no time for a professional and it was simply already too late. But it cost me an incredible amount of nerves and is certainly far from perfect.