How to do lighting in an attic? Also, what is indirect LED strip lighting all about?

[Garald]

So, I've been choosing lights, and the contractor has been installing them. (The architect is now busy with other projects.) I don't think we've done too shabbily, given that I'm a total beginner:

 

 

I've got things underway in the entrance and the first floor - I'm using a combination of IKEA Nymane and unobtrusively Moroccan lamps (like the ones in the picture), and I'm also indulging in two Tiffany lamps for the library.

 

However, I am a bit of a loss as to what to do in the attic. There isn't much height to work with there (indeed almost all lamps will be wall lamps of some description, though we are often talking about inclined walls - what to do then) and I also don't have a clear idea of what works in that space. I've chosen a delicate color scheme there (two shades of white - basically Farrows and Ball's Great White and Borrowed Light, cloned by a less expensive brand; given all the skylights, the first one comes through as neutral, and the second one as a subtle light blue; then there's gray in the bathroom) and would also like not to upset it.

 

Here are the places for the two ceiling lamps. What does one even put there? I think the highest point is barely 2m20, if that.

 

I suppose the one on the right could be something like this:(somewhat appropriately, since this part of the attic will be a home office) - but what would I ever put on the one on the left? Or here:

 

 

 

Or in the attic bedroom: 

 

 

Any sort of idea or clue would be helpful. I just don't know what to do with lighting in an attic.

 

(The following may be a separate issue or not.)

 

Now, looking at my architect's old notes for inspiration, I find: (I translate) "points of contrast between floors and walls... General lighting: indirect LED strip lighting, floor lamps and wall lamps [...] accent lighting"

 

and I find this picture (no doubt cut and pasted from a catalogue): 

 

 

Now, the wall lights are actually eerily similar to the ones I got for a very reasonable price from IKEA (advised by my girlfriend's radiologist aunt - not sure there's a connection), but I'm simply confused by all of this strip lighting. The only time I've seen lighting that is at all like that provided by strips in these pictures has been in movies, to indicate "upper echelons of the bourgeoisie breed psychologically twisted children": the lawyer's apartment in I nostri ragazzi (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3561348/ ), for instance.

 

Perhaps the two problems are connected - could this "strip lighting" be the answer to what I ought to be doing in the attic? Or should I just leave strip lighting to the underside of kitchen shelves, and think of a more normal solution? (What would be a normal solution?)

 

 

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by Garald

[Adsibob]

indirect LED strip lighting can be very beautiful and not too expensive if planned for appropriately. Essentially you create a ledge or recess using something like plasterboard, then plaster that and paint it the same as the adjacent wall. The LED strip is concealed in the recess so that you can’t see it directly. Instead you see the glow/reflection of the light as it bounces off the adjacent structures. It’s important you don’t skimp on the LED. Try ilumos, 2700k dimmable. You also need an aluminium profile for it.
 

I will post some build ups later, so you can get more info.

[Mike]

12 hours ago, Garald said:

Here are the places for the two ceiling lamps. What does one even put there? I think the highest point is barely 2m20, if that.

A few ideas to start with:

 

1 - You don't have to put anything there. You could just blank them off for possible future use and stick to other light sources - floor & desk lights, for example.

2 - You could loop a flex from them to a light suspended in a more convenient location nearby. As you've chosen Moroccan elsewhere, perhaps something like this one, to shed some interesting patterns Fretwork Moroccan styled pendant?

3 - For the home office (if it's only a home office), then you could indeed choose functional spotlights, either tracked or individual.