Closet Lighting

This part of the forum seemed like the best spot to post this. I have a closet that's about 87x21. I have emptied it all out of its original contents and have decided to create a workspace. As of right now I have a "floating" desk I have built and I am in the middle of a "floating" shelf I will be installing. Anyway, my biggest issue that I am trying to figure out is lighting. The walls all have fresh (white) paint on them and I am trying to find lighting that will light up the closet nicely and provide enough (bright maybe 5000k) light onto my workspace. I will be working on people computers so the brighter the better. But I also dont see any reason to spend $200+ on lighting up a closet...lol

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

And when it comes time to sell; you'd like the future Owner to be able to have the space revert to again being a Closet ?

 

You could go with something like this:

Commercial Electric 4 ft. White LED Linkable Shop Light-54103161 - The Home Depot

at 3000 lumens it's like having 3-4 60 watt incandescents so it will be plenty of light in a closet for not a lot of money.

There are nicer looking versions with wraps, but hard to beat for lumens per $. I guess tube fluorescent would be cheaper still so that's another option.

 

That was one reason for building this the way that I did. My wife and I have been in the house for only 5 years and have no intentions on moving any time soon. Of course things can change. But yes, the way i have designed everything so far makes it removable and portable. There would be small screw holes left in the wall, but a little spackle would take care of that. In the end, if it were to happen, yes I would want the ability to have the space easily become a closet again, whether it be for me or someone else.

 

Carbide - That looks like a great option and really affordable considering its LED. I may have to go into my local Home Depot and check it out in person and see how bright it is. Thanks again.

 

Have you considered track lighting? Many years ago now I converted an old bedroom in our basement into my office. I too thought I would need more space in my office so I converted an old closet too into what I thought would be a work space. I used fixed track lighting though and had thought about using fluorescent lighting but I also wanted to be able to direct my light where I wanted it and that is when I thought about track lighting. The fixed track lighting was cheaper than the kind on a track and it could still swivel.

I found some LED track lighting kits a bit more expensive than what CarbideTipped linked to but I think that some may still be in your budget. Either option I think would work great for you and give you plenty of light here is a link to what I found http://www.homedepot.com/b/Lighting-...REP_PRC_MODE|0 . I didn't focus on just one kit as I wanted you to see all of what they have.

Or you could go with something like this http://www.homedepot.com/p/Commercia...atalogId=10053 . I used several of these one in a fairly large room at a former rental I will eventually sell and the lighting is really great at a fantastic price. All of these should be in stock at your Home Depot I would check online first and then call your local store. I agree too best to see what they have at the store as the internet doesn't tell you enough. Good luck!

 

I asked about the possibility of the "space" reverting to again being a Closet because some Building and Electrical Codes restrict the size and location of the lighting fixtures that are permitted within Closets . . . . so you may want to be conscious of what you're installing so as to minimize the future costs involved in returning the space to being a compliant Closet.

 

crazy -

I put lights in some clothes closets in my house and this is the type of NEC regulations that I followed. I don’t know what the rules are for other types of closets and if in fact those vary from close closets, but if your closet is, and would most likely always be a clothes closet, then I think maybe this is an important consideration.

http://www.juneau.org/cddftp/documents/ClosetLights.pdf

 

What's wrong with a few standard desk lamps maybe? That way you can take them with you when you move on and there's not too much pain in wiring.