Creating Garage Ambiance ; Post Your Alternative Ambient Lighting

[DarkMonohue]

A tunable fixture might be just the ticket.

It depends on whether you want something to just provide an atmosphere, or to pull double duty as task lighting.

It depends too on whether you want a fixture that you don't want to see or one that you want to use as an accent.

There are many, many ways to approach this depending on your layout, garage construction, personal preference, budget, etc..

 

[tboy]

Well, if I want to go into the garage, I turn the lights on. If I leave, I turn the lights off. That seems to work really well.

You mean to tell me that you actually invite people to your house, where you keep your stuff, and you take them, on purpose, to the garage, where you keep more stuff, some of which is electrified, some of which is sharp, some of which is both, and almost all of which is expensiver as hell, and you are worried about a "more even flow". Of what? What'nahell kinda' perversions are y'all gettin' up to that you can't just drink your damn beer with the lights on?

And you want your moneybag buddies to be dazzled by the soothing, lounge-like...what was it...ambiance? You want ambiance, open a damn winder. That heady cocktail of garlic stench and acetone fumes'll clear out soon enough.

Dinner party? People actually do those? Hell's bells, I thought that was just movies, where rich people had other rich people over so they could congratulate each other on being just that much... well... better than everyone else.

When you entertain, you really entertain. Hell, I'm entertained, and I ain't even there.

You rich-**** city boys sure are some kind of showy.

Hilarious. I wish I could up vote. I absolutely knew you were just giving the OP a hard time. Others need to lighten up! Work on that Ambiance!

 

[machsnell]

I am putting some plexiglass I had to get rid of from a job into some of the cabinet doors I am making and I am going to light interior with led strip lights.

All lights on dimmers and 3 circuits. Sometimes you want operating room sometimes just want to chill drink beer and listen to music by the stove. Michael of the time I dont want it super bright and just use task lighting or only lights in one section.

I am going to put strip lights in all my cabinets and just wire to switch to come on when I open doors. Easy relatively cheap and I can see exactly what's in there.



Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[muduck18]

Just getting my shop setup and have been going over lumen per sqf and trying to decide in do want dimmable or not etc.
Glad I stumbled on this thread.

The only part I have finished is an exterior part that I wanted to be able to see on approach but not blind the neighbors or light pollute the night sky terribly when it’s on.

Used a little 12v system to run these. Love the way it turned out.

 

[kenny_ca]

Just getting my shop setup and have been going over lumen per sqf and trying to decide in do want dimmable or not etc.
Glad I stumbled on this thread.

The only part I have finished is an exterior part that I wanted to be able to see on approach but not blind the neighbors or light pollute the night sky terribly when it’s on.

Used a little 12v system to run these. Love the way it turned out.

looks nice!
let us know how long the LEDs lasts.

 

[cybrdyke]

Just getting my shop setup and have been going over lumen per sqf and trying to decide in do want dimmable or not etc.

Nice dramatic effect in those pics. I like it.
FYI....dump the lumens per square foot notion. It will lead you in the wrong direction.
CD

 

[Kirkvkid]

Walls of my lab aren't finished yet, so I haven't explored 'mood' lighting yet. But I ran two circuits for the lights, one for the front half and one for the back. If I want a non-work environment, I switch off the side I'm under and the other does a pretty good job.

I decided LED shoplights were better then my T-8's; but I've only been adding, not replacing. So when I look up I see a bunch of half dead looking lights scattered about.



jmiller- your shop is nice and all, but not as nice as that Buick.

 

[muduck18]

looks nice!

let us know how long the LEDs lasts.

Thanks. I will. [emoji23] I’ve used them in my sons power wheels for a while and they seemed to hold up to some abuse there. So hopefully we get a good while out of them. [emoji2369]never know with cheap leds.

Nice dramatic effect in those pics. I like it..

Thanks!

 

[jmiller_2308]

jmiller- your shop is nice and all, but not as nice as that Buick.

Thanks. It is actually a 1936 McLaughlin Buick; essentially the same as the American Buick but made in Canada by McLaughlin which was essentially an extension of GM by that time.

It is largely a survivor that had a bit of a redo probably sometime in the 70's that addressed some rotting wood and worn upholstery issues and unfortunately also got some pretty ugly paint.

I am taking care of her with only minor updates to make it safer and hope to pass it on to some other car loving person in the future (hopefully a long time in the future).