How to Use the Recommended Lux Checker
Before planning any lighting layout, the first question is how bright a room actually needs to be. This tool lets you pick one of eight common room types — living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, home office, office, storage, or conference room — and instantly shows the recommended footcandle range based on IES (Illuminating Engineering Society) general lighting guidance. Enter your room's square footage and it also calculates the total lumens required and how many standard LED bulbs (about 800 lumens each) you'll need.
Recommended light levels vary a lot by activity. Task-heavy spaces like kitchen countertops and home offices call for 30-50 footcandles, while relaxation spaces like bedrooms and living rooms are comfortable at 10-20 footcandles. Offices and conference rooms that mix paperwork and presentations typically land around 30-50 footcandles as well.
Choosing bulbs based on wattage alone can leave a room too dim or uncomfortably bright. These figures are standard planning estimates — actual lighting design should also account for ceiling height, wall and floor finishes, and how much natural light the room already gets from windows.
Frequently Asked Questions
Spaces that need precise visual tasks, like kitchen countertops and home offices, require brighter light, while relaxation spaces like bedrooms and living rooms are comfortable with dimmer light. These levels follow IES (Illuminating Engineering Society) general lighting guidance.
We multiply the midpoint footcandle level for the room type by your room's area in square feet to get total lumens needed, then divide by 800 lumens (a common LED bulb output) and round up.