Lighting question - controlling direction

Please forgive me if this has been asked elsewhere. I did try to search (I'm probably not using the right criteria).

I've made a shell lamp, and now I'm trying to mount it above my bar. The whole point is that it would shine light down onto the bar surface without lighting up the whole room. I am using an led 7 watt nightlight bulb. It is the lowest one that I could find, but to my eyes it still shines too much light out into the room. Now it is not a large room 8x10 and because of the closet, the bar is pretty far out into the room (we work with what we've got no?)

This is how the area looks with the flash on. The light that I am trying to control is the one hanging above the bar.

This is how it looks with just the light turned on. I couldn't think of another way to show it.

Although you can't really see it, that little light throws light out instead of just down. I want a glow from the light out, but to have at least enough light to see pointing down. The shells are glued to an actual glass pendant lamp shade that can be completely removed from the actual electrics. I was thinking I might be able to spray or paint the inside of the glass shade to dull the light. Or I was thinking about buying some transparent paper at the craft store in a gold/yellow colour to block out some of the light. I don't think that I need to be concerned with heat buildup as the led doesn't get warm at all.

Does anyone have any idea about a good way of going about fixing my issue. I actually made two of these lights, but I've now discovered that both of them together would just be too bright. I'll probably use the same treatment on the second one and mount it in a corner.

Any help or insight that anyone could give would be much appreciated.

Some sort of thinned white or off-white paint on the inside of the lamp might help diffuse the light to more of a glow on the outside...might be worth experimenting with

[ Edited by: rumackay 2018-01-08 20:01 ]

It's fun to find you here. Wendy

Light Gels are inexpensive and are available in lots of colors.

Just make a tube out of copper.
Use copper as it will not melt catch fire.

you can get thin copper at a hobby lobby or a Dick Blick store, maybe even Michael's.
https://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-Hobbies/Wood-Crafting/Hardware-Tools/36-Gauge-Copper-Roll/p/21910

Wow thanks for all of the great ideas!

Rumackay...I never thought of thinning the paint...that would have been a mess!

Wendy...I might be slow, but I'm getting there. I have bags and boxes all over my house of things that I have bought to go on the walls. My friend tells me I have too much, but I say I need a lot of choices!

hakalugi...Light gels seem a much better idea than craft paper. I did a quick search, and I can get them at a local music shop.

Tikiskip...The copper is a fancy idea. I bet if I get a thin gauge, I could perforate it and have a little light shining through.

Looks like I have some experimenting to do. Thanks so much again for your suggestions.

Dan and I went for the tiki overload idea of decorating. Plain white walls with so many tiki objects and paintings etc. that no one notices that there is no matting. We have fun looking at all these things every day. Just display what you enjoy looking at and you'll be happy. Wendy

So you want some light but mostly a light so you can see at the bar.

If you put a amber or orange low watt bulb in your shell light you will get a better over all look.
THEN buy a few spot lights to put up in the top of your thatch overhang (hide them so you don't really see them)
This way these lights put the light where you want it and it looks like the shell light is providing your task lighting, you could even dim these task lights to get the lighting just how you want it.

If you were to look at Disney or other professional lighting in bars ect this is what they do.

The blue walls are going to make it hard to get that dim hut look, whatever you do with that light it's going to be tinted by that blue color.
If you put lots o stuff on the walls then your light would be less bright bouncing off the wall as there would not be as much blue tint.

The old tiki joints just had a bunch of low watt lights everywhere that lit the place with little lighting spread all over.

Plus hey, these places were dark.

I would also suggest the theatrical gels. For a Halloween lighting effect, I wrap the LED lamps in exterior sconces with a cylinder of gel and secure it with transparent tape. The color shows through the sconce glass panels, while white light washes the ground.

I also wrap the lamps (fitted an LED source) in my backyard torches. There are hundreds of color options with gels!

Wendy: I am a huge fan of the layered look! I don't handle minimalism at all :)

Tikiskip: You always give such good advice. I hadn't thought of putting spot lights up top. Something to add to the list...I do love to shop.

Headpaneer: Thanks for the tip about the gels...once it's no longer -35, I'm going to be visiting the local guitar shop.

I love that blue. It's named Hawaiian Teal, I think the flash lightens it...but I couldn't walk away. I'm going to do something to cover the closet doors. I just painted them when I was doing the rest of the room. The opposite walls have floor to ceiling brown curtains. and the doorway wall (that builds the rest of the closet) is going to be covered in greenery. I'll just have to make sure that I fill the rest of the space. My goal is to have very little blue poking through...just enough to make me smile when I see it.

Thanks again for the help. Little by little my tiny tiki bar is becoming a reality!! I'm excited enough about it that I showed my coworkers and that started a whole discussion about poly pop, so my day at work wasn't wasted!

For the most part I don't like blue as it's cold, the reason florescent light is so bad is because of the blue tint it gives off.

Now the picture of the pool looks great as at a pool you want to be cooled off and the blue accents the water.

The warm glow of reds and oranges makes even the people in the room look better as they get a warm look from the wash of the lights.
Make that wash of light blue and they look cold or even dead.
But as you fill up the space this will not be the case.

So here is a good cheap way to get some light, a nice glow, and to warm up the room with ease.
Buy some of these online or at a restaurant supply store they are called Venetian Glass Candle Holders and come in many colors even blue.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Continental-Candle-Red-Glass-Candle-Holder-Jar-Groovy-Venetian-Ruby-SKU-B-GS/122402297633?hash=item1c7fbed721:g:KMYAAOSw4CFYzFTd

Can buy a new case of them at amazon.
They are great for outdoor use too.
https://www.amazon.com/Sterno-CandleLamp-Venetians-Clear-Candle/dp/B01DVJ0V7I/ref=sr_1_4/134-8843529-6629902?ie=UTF8&qid=1515590622&sr=8-4&keywords=venetian+candles

On 2018-01-10 05:20, tikiskip wrote:

So here is a good cheap way to get some light, a nice glow...

I absolutely LOVE those Venetian glass candle holders. So useful, great indoor or outdoor, and they give such a lovely glow. My bar area is a small room so regular lights and lamps tend to be way too bright - working with lots of candles in colourful lanterns, regular and LED tealights, and colour-changing submersible tealights is optimal for us. We go for the glow.

On 2018-01-10 05:20, tikiskip wrote:

...and to warm up the room with ease.

This is literally true! I was happy when a couple burned out and I could put LED tealights in them. A small room full of candles can get quite warm.

The florescent lights must be why I look like a zombie everyday at work!! lol It explains a lot.

I have bought a bunch of battery powered led tea lights that are controlled by a remote. They would be perfect in those candle holders! Thanks again for the suggestion!

Those ones that work with a remote are the bee's knees. I have a million of the regular ones strewn about and it definitely takes a while to turn them all on and off.

I'm sorry, the ones I bought are votives. Just a bit taller. I actually got them on sale a pier 1 and they came with the remote. The remote will also power their glimmer strings (up to 10). Sometimes you find the most useful stuff for 5$ :)

I bought some dollar store battery tea lights and put dollar store batteries in them just to see how long my 3$ investment would last. Surprisingly enough, they stayed lit for more than 21 hours straight, which surprised the heck out of me. I sit at a desk all day lol.

I also bought two sets of 8 pillar candles from Michaels for 7.99 per set that are battery powered and have remotes. Who knows where all of these lights will end up! If they were real candles, I'd be in trouble.