Australian Home lighting regulations – Building Code of Australia (BCA) J6 compliance

All new Australian homes and renovations that require a planning permit must comply with the Building Code of Australia (BCA) code – and specifically with regard to lighting, the J6 section. Regulating maximum energy usage, the NCC BCA J6 (developed by the ABCB) means that all residences where a Building Permit has been issued must comply with the 5W/M2 requirement.

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Lighting Effects made EASY

We've uncovered five easy ways to describe how light behaves in a room.  These five effect descriptions can be applied to any light fitting, and they form the core of the language we use to describe how light should behave in a room to craft the "right light"

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How and Where to Hang your Pendant Lighting at Home

So many images and TV shows show decorative lighting hanging right up close to the ceiling.  At MINT, we say NO to that.  Think of decorative lighting as jewellery for your home.  You should love it - you'll be looking at it every day.  Pendant lighting (and all other decorative lighting for that matter) should make you smile, bring the sparkle to your home and be the perfect accessory for your interior decoration and design.

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Lighting a Modern Fireplace in your Home

The questions when lighting a "living breathing" feature like a fire, are - do we light the fire surround? Add decorative features above the fire? create drama with texture? or allow the fire to take centre stage and hide all of the general lighting in the room away into the architecture?

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Modern Minimalism in Middle Park

This Middle Park period home has had a sleek expansive modern extension out the back…..it’s a family home that provides wide open spaces for everyone to come together and the clients didn’t want the lighting to detract from the architectural features – it was all about creating *invisible* light

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Letting light out of the cupboard

Building light into joinery can also create a levitating effect, and really lift the feel of a room.  Especially rooms with limited natural light.  A smaller room can be visually expanded by having light hidden away into joinery and behind mirrors.  A large room can actually be lit effectively by hiding light into the architecture and using the room as a luminaire.  Completely hidden source, but brilliant bright room.  Clever stuff indeed.

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Lighting Timber Ceilings

The most obvious solution to lighting a timber ceiling is to use uplight - you've invested time, money and passion into that design - show it off!! The warm light, and ambient brightness will improve your mood at home, and creates a dramatic effect.

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Tips to Lighting Wall Art

Lighting for artworks requires a little more attention that simply putting a downlight, or even a gimble downlight near it in the ceiling.

There is no one-size fits all solution – that said, we have a few nifty tricks to share with you that will work in 90% of situations – and we can leave the last 10% for art galleries who have both the budget and the reason to go the extra mile.

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Get the Industrial Lighting LOOK in your Home

Oversize pendants are fantastic for creating a human scale in a large space, and usually, industrial style is used in large spaces to break them up and give them personality.  So think BIG when choosing your pendants - and with all those hard surfaces, think fabric too - it'll help control the noise levels in your exposed brick/concrete room.

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LIGHTING - in the Kitchen Cupboard

Installing light inside your cupboards is fantastic for functionality, and also means you need less light in the room overall because any “detail work” you do is task lit.  Brilliant!  If you plan for this early enough in your project, it’s also a very cheap, simple solution.  Forget to plan for it however, and you might find it costs a bit more to get the cables to the right place.   Never lose that favourite pair of shoes, or tin of soup again!

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AUTHENTIC LIGHT LAUNCH

MINT Lighting launched Adele's first book - AUTHENTIC LIGHT - Made in Melbourne (you can buy a copy here now) to a crowd of over 60 designers and design lovers with live music and champagne.  It was a fantastic night all round, and a wonderful display of the talented designers of Melbourne.

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