What we're doing Recessed lighting is one of those upgrades that changes how every room in the house feels without touching the paint, the flooring, or anything cosmetic. It's purely functional — you flip a switch and the whole space opens up. We handle everything from single-room retrofits to whole-house installs. The right layout, the right fixtures, and the right circuit capacity — that's the formula.
There are two main approaches. Canless LED fixtures (sometimes called "icu" or "IC-rated independent cavity") mount directly into a ceiling without a separate metal housing. They're faster to install, have built-in insulation protection, and are great for new construction or fresh remodels where the ceilings are open.
Housed recessed cans are the older approach — a metal can is dropped into the ceiling and the trim and bulb sit inside it. You still see the difference. Housed cans tend to be tighter in existing ceilings because they need more clearance, but they spread light a bit differently and some homeowners prefer the look. We'll walk you through the trade-offs based on your specific ceiling and budget.
For most DFW retrofit projects, we recommend canless LED. They're simpler to install in existing ceilings, have fewer moving parts, and the LED bulbs last years longer than anything in a housed can.
Recessed lighting isn't a numbers game. You can't just space fixtures evenly and expect it to work — room function matters. A kitchen needs brighter, more even coverage over the counter. A living room needs softer, layered light. A bathroom needs moisture-rated fixtures.
We'll map out a layout for each room: where the fixtures go, what size they need to be, and how far they sit from the walls. Then we'll size the dimmers. If you want a dimmer, you pick the right one for the load — LED dimmers work differently than incandescent ones, and cheap dimmers can make LED fixtures hum.
Color temperature is another choice we'll talk through. 2700K is warm and cozy. 3000K is a clean white. 4000K starts leaning toward daylight. Most DFW homes go 2700K–3000K for living areas and 3000K–4000K for kitchens and bathrooms. We'll recommend what feels right for each room.
Texas summers are brutal on attics. We're talking 140°F+ on a hot July afternoon. That means your insulation is hot, your dryheet is baked, and everything in that attic space is working harder. Recessed lighting in an attic requires proper clearance — you can't just drop a hot fixture on top of fiberglass without making sure there's room for airflow.
If you're going with canless LED, the fixtures are IC-rated (insulation covered), meaning they can safely sit close to or against insulation as long as they're installed with the right housing. That's one more reason canless LED is the smarter choice for Texas attics. We'll also check for existing recessed cans that are sealed with foam — those are fire hazards that need to come out before we install new fixtures.
Retrofitting recessed lights into an existing ceiling that already has lights is straightforward. We replace the old housing or swap in canless LED where there's space. Where there isn't an existing run, we route new wiring through attic spaces, behind baseboards, or through existing conduits. It's usually cleaner than people expect — most retrofits produce very little dust and finish in a single day for a typical room.
One thing to keep in mind: adding a lot of recessed lighting changes the load on your panel. If you're doing more than a few fixtures, we'll probably want to check your panel capacity first. If your panel is already loaded or if you have a 100A service, a big lighting job could mean a panel upgrade. That's where our panel upgrades page comes in — it walks through the whole process.
Every install is different, so the cost varies. Here's what drives it:
Call or text us for a free quote — we often get out same-day. Text us a photo of the room and we can give you a ballpark before anyone even schedules a visit.