--- title: "Lighting a Homestay in Đà Lạt: Bedside, Lobby, Damp" description: "Bedside lamps you can read by without glare when lying down, 4 W or 6 W bulbs, materials that tolerate damp, and how we crate and install from Saigon." canonical: https://denhachi.thenexova.cloud/en/journal/lighting-a-homestay-in-da-lat lang: en last-updated: 2026-10-04 --- [Cafés and stays](/en/journal/topic/cafes-and-stays) # Choosing lamps for a homestay in a cold, damp town like Đà Lạt > Bedside lamps you can read by without glare when lying down, 4 W or 6 W bulbs, materials that tolerate damp, and how we crate and install from Saigon. Nguồn / Source: https://denhachi.thenexova.cloud/en/journal/lighting-a-homestay-in-da-lat Bedside lamps you can read by without glare when lying down, 4 W or 6 W bulbs, materials that tolerate damp, and how we crate and install from Saigon. [Tô Minh Khang](/en/workshop/makers/to-minh-khang) · Wiring, installation and warranty · Published 11 Aug 2026 · Updated 4 Oct 2026 · 5 min read ![A pine-panelled bedroom with a woven pendant, a bedside lamp and an armchair by curtained windows](/_astro/project-homestay.COWX1-pq_25MQ9.jpg) A homestay in Đà Lạt needs three things from its lamps. Bedside light that comes out at eye level for a guest sitting up to read, without shining into the eyes of a guest lying down. Low-wattage 2700K bulbs; 4 W is plenty in a bedroom. And shades that can live in damp air: rattan with a moisture coat, not paper. At Nhà Chín Phòng, a nine-room homestay in Lâm Viên - Đà Lạt ward, we made nine Đông Chí (Winter Solstice) bedside lamps with 4 W bulbs and one Xuân Phân (Spring Equinox) set over the lobby table, crated them in Saigon and installed them in two days. Total: VND 35,600,000 before VAT. I am Khang. I do the wiring, delivery and installation at the workshop. This note comes from that trip (an illustrative project for a demo site; figures are made up) and from what I check every time we fit lamps somewhere damp. ## How damp is Đà Lạt? The climate table on the Vietnamese Wikipedia page for Đà Lạt, compiled from a local gazetteer, gives an average annual relative humidity of about 85%, with a rainy season from late April to October. That is a secondary source and we have not been able to check it against Vietnam’s meteorological service, so treat it as an approximate figure. For comparison, the US Environmental Protection Agency recommends keeping indoor humidity below 60% to keep mould down. Homestay rooms often have the windows open for hours to let the mountain air in, so the air inside is close to the air outside. A lamp shade there has to cope with that without anyone looking after it daily. ## Bedside light you can read by, without glare Guests do two things in bed: sit up and read, and lie down. A ceiling light does neither well. A bedside lamp has to light the page without shining into the eyes of someone lying on their back. The [Đông Chí](/en/collection/dong-chi) bell does this by its construction: a closed rattan body 48 cm tall with a single open band around the middle. Light leaves in a horizontal band. Sitting up, the band falls on the book. Lying down, your eyes are below the closed bottom of the shade and you never see the bulb. I set the height in each room on site, because every bed and nightstand is different. My method: ask the owner to sit up against the headboard, raise or lower the lamp until the open band is level with the shoulder, then lie down and check the bulb is out of sight. ## 4 W or 6 W? All our lamps take a standard E27 LED bulb (the common screw-in type sold in every electrical shop in Vietnam) at 2700K, the yellow-white of an old incandescent. The standard bulb is 6 W. For Nhà Chín Phòng we switched the nine bedside lamps to 4 W bulbs, at no change in price. | | 6 W bulb | 4 W bulb | | ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------- | | Suits | Corridors, bedside for heavy readers | Bedrooms for sleeping, a few pages before lights out | | Nine bedside lamps on at once | 54 W | 36 W | | Lamp price | Same | Same | LEDVANCE’s guide to colour temperature says 2700K suits hotel guest rooms, suites and lounges, while 3000K is common in lobbies, reception areas and corridors. At Nhà Chín Phòng we kept 2700K in the lobby too, so the rooms and the shared space are the same colour. Our note on [2700K or 3000K](/en/journal/2700k-vs-3000k-bedroom) goes into it. ## The lobby: one Xuân Phân over the table The lobby has a six-seat table where guests eat breakfast. We hung a [Xuân Phân](/en/collection/xuan-phan) set: four pendants at staggered heights, two linen and two square-weave rattan shades, four 6 W bulbs. The four pools of light overlap along the table, bright enough for breakfast on a misty morning, and in the evening it is where guests sit and talk. ## How we do it from Saigon The workshop is in Ho Chi Minh City, so lamps for Đà Lạt travel. Each one is lit for 24 hours at the workshop, then packed in a wooden crate with padding so no shade touches the sides. The crate holds an illustrated installation guide, and each lamp comes with a spare bulb. Shipping is quoted before the owner pays; installation outside the city is quoted for travel. The homestay stayed open while I worked, so I went room by room as guests checked out: the lobby and the empty rooms on day one, the rest on day two. | Item (before VAT) | Amount | | ------------------------------------------------ | ------------------ | | 9 Đông Chí, 48 cm, 4 W bulbs (9 × VND 2,400,000) | VND 21,600,000 | | 1 Xuân Phân set | VND 9,800,000 | | Wooden crate shipping | VND 1,200,000 | | Travel and two days of installation | VND 3,000,000 | | **Total** | **VND 35,600,000** | Room by room details are on the [Nhà Chín Phòng project page](/en/projects/nha-chin-phong-homestay-da-lat). Toàn, the owner, put it this way (an illustrative quote): “Guests often ask where to buy the bedside lamps. I give them the workshop’s number.” In damp places we choose the material first and the shape second. That is why all nine rooms at Nhà Chín Phòng have rattan with a moisture coat rather than dó paper, even though paper gives a beautifully soft bedside light. ## Where people go wrong - **White ceiling lights in guest rooms.** The room looks like an office and the reader gets glare. - **Dó paper in a damp town.** Paper takes up moisture, sags and ripples. It belongs in air-conditioned rooms closed at night. - **A different bulb colour in every room.** A bulb fails, housekeeping buys whatever the shop has, and room 3 is yellow while room 5 is white. Tell your staff to look for E27, 2700K, LED on the box, and keep the spares in one place. - **The switch by the door.** Guests have to get out of bed to turn the lamp off. When I install, I always ask the owner where a switch can go within reach of the pillow. - **Never dusting the shades.** Dust holds moisture. Once a month with a soft brush, as in our note on [rattan lamps and humidity](/en/journal/rattan-lamps-humidity-care). Homestays under 15 rooms and cafés under 80 m² are a large part of our work; see [lighting for cafés and homestays](/en/hospitality) and our pillar guide on [lighting a small café](/en/journal/lighting-a-small-cafe). You can start with one photo of a guest room and one of the lobby through the [light mock-up page](/en/light-mock-up). Within 48 hours Hà sends back a drawing with the number of lamps, the wattage and an estimate of the travel cost to you. ## Sources and update Average annual humidity of about 85% and a rainy season from late April to October: [Vietnamese Wikipedia, Đà Lạt](https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%90%C3%A0%5FL%E1%BA%A1t), a secondary source not yet checked against the national meteorological service. Indoor humidity below 60%: [EPA](https://www.epa.gov/mold/brief-guide-mold-moisture-and-your-home). 2700K for guest rooms, 3000K for lobbies and corridors: [LEDVANCE](https://www.ledvance.com/en-us/professional-lighting/insights/blog/lighting-basics/2700k-vs-3000k). Costs from our 2026 price list, before 8% VAT. Last checked 4 October 2026. ## See it in your room first Send a room photo, get a light mock-up in 48 hours. [Send a room photo](/en/light-mock-up) ## Sources checked 1. [Đà Lạt, climate section (Wikipedia, Vietnamese)](https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%90%C3%A0%5FL%E1%BA%A1t) 2. [2700K vs. 3000K (LEDVANCE)](https://www.ledvance.com/en-us/professional-lighting/insights/blog/lighting-basics/2700k-vs-3000k) 3. [A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home (US EPA)](https://www.epa.gov/mold/brief-guide-mold-moisture-and-your-home) ## Lamps in this article [![A tall bell-shaped pendant in dense woven rattan, its inside glowing warm yellow under a dark ceiling with steel beams](/_astro/lamp-dong-chi.nPpUbf6k_1ilc0j.jpg)Đông Chí2,400,000 VNDRattan bell pendant · Corridor, bedside](/en/collection/dong-chi)[![Three woven natural-fibre pendants in different shapes (cylinder, flattened globe, cone) hung at staggered heights over a long, laid wooden dining table with wicker chairs, in the evening](/_astro/lamp-xuan-phan.DICNy81K_ZCFM1Y.jpg)Xuân Phân9,800,000 VNDSet of four staggered pendants · Dining table for six, café entrance](/en/collection/xuan-phan) ## Read next - [Cafés and staysLighting a café under 80 m²: one pool of light per tableWhy evenly lit cafés feel like offices, how to hang one lamp per table, 2700K or 3000K for a café, splitting the switches, and installing without closing for a day.](/en/journal/lighting-a-small-cafe) - [MaterialsRattan lamps in the rainy season: preventing and treating mouldWhy rattan takes on moisture, where not to hang it, monthly cleaning, and what to do if spots appear on the shade. What our warranty covers.](/en/journal/rattan-lamps-humidity-care) - [Choosing lamps2700K or 3000K: choosing warm light for a bedroom2700K is the yellowish white of an old incandescent bulb, 3000K a warm white with less yellow. Which room suits which, what the box says, and why we use 2700K.](/en/journal/2700k-vs-3000k-bedroom)