The Light Fandango
Oh how I do miss the days of olde. Remember when all we had to do was choose a lampshade of vaguely the right colour and a pleasing shape? And maybe a nice base to go with it. For some of us that was a challenge enough. But once you’d selected your ceiling pendant, wall light or table lamp the job was pretty much done. There was only one significant decision left to make at that point: would it be a 40W bulb, 60 or 100?
Nowadays you need a degree on the subject of lighting to get anywhere. It isn’t enough, it seems, that the colour and style of light fittings available has grown exponentially. No, sadly, that is now just the start of it. How about a downlighter instead of a pendant? Recess or surface mounted, tilting or fixed? Will the lamp inside it be an integral LED or a GU10? And why limit your thinking to light shining down from the ceiling when you could have an uplighter, wallwashers, step lights or even, as we did in the bathroom, a pee light (that’s officially a floorwasher but don’t let’s go there).
And of course it doesn’t stop there because your LED will need a driver (dimmable or non-dimmable?). Which will itself need a home to be found for it, somewhere out of sight. Light output in lumens must be another important consideration (initial, engine and luminaire lumens), not to mention the width of the beam issuing from the lamp. And shall we go for warm light, 2700-3000 Kelvins or, to borrow from Procol Harum once more, a whiter shade of pale? For that you’ll need 4000 Kelvins. Plus. You can see where all this is going. And we haven’t even broached lux levels, CRI or R9 yet.. mostly because I don’t know what they are. Perhaps they’ll feature in the postgraduate course. I hate lighting.
It started off harmlessly enough. Given that there are two wall lights there was an extended discussion between me and the electrician as to their height (matching) off the floor. The trouble is that in the sitting room both the floor and the ceiling slope. And then there are the ceiling beams which are deeper at one end than the other further adding to the perception that the room is more wedge shaped than square. So it isn’t as simple as just extending a tape rule up from the floor and measuring off. Even after we’d checked our calculations (twice) it still looked all wrong. In an old house it’s sometimes better to go by eye.
The reading lights turned out to be a triumph. As the years go by it becomes harder and harder to read in poor light. They needed to be bright and they are. Positioning wasn’t entirely straightforward here either because to give maximum impact the light needs to shine down from directly above the sofas. And not just anywhere above the sofas either but specifically above the places we each habitually sit. Except that by the time we got around to considering this point both sofas were nestled at the bottom of a crate 10 miles away in the storage company warehouse. Ahh.
Fortunately I did have the computer aided plan of the sitting room. And some fingers and toes to cross. You have to get lucky once in a while.
So all is well so far, yes? Yes.. until it came time to turn off the lights after the electrician had gone home. The reading light above my bit of the virtual sofa wouldn’t turn off. It mattered not how many times we pushed the light switch or fiddled with the dimmer, the light remained resolutely on. Mike had a go at re-wiring it. No change. In the end he had to remove the wires at the switch or it would have stayed on all night. Then he had a brainwave. (A light bulb moment?) By some miracle both the reading lights and the wall lights ran on the same GU10 lamps. Mike simply switched them around. And blow me, it worked.
Along the bookcase wall (the bookcase is the next thing to be re-installed), five integral LED mini downlights. The recess space above the ceiling here is quite limited, meaning that we were restricted to a very small range of light fittings from which to choose. Smaller fitting equals lower light output.
The builder said: “Oh, they’re soft..”
The electrician said: “Only 2W see..”
I said: “Oh dear.” Or words to that effect.
2W in new money is different to 2W in old money. Quelle surprise. But even so.
 Our problem went further than merely a dull bookcase. At electrics first fix the wiring for this string of downlights fell though a gap. It was forgotten, basically. By the time the omission came to light (sorry) it was too late to easily fix it. To avoid ripping down a newly plastered ceiling and channelling into a newly plastered wall we decided to do away with the centre ceiling light that had been included in the original plan, purloined its wiring and connected up the downlights instead, not realising at the time quite how dim those downlights would turn out to be. Result: a big black hole in the centre of the room with little if any illumination. Did I ever mention I hate lighting?
Somehow we would need to get some central light back in. But how, without wrecking the plastering after all? Fishing, that’s how.
Allow me to introduce the concept of ‘fishing’..
The trick is to take up as few of the bedroom floorboards as possible. Especially as some of them go underneath the fitted wardrobes and would therefore need to be sawn. Fishing rods for electrics work on the same principle as chimney sweeping rods in that individual sections screw together to make as long a length as you need. The extendable rod can then be passed though the cut out holes made for the lights in the sitting room ceiling, finding a route between the ceiling and the underside of the floorboards above, dragging an electrical wire in its wake.
There is much shoving and cussing because, as you might have come to expect by now, nothing is ever as easy as it sounds. And of course someone has to be stationed upstairs, her arm wedged painfully underneath the floorboards, stretched and bent into hitherto impossible contortions to ensure that the rods hit their mark. Frequent instructions are issued from down below. Sometimes it’s difficult to hear clearly what has been said, with the ceiling being fairly solid now after all the new coats of plaster. Tempers can fray.
I bought two more of the fittings used for the reading lights and we fixed the second pair in a mirror image of the first thus creating a loose grid across the ceiling, on two separate circuits.
Can I convince you it was always meant to be like that?
The lights look great. Goodness, who knew there were so many options???xxx
It’s quite mind blowing. I think too much choice is part of the problem, at least it is for us ordinary mortals.
Candles? Glow worms?? I hear they are the new things.’ Maybe. Perhaps…?
I would worry about the glow worms, interesting as the concept is. Might there be poop on newly re-covered sofas? Or are they like mayflies and live so short a time they have dispensed with mouth and anus?
It looks like it was always meant to be. Well done! I hope your arm has recovered from the contorting.
Thanks Su. I was more worried about what my hand might encounter under there. Live electricals as opposed to still to be connected ones? Hot pipes? Mice?
Egads! The floor is up again! But it is coming on bit by bit. It will be super. Eventually. Sooner rather than later!
I also do not like lighting! Never found the right lampshade (especially if it looked like the one in the dentist) or something online seems possible only to find it is the worst gaudy plastic snippings ever when you visit the shop – these things have to be seen in person! Spots in the last house – phew the heat. LEDs brr it’s cold, but at least we can seeeeee! Here we have the most delightful plastic chandeliers complete with ruched skirts for the candle-like bulbs and central vase-shaped glass things which remind me of Marilyn Monroe’s very tight dresses! Two of them hanging from polystyrene ceiling roses. Not sure which I loathe more! Definitely need spot lights over the sink – that was brilliant. And a floor craft lamp with light that can be dimmed or left bright to read or sew! Enough of my ranting! Favourite lights ever – fairy ones on the Christmas tree!
Sounds like you inherited some very interesting light fittings. You might even get something for them, for the novelty value alone!
I agree, looks like it was always in the plan. I’ve spent for too many hours in the lightbulb aisle of our local DIY shed along with others of a certain age, all looking utterly perplexed by the choice: lumens, LED, GU wotsits etc. Whatever happened to watts, bayonet or screw fitting. I’m about the enter the twilight world of LED downlighters – I may be some time..
Oh good luck..
We tried to return ours when we discovered how dim they are. The manufacturer refused to take them back as they’d been fitted. And how are you supposed to tell if they’re going to work without fitting them?
Choose wisely.
The lighting does look lovely I must say! I think I would have to bring in a lighting consultant. We notice the last time we had the house painted that it has become a very complex business, with colour consultant etc….but they were helpful.
We too went to a lighting specialist and they were helpful. Most of it did turn out OK, apart from the dim downlights. I suppose you can’t have everything and we have learnt an important lesson for next time.
I am keeping everything crossed for Australia over the next few days. The news from Kangaroo Island has broken my heart. We’ve walked all through Flinders Chase, so much wildlife. It is an absolute tragedy.
How beautiful it looks Jessica. Lighting certainly has become a mystique art, mastered by few. However, despite (or maybe because of) your trials and tribulations, you seem to have pretty well mastered it. Congratulations. You are making such a beautiful home for yourselves. Happy New Year. X
Thanks Hannah. By the time we get to the end of this project (the whole house) we may, may, just about have mastered it. But we’ll be so done in by then there will never be another one!
Gah, what happened to the days of a dusty 100W bulb hanging from the middle of the ceiling 😜
We still have one, more than one actually. Mike is constantly giving me grief about it. The trouble is just the thought of searching for lampshades brings me out in a rash.
I imagine that in such a house effective lighting is very important. I suppose you could go back to the original candlelight.
Yes indeed, the small windows make effective lighting one of the most important areas to consider. Candlelight is beautiful for accent lighting. And of course power cuts are not unknown..
Phew, I never knew there was so much to lighting, like you I remember the good old days of just a lamp, shade and bulb! Your lighting does look good though, like everything you do Jessica, the end result looks fabulous. I love you deer family.
Thanks Polly.
The deer family has just been relieved of three strings of very tiny fairy lights I had over them at Christmas. We didn’t move back into the sitting room until Christmas Eve so I spent pretty much the whole evening faffing about with it. Never again. As they were dismantled I noted down exactly how I’d put it all together!
Aye! Lighting in our, by contrast “modern,” house was difficult enough so the challenges you faced would have drained my will to live. Our living room still isn’t as bright at night as would be ideal we make do. The living room light is great so long as the sun’s out – at least the windows ensure that. Good luck, Jessica!
If anything is going to drain my will to live it will surely be lighting. Your living room, having a vaulted roof, must be quite a challenge and I don’t envy you the task. But during the day at least you won’t often go short of sunshine. We frequently end up with the lights on all day in winter, given the small cottage windows and the grey dismal stuff outside of them.
Yes, I remember when building our extension trying to work out where we wanted lights, switches, sockets etc before we plastered was the toughest choice as we didn’t know exactly how we would end up using the rooms – works reasonably well although as you say it’s the wattages and lumens and all that gumph that’s the difficulty now when we need to replace bulbs. You may end up being very bored when all you have to do is sit and twiddle your thumbs, Jessica!
There’s always the garden. It’s hard enough to imagine running out of things to do inside the house. But outside, never! This year is going to be the year of the garden. I need it for my sanity if nothing else. I’ve just this evening bought a new mac and wellies. I am Devon proofed. Bring it on..
I hope you never want to move the sofa!
We did worry about that! The sofas haven’t moved in all the years we’ve been here and the layout of the room makes it difficult to imagine them anywhere else. But you never know.
Lighting is bizarre. I am quite fond of plain candles for this reason (among others).
When we bought our house, the master bedroom had one little spotlight at the head of the bed, and two little spotlights in a corner, thus ensuring that there were three tiny well-lit islands in an ocean of darkness (said ocean engulfing the door and all three wardrobes). Lighting is bizarre – but so apparently are some people.
I love candlelight too. We used to have it a lot in the sitting room and no doubt will again once we are settled back in there.
Lighting is so complex I can totally understand how people may get it wrong. After all, we did. And as we’ve discovered it’s quite a performance to rectify the problem. It’s one of those things that improves with experience, by the time we move out of here we may have cracked it!
oh but it does look lovely and I would have been convinced! And the bedroom (granted without a bed and um pulled up floorboards) looks amazing too!
I don’t think I ever finished up with the bedroom posts and perhaps I should. It’s almost done. I am not the best completer finisher but I think only a few decorative cushions remain. And a chair. And a lampshade. And pictures. Ooooohh!
Choices, choices. It’s all about choices, isn’t it? I certainly approve of the ones you’ve made. The lights look great.
There is too much choice sometimes, that’s part of the problem. It’s also made so complex that often we have no option but to call on professional help, which needless to say doesn’t come cheaply.
I hate lighting too! We got ours totally wrong in the kitchen and I’m still squinting as I chop vegetables 11 years later.
I got it totally wrong in my study, thinking I could get by with one desk light. Now I’m forever gazing up at the ceiling wondering how difficult it would be…