Recommend living room wall lights

Recommend living room wall lights

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MrChips

Original Poster:

3,263 posts

209 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
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Morning all,

We're just starting to redecorate our new house, only cosmetics, but we're a bit stumped on what to do with the light fittings in the living room. The whole room is currently magnolia with beige carpet, but will eventually be a mid-light grey/stone colour, with oak flooring. Ignore the furniture in the pic as this is being changed as well. There are no ceiling lights which is fine, and we rarely use the wall lights as we have 3 side lamps around the room.

However i'm still struggling to find some wall lights that I think will work, partly due to the high positioning possibly ruling out some up/down lighters? I guess it shouldn't be too costly a job to lower them a bit?

Here's the current fittings.





Anyone installed wall lights recently and care to share their thoughts? I was thinking maybe these type, possibly painted in the same colour as the wall?


Or something like this, although i'm worried the light will be a bit harsh seeing as they are mounted so high up the wall:

AndyTR

516 posts

123 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
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Worth having a look on here. We used them for all our lights last year when we did a renovation, really good quality and very helpful customer service team. Oh, and they have a huge selection!
https://www.lightsonlightsoff.co.uk/wall-light-ran...

CornishRob

256 posts

133 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
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We have just started fitting Astro Amalfi 0423.

They look very nice once fitted, but they seem very fragile and are fiddly to fit.

I purchased 8 of them and got them from my local electrical store for £28/unit. They are £45 each in John Lewis

Ashtray83

568 posts

167 months

Sunday 24th July 2016
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I have 2 cheap B&Q plaster up lighters as We struggled to find some we like there pretty simple looking and about 8 quid each, caulked and painted them in with the wall.

Prohibiting

1,734 posts

117 months

Sunday 24th July 2016
quotequote all
Have a look at John Lewis website. I got my matching wall and ceiling lights from there. Reasonably priced too although if you sort 'highest to lowest' I can't believe how expensive some of the designer lights are.

MrChips

Original Poster:

3,263 posts

209 months

Monday 25th July 2016
quotequote all
I quite like that Astro Amalfi one, however nothing's really inspiring is it frown

We're planning on staying in this house for a very long time so i'm happy to pay to get something special, however it's also quite likely that we will reconfigure the downstairs and part of the lounge will become the kitchen/diner in a few years time.

How difficult/expensive is it likely to be to install some spotlights in the ceiling given we have no fittings in there currently?

Something a bit like this?


Cactussed

5,292 posts

212 months

Monday 25th July 2016
quotequote all
We had the same dilemma.

I ended up doing something identical to this.

http://www.houzz.co.uk/photos/80151/friend-modern-...

Edited by Cactussed on Monday 25th July 13:22

MrChips

Original Poster:

3,263 posts

209 months

Monday 25th July 2016
quotequote all
Cactussed said:
We had the same dilemma.

I ended up doing something identical to this.

http://www.houzz.co.uk/photos/80151/friend-modern-...

Edited by Cactussed on Monday 25th July 13:22
Nice! I guess a fair bit of work though! Do you mind me asking a ballpark figure on how much this set you back? Any pics of the final result?

I think the difficult thing is that eventually we want to reconfigure the layout downstairs but that's probably at least 5yrs off at the mo so it's a balance between spending now and saving for the extension.
I guess if I did spotlights now then that wouldn't be a total waste as we could use them in the new layout although I suspect they'd need to be moved.

Cactussed

5,292 posts

212 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
quotequote all
Its a bit of a faff, but not too much.
Essentially, you use the wiring where your existing wall lights are, into a transformer and then LED strip lighting which is stuck to the back of a nice picture frame (we had 6 made, and we periodically change the photos in them).

I made an internal frame out of 2x2 which is screwed to the wall. The transformer is velcro'd to the inside of this and then the picture frame sits over the top (you need to have it out from the wall slightly to allow the light to reflect off it).

Its actually v simple and relatively cost effective. Making the internal frame is buttons (a length of 2x2 and about 30 minutes). Likewise, transformer and LED strip is increasingly affordable and available. The biggest cost is the decent quality picture frame (which again, you could spend as little or as much as you like).

Its a bit more work I grant you, but the results are worth it I think.

MrChips

Original Poster:

3,263 posts

209 months

Wednesday 27th July 2016
quotequote all
Right, decisions been made... we're going to go for downlights rather than keep the wall lights. Electrician coming on Friday to quote.
Any ideas on a likely cost to install around 8 downlighters? I know that Guy's ZEP1's are well regarded on here, but are there others to consider? We generally don't use the main lights very often but if we're going with downlights then i think we'd like them to be dimmable if possible, and possibly a slight amount of directional movement so we can use to highlight the walls.

Here's a similar pic to our lounge but with downlights. Seems nice, if a little boring so but i'm just starting to research what pattern/placement would work well.


olimain

949 posts

134 months

Wednesday 27th July 2016
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I'm not a lover of downlights other than in kitchens / bathrooms - feel they're a bit clinical but have just installed 4 of those Asto Milo wall lights you posted in a couple of bedrooms and they look excellent when painted in. Lovely light cast from the top and bottom.

MrChips

Original Poster:

3,263 posts

209 months

Wednesday 27th July 2016
quotequote all
olimain said:
I'm not a lover of downlights other than in kitchens / bathrooms - feel they're a bit clinical but have just installed 4 of those Asto Milo wall lights you posted in a couple of bedrooms and they look excellent when painted in. Lovely light cast from the top and bottom.
Any pics you could share? I'd not thought about painting them to blend with the wall.

JackReacher

2,118 posts

214 months

Thursday 28th July 2016
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I have downlighters in my living room, great when you need a lot of light and can be dimmed when needed. I agree they can look a bit clinical but we have a nice floor standing light for when we want some warmer light, and switch the downlighters off

olimain

949 posts

134 months

Thursday 28th July 2016
quotequote all
Pre carpet and not the best phone photos but gives the idea of the sort of light they throw out (they're on dimmers too). The set on the pink wall are painted the same lighter colour as the other 3 walls and the set in the other room are painted the same colour as the wall they sit on.




ThunderSpook

3,571 posts

210 months

Saturday 10th September 2016
quotequote all
Cactussed said:
Its a bit of a faff, but not too much.
Essentially, you use the wiring where your existing wall lights are, into a transformer and then LED strip lighting which is stuck to the back of a nice picture frame (we had 6 made, and we periodically change the photos in them).

I made an internal frame out of 2x2 which is screwed to the wall. The transformer is velcro'd to the inside of this and then the picture frame sits over the top (you need to have it out from the wall slightly to allow the light to reflect off it).

Its actually v simple and relatively cost effective. Making the internal frame is buttons (a length of 2x2 and about 30 minutes). Likewise, transformer and LED strip is increasingly affordable and available. The biggest cost is the decent quality picture frame (which again, you could spend as little or as much as you like).

Its a bit more work I grant you, but the results are worth it I think.
Do you know which LED strip and transformer you used? I'm after some at the moment to do some highlighting around the house but I want something reliable. It's difficult to weed out the chaff seeing as there are so many out there now.

MrChips

Original Poster:

3,263 posts

209 months

Friday 21st October 2016
quotequote all
Just to update this with some results... ditched the wall lights and sorted the walls, repainted in F&B Ammonite, then installed some of Guy's ZEP6 Darklights. We're over the moon with it. The darklights especially as they have exactly the right feel for a lounge, and no glare at all due to the design and black inner coating. We have 12 of the 10w versions, situated all 35cm from the walls with none in the middle and there's plenty of light. They dim really nicely too..Thoroughly recommended!




Murph7355

37,648 posts

255 months

Saturday 22nd October 2016
quotequote all
Is the shadowing like that in the flesh or just the photos?