All the small things: Lighting hardware round-up
In what small way do you connect with the space around you most often every day?
Taking a sip of coffee from your favourite mug? Slipping on your comfiest trainers? Hmmm… I think it’s very possibly the careless flick of the light switches in your home.
Which is why this buying guide is one of our first and we think most important! Because when making a home, in my experience, it’s best to start with what you know to be useful, and if you can, make it beautiful.
Read on to find:
how to create a lighting scheme
tips for best placement
what to consider when choosing lighting hardware
our hearth & table picks
How to create a lighting scheme
Sit in your space and observe. What activities take place here? Where do they happen? Can you describe two or three key ‘modes’ for the room?
For example, in a bedroom, perhaps getting dressed and putting on make-up, and also reading before going to sleep. In a kitchen perhaps chopping vegetables and later eating a romantic dinner. Each activity will take place most likely in its own area of the space and will require different lighting modes to create ease and ambience.
To create a lighting scheme you want to make choices which best enable these activities (for example spots of brighter lighting for preparing food, or a pool of warm, soft, glowing light for a dining area). When thinking about this I find it easiest to imagine little vignettes of people and objects, harmoniously gathered together by the light. It’s a bit of a goldilocks scenario; nothing should be too separate and yet nothing should be too unscrupulously lumped together.
Say, for instance, you always chop vegetables in one spot on your work surface, you could have just one angle-poise lamp directed over this area but in many schemes this would look a bit off and imbalanced, and honestly you’d probably end up having the ‘big’ light on to find things in your drawers and move around the space, even when you wanted to create a softer ambience when cooking with guests or relaxing. So instead you choose a balanced trio of vintage angle-poise lamps spaced at intervals along the wall above your main work surface. These create a defined food preparation ‘area’. If you add a dimmer, they also have the advantage of giving soft background lighting to the kitchen area when seated at a dining table across the room, in a way which harmonises with the soft dining lighting but doesn’t distract from it.
Here’s what I’m talking about:
Kitchen work-surface lighting
Three downlighters illuminate the worksurface area and gently highlight shelving on an evening (design credit: Vaughan Design and Development)
Think about lighting spaces that aren’t immediately apparent. Does that tall cupboard desperately need a movement activated light, or is there a console table in the hallway where you are always rummaging for your keys late at night but there’s no obvious socket to add a lamp. It’s amazing how much easier the right lighting scheme can make life.
Draw it all out on a big piece of squared paper before you commit to drilling holes in anything, and even better order the light and hardware fixtures you think you might want and try holding them in place and taking photos. You can always send them back. The number of times I’ve thought I had the perfect solution for a space and then seeing it in situ just knew it wasn’t quite right. You don’t want that to happen after the electrical work is completed and there’s no going back.
One last little tip, try to future proof if you can. Do you have plans for a built in drinks cabinet but haven’t got that far in the renovation yet? Want to eventually replace your standard lamps beside your sofa with wall sconces? There is no harm done in getting the electrical work completed to roughly the right locations, and left not connected to the mains, so you can come back to it when the time comes. Believe me, it’s much easier (and less heart-breaking) than digging long channels in that new plasterwork later.
Tips for best placement
Consider what groups well where. Does it make sense to access all the lighting switch points on one side of the room or would it really make life happier to have your reading lamp on a switch by your bedside to avoid getting out from under the covers on a chilly night. Do you need a dimmer? Does more than one switch (for example one at each entrance or exit to the space) make sense, so you can turn the lights on as you come in and turn them off as you leave the space without walking through it in the dark?
At this point you might also think about height. Many older homes have light switches which were placed much higher than the modern standard but these aren’t accessible to everyone. It’s best to make plans to move switches and sockets to accessible locations when you get the rest of your electrical work done, than try to solve problems later, and it will improve the resale profile of your home too.
What to consider when choosing lighting hardware
So you know where you want your lighting, and the kind you want. It’s time to choose your switches. Think about the kind of home you want to create. Is it playful or sophisticated? Is it period or ultra-modern? Will seeing the finger prints on a high-gloss finish drive you out of your mind (hello matt and brushed finishes)?
Where you need multiple switches, maybe have fun being playful with this. There are lots of ways to be discrete with multi-switch panels but there are also fantastic ways to make a statement with your switches and incorporate them into an artful scheme, especially if you need a lot of them all in one space. This extraordinary statement by Amnah Hafez as covered in INIGO is charming and unexpected but also just right.
Statement hardware
Grouping switches to make an impact (design credit: Amnah Hafez in INIGO)
Our hearth & table picks
We absolutely love everything that Corston Architectural Detail do, but particularly these antique brass switches. They’re so tactile and warm, the brass ages beautifully and they have such a satisfying motion and gentle ‘click’. It’s the platonic ideal when it comes to switches as far as we’re concerned.
Porcelain switches have an old world charm with a French leaning. To avoid a too utilitarian look mix things up with a choice of absolutely beautiful colours from Dyke and Dean. We love the mint green for a tonal choice with William Morris wall paper or a superb contrast and 50s vibe with warm, earthy pink like Farrow and Ball’s Setting Plaster.
Jung LS 990 Les Couleurs Rose Vif ‘1959’ switch
More modern options abound but we think the pick of the bunch are these Jung LS 990 Les Couleurs Rose Vif ‘1959’ switches. They’re big and bold and again are a perfection of their type. Even better the Le Corbusier palette they hail from is also available in a range of paints, carpets, tiles and other accessories so you can create the perfect polychromatic home for them.
Subtlety personified, for those who want sophistication which rings through every touch in their home but want it understated, these switches are charming and an easy going neutral that elevate any contemporary or more classic neutral scheme.
Hope this post helped you find the inspiration you were looking for, and that as the darker nights draw in you enjoy creating some cosy and heartening lighting in your own home.
From my hearth and table, to yours,
Emily x o x
