Downlighter/halogen spots in Victorian Hall?

[HintofBream]

We are on the point of having some work done and intend to redecorate the hall at the same time. As you walk through the front door, there is a straight bit ahead, off which the drawing and dining rooms open then the stairs go up to the right.There are two sets of wall lights in this part which came with the house and some glass in the front door. Then it opens out into a "T" shape, with the left hand branch ending with the sitting room and various other rooms opening off also. The right hand "T" ends with a side door and a door to the cellar. This whole cross part of the T has no light other than from a table lamp at the right hand end. Hope this is clear to anyone kind and patient enough to read it!

The hall is a bit on the dark side and DH is keen to install small spotlights throughout, giving more light especially needed along the long cross part of the T and remove the wall brackets. He is backed up by DS who claims all "done up" houses like ours have such lights. I am dubious and feel regardless of what they say modern spots, however tiny, are not appropriate. Added to which the ceilings are very high and changing bulbs will be a pain.

Please, any views?

[fresh]

I would leave the wall lights. Halogen spots will throw light down on to the floor, thus making the ceiling darker so it will feel lower. Wall lights give a much better all-round light. If they're not giving enough light at the moment, you can buy fittings with two lamps in, plus having either glass or pale cream fabric shades will help with light output.

Also, putting halogens in will mean having intumescent hoods over them for fire regs. I think this makes the lamps burn out faster as they get very hot (because the heat they generate can't rise through the hood).

And what 'all other done up houses' have makes no difference to you! I think you're right that they're unsuitable.

[HintofBream]

Fresh, good point about light being thrown down. However the existing wall lights already have two arms and are brass with those candle bulbs( I did say we inherited them with the house) -and no shades, but actually I really don't object to them. I know what you mean about the intumescant hooods, we had to use them in our utility room and my other DS has them in his kitchen and they do seem to go a lot. I suppose we could put extra wall lights in the cross-T part which would make that area lighter. Glad you agree with me!

[PigletJohn]

you say you have a Victorian house. I'm not sure that holes in the ceilings, casting pools of light below, will be in keeping. If you still have lath and plaster ceilings, they will tend to fall down if hacked about.

Spot lights are designed to make a "spot" of light. They are not designed to light a room, but are very suitable for illuminating, for example, a small scupture or painting.

You can have different wall lamps if you want. If the walls are pale and the plaster is flat, you might have wall-washers. Some kind of ceiling lamps will give better lighting, though, whether you go for pendants, domes, globes, chandeliers or something else.

CFLs have a very long life and don't need changing often. Spots don't, and do. You can get different grades of white.

[HintofBream]

Yes PigletJohn one of the main reasons why we are planning work on the hall is that there are a couple of weak points in the lath and plaster ceilings which needs fixing, and I certainly don't want to do anything to make them fall down completely. Because we were worried about cracks I got a structural engineer to do a report, and thank heaven, none of the cracks are serious, no subsidence for example. He specified how the lath and plaster ceilings should be treated, and commented on their "remarkable" condition, given that they have an expected life of 30 years or so. All the more reason not to muck them about.

We have a great many pictures in the hall and all the way up the house and you are certainly making me query how flattering little dots of light would be.

What does CLF stand for please?

I am so grateful for your advice.

[fresh]

CFL is the acronym for those low energy lamps...compact fluorescent lamp I think. You know, the ones that make everything look green save energy.

Piglet makes a good point about ceiling lights. If you have a good strong joist in the right place, you might be able to find somewhere to have a statement chandelier or pendant. But you will need one with multiple lamps in it to be comparable with several double wall lights. You could of course have wall lights and a chandelier.

Don't try and fit a chandelier into a lath and plaster ceiling though....

[HintofBream]

H'mm, Maybe the lack of a pendant light is because previous owners were wary of the lath and plaster. Thanks Fresh.

[nocake]

I put downlights in a lath and plaster ceiling in our house (low ceiling so I had little choice) and they were a complete pain to fit. It's almost impossible to cut a round hole and the spring clamps that hold the light in place don't work very well with the uneven upper surface.

[HintofBream]

Right, no downlights. Thanks very much everyone for saving us time, money and a lot of swearing.