To have the lights dim at night

[Kinsters]

Once we've had dinner, got DD in bed and settled down to relax I can't stand having the main lights on. It's so much more relaxing to just have the lamps on (especially as you can't see the pile of clothes in the corner that needs putting away 😂). DH would have them on full blast until bedtime if he got his way.

I'm currently coveting a salt lamp for that lovely warm glow.

I never use the main lights in my living area, I really hate bright harsh lighting when I’m trying to relax and it makes me feel very uncomfortable. I have 3 lamps on which give out soft ample light. If I was married to someone who wanted the main lights on all the time it would grounds for divorce!

@Ifailed

I do wonder why some people have a 'big light' in rooms where they've no intention of turning them on.

Because we live in a Victorian house with the original cornicing and roses around a pendant light in the main rooms, and because, should we sell the house in time, the lack of a main ceiling pendant might put off buyers who, like several on this thread, prefer them.

@wombat1a

Oh I hate dim lighting, you can't see to do anything, can't even find things. I think it works if you are inactive and only watch TV etc, if you're active and want to be doing something then it doesn't.

This. I watch TV on my laptop once in a blue moon & that’s it, so I need enough light to crochet, read etc.

I don’t feel I can wind down if the big light is on. Lamplight is a transition between daylight and darkness. In the summer it stays light too late for me so I have heavy lined curtains in the living room which I shut around 8. Then I can start relaxing. I need that in between phase.

Because they came with the house.Because removing them and the electrics that go with them is a huge amount of hassle.Because it's not hurting anyone at all to just not turn on the switch?

Exactly, it’s like the poster thinks you install them when you buy a house or should remove them if you don’t use them continuously 😂

Depends what I'm doing.
I prefer not to have lights on in the morning and sit with my coffee in the dim light as a gentle start to the day.

My dining room is very dark with only 2 plugs . I like to see what I am eating so the big light goes on !

I can’t relax in a room in the evening if the centre light is on, they look awful and I find them really depressing (as someone said, it is the quality of the light, and feels so flat).

I much prefer layered lighting with a mix of table and floor lamps, so you have enough to do whatever you are doing, plus interesting little pools of light around the room.

I have an uplighter with a reading lamp attached so I often have the main lights dim (I'm another who tells alexa how bright and what colour) but have the reading lamp on anything I'm doing like reading or crochet.

We have ceiling spot lights for when you are doing something that requires it but we have lamps the rest of the time. All voice controlled with various levels of brightness. I couldn’t relax in the evening sitting under a glaring light.

This is an ongoing good natured battle in this house. I will go to great lengths to avoid the big light and DP simultaneously claims I am a vampire or alternatively points put that with the amount of lamps we own its probably the same as the big light anyway. The DC know which side their bread is buttered (literally because I do the main of the cooking and snack provision ) and back me totally.

In all fairness we have some sensory issues in our house In DS1 and I about bright lights and loud noises so bless him DP happily bends to our lighting requirements.

Would happily do away with big lights in my house completely.

I never use the big lights in any 'relaxing' room. Natural light until it gets too dark them lamps on. Have the lamps on timers depending on when we generally use the room (i.e bedroom comes on much later than living room), but I do have candles lit from around 4pm

@Ifailed because big lights just come in houses ? Not many people who don't use them had them specifically installed.

I dislike big lights intently. We have lots of lovely lamps basically everywhere. Nice lamp in the hall, down lights in the kitchen. They just create a nicer atmosphere that harsh big lights can't. We're generally relaxing in the evening but yeah if we're looking for something, we'll turn a brighter light on.

I did fall out with a flatmate about the big light. Amongst other things but it was so contentious. I used to compromise by agreeing to the silly lamp being on when we were both up but she always went to bed earlier at which point I would turn the lamp off and put the proper light back on. Occasionally she would get up again for a wee and would get cross that the big light was on even when she wasn't in the room.

Lamps make me tense. Neither proper light or dark. Just some sneaky middle ground. Big light on or off is nice and clear. Lamps are too ambiguous for me!

And not having the big light on doesn't mean I can't see to ready etc. I have lots of lovely lamps with a soft light that are perfectly easy to read to

@sandgrown

My dining room is very dark with only 2 plugs . I like to see what I am eating so the big light goes on !

Yeah for dinner we have the big light on. But afterwards when we're winding down before bed I turn them all off and put on lamps instead.

I'm not a lamp person, too dim a light gives me a migraine. I also don't have great eyesight so that might be another factor as to why I don't really get what lamps are for. The previous owner of my house wired in lamp plugs everywhere that can be controlled from the main light switch but they're completely wasted on me. I choose big bright lights whenever I can.

For those who need extra light to crochet etc you can buy a neck light on Amazon. I have one and it's great.

To be fair there are a few countries where ceiling light fittings don’t come as standard and you have to install them yourself so maybe the pp is from one of those countries.

@Meruem

I don’t feel I can wind down if the big light is on. Lamplight is a transition between daylight and darkness. In the summer it stays light too late for me so I have heavy lined curtains in the living room which I shut around 8. Then I can start relaxing. I need that in between phase.

This is me too. I get actively irritable when the sun refuses to go down at a civilised hour 😂

Overhead lights are too flat and stark. I have a gentle mix of fairy lights, candles and very low lamps.
Works for me.

DH likes no lights at all just the TV and the fire if it's on. I like lamps, loads of lamps. I don't want to sit in gloom.

The big light is for finding spiders, splinter removal, when we're decorating etc.

We’ve got overhead lights, but rarely use them. I much prefer lamps and candles for a softer light they are more relaxing

For those who need extra light to crochet etc you can buy a neck light on Amazon. I have one and it's great.

It's not the same.

Unless people have really poor eyesight I don't think they get it. I am very short sighted, and DH is starting with cataracts. We both really struggle in low lighting.

I don't even own a lamp, I hate dim lighting, gives me a raging headache, so lights on. Then nice and pitch black when sleeping

This is so interesting to me. I have never understood big lights ever being used at night, and have a visceral reaction to the unnerving brightness. I hate them and feel it's not relaxing at all with them on.

It never occurred to me that anyone would want the big lights on with the same passion I want them off 😂