Get rid of spotlights?

[sleepcrisis]

So we have moved into a lovely little victorian terrace, perfect for our needs and a bit of work to be done. There aren't many original features which I was sad about but too many pros to make that a priority.

My main issue is with the bloody spot lights - previous owner replaced lighting in almost every room (except spare room and hsl) with spotlights. I hate spotlights.

I can live with them in the kitchen and bathroom and in our loft bedroom as its in the eaves.

But in the living room (double reception room knocked through) it drives me mad... I can even see the patchy plaster work where they have removed a ceiling rose :(

DH reckons its too big a job to justify the expense. And The ceilings are not high - certainly not your average victorian height. If we had a pendant it wouldn't be able to hang very low. And its a north facing room so quite dark.

What would you do? Do you think it would look mad to keep the spots AND have a pendant/rose in the middle? We are decorating soon and trying to restore some essence of originality (eg replacing traditional cornicing, installing a reclaimed fireplace etc)

Am really over thinking this...

I would put a ceiling light in on a different switch (if possible) so you can have either or on or both.

Also maybe put a dimmer on the spots (depending how many there are as there is a limit or something for a dimmer).

If you get rid of the spots you may need to replaster the ceiling to make good or take ages filling and making good both of which are a right hassle!

Unless the room is huge (or is multifunctional like a kitchen diner), rows of spotlights and pendant lighting would look a bit odd. I think they're a bit unimaginative and I'd probably put in a pendant light plus a lot of lamps so that the light could be layered/adjusted according to what you wanted at a particular time. Wiring in a new pendant light shouldn't cost a fortune but plastering over the spotlight holes may end up costing a bit (it's not a huge job but a plasterer will charge you half a day probably rather than the hour it takes). But if you're getting in a plasterer to put in the cornicing and make good around the new fireplace etc, it wouldn't cost very much extra.

You probably don't want to go to this expense, but have a think about wall uplighters instead. Spotlights cast light straight down, which makes ceilings look darker and therefore lower. And I think they're not right for a living room anyway. If you do go for a central pendant, you could use an uplighter shade (in a pale colour) to direct light on the ceiling instead of downwards.

Meanwhile, a dimmer is a great idea, plus lots of table lamps/floor lamps to use instead of either the spotlights or a pendant.

Thanks for the replies. The spots are already on a dimmer, and are all angled towards the walls rather than straight down. But I still hate them. We have a couple of up lighting floor lamps but they're not unpacked yet. I think you've convinced me to change the lighting, but I need to convice DH now! I'm still a bit unsure about what kinds of pendant would work with a low ceiling. Definitely not a chandelier :(