Any rewire lighting design tips?

[Sorbustree123]

We've just moved house and need to rewire. It's an opportunity to improve the current lighting design so I'd love to hear any tips on how best to do this? If you've also rewired, is there anything you regretted not doing? I know there will always be something but fingers crossed we can improve things considerably. Thanks in advance!

We still have places we should have put sockets but didn't, especially outside and in corridors (for e.g. vacuuming or broadband hub!). Even if you don't want something now, it is a pain in the future to think an outside light or extra lamp would be nice somewhere without the need for extension cables.

Agree with @cachedelete regarding the outside sockets and corridors.

Tips would be, have different "types" of lighting in the room - a mixture of spots, a feature centre light and enough plugs around the room for lamps. I have put the pendants and spotlights all as dimmers which is great as I can alter the lighting to suit moods (and on different switches). For example open lounge / dinner has one feature pendant on one switch, a second switch for the dining spots and a third switch for the lounge spots.

Sockets with USBs where they would be useful (bedside table, by a side table in the lounge and kitchen).

Totally unnecessary but I have all my lights with a "smart" dimmer switch so can change the lights through an app on my phone and set timers etc. I have done this for a select few sockets too.

Our previous house had a separate 5amp circuit with a dimmer switch in the bedroom so you could dim or switch on/off all the lamps at once. It was absolutely lovely, so calming in the evening- we’ve just had the same thing installed in our new house.

If you can afford it get fibre optics run into each room.

Think about extra sockets, including with USB ports, light switches and which switches control what. We have a two way switch at the top of the stairs and a four way switch at the bottom so we can turn off the downstairs hall light from the landing and vice versa.

Now is a good time to think about other electrical things - do you have an outside light? A security light? Doorbell? Extractor fan in the bathroom?

Do you have hard wired smoke detectors or a carbon monoxide detector? Now is the time to put those in.

Whilst a house is all apart it is very easy to run cables even if you dont end up using them once the room is set up
Dont put downlights all over a ceiling ,use them at the edge about a foot away from a wall or to highlight a feature
Previous poster mentioned a 5a circuit with table / side lamps which can give a lovely effect
Dont underestimate how many sockets you want especially around tv and internet
Outside socket and lights ?
Consumer units are a couple of hundred quid so make sure it has an extra couple of " spares " that you can add a circuit to in the future
Dont forget Central heating wiring eg move an immersion switch out of an airing cupboard to somewhere accessible

I’m currently finalising our lighting and electrical plan. It feels like such a big responsibility to get it right before building work starts.

I’ve actually removed the 5amp circuit for lamps, as we use Alexa to switch on lighting groups of lamps now.

Agree on the corridors and where you’d like to have lamps in future. I’ve also added LED strip lights in kitchen (under pelmet and inside cupboards). PIR sensor lights are great in some spaces like under the stairs

We have PIR sensors outside for security. Also the drive lights up when we get home.

Loads of sockets. Layers of light. Table lights, reading lights, standard lamps, ceiling lights. Look at John Cullen lighting for inspiration and a lessons in light.

John Cullen is great inspiration