Led lights in a 1930s house?

[hopefully2021]

Would you put led lights in a 1930s house? My electrician said all high end properties have these but part of me feels like it will look weird as the house has quite a bit of original character?

I wouldn't personally. I live in a new build house and my neighbours has her house all done up with vintage stuff and antiques, her furniture is lovely and I do like her style but the whole look is really jarring in a brand new house.

I feel like your situation may end up like that in reverse?

We are having them put in the new extension. They'll fit there - rest of the house is 1908, can't see them really working for that part of the house. Apart from we are going to put them in the inglenook fireplace which is blooming dark.

Yes, but just buy 'warm' LED bulbs. hard to buy anything else these days. or do you mean downlight spots?

You can get LED bulbs that look vintage. They aren’t cheap but look really good and give off loads of light. Means you can go traditional on the fittings to keep the 30s vibe.

www.toolstation.com/search?q=vintage%20light%20bulbs

sorry everyone I meant spot lights!

I thought for a moment you’d misspelled “leadlights” ( en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadlight ) which are usual in 1930s houses and was really confused.

We have a 1930's house and have these in every room - they had been fitted before we moved in. I don't think they look jarring particularly - however, if I was installing them I'd put them in really useful areas like the kitchen, and create more ambience in other rooms with more traditional lighting. We have a lot of lamps to counteract the brightness. Also we have double switches in every room which turn half of them on so you don't have to floodlight the entire room if you don't want to!

Spotlights are actually not very good for lighting a room.

They are suitable for lighting a spot, such as an actor's face, or an objet d'art, in a dark space. Is that what you have in mind?

Spotlights = cheap and nasty.
Only acceptable in bathrooms.
LED lights in colours around cornicing or under cupboards = no style and certainly no class.

All a matter of opinion, doesn't matter if you're not selling your home soon mind. Could be a disco ball if you like it!
Get a lighting interior designer in, sounds silly but it's so easy to get it wrong and it ruins the room.
(And I say this as someone who has done all of the above and then wondered what it is about the room I don't like!!)

I have a 1930s house and I have LED recessed spotlights. They're not cheap or nasty or designed to light an actor's face .

They light the house much more effectively than the previous pendant lights and we don't need lots of lamps now. I'd definitely have it set up with at least 2 switches for a room, so you can light part of the room if you choose, and with dimmers in the main rooms too.

Do you mean the builder's pox type? I think they are looking a bit old hat now. We have a 1930s house with them. They were put in by the previous owners. I don't love them but they don't jar.

We have spotlights in our Victorian house, as do most Victorian houses round here, including the very recently very expensively done ones.

The key IMO is to have only a few, and then have plenty of other types of light as well ie wall lights, lamps, pendants.

The spotlights give a general level of background light and then the other lights provide features and atmosphere (sorry this sounds a bit wanky)

The other key thing is to be fussy about your bulbs. You want 2700k (“very warm white”) not 3000 or anything above, except maybe in a bathroom or utility room. And you want a high CRI (colour rendering index), ideally 90+, this avoids the washed out look that LEDs can give. Philips ColorExpert have this for example.

Have what you like if it's not a listed building or a show house, it's your house! We have a 20s house, I don't care for spotlights, wall lights, or recessed lighting in any period of house myself, but that it entirely personal prejudice. I only have spotlights in the kitchen, and one wall light that came with the house and it was so tiny and quirky I coudln't bring myself to get rid of it, but we have a low ceiling in the hall and it's a nightmare trying to find lights that I like which also won't splat taller people than I am on the head. I could easily go for 'period' lighting from those upside-down bowl type things that sit right up close to the ceiling, they'd be 'period' but I still don't like 'em. So I won't.

@eurochick

?Builders pox?

C’mon, surely we all know the phrase builder’s pox? When a house is smothered in the damn things and it’s all your eye is drawn to.

Absolutely gorgeous period house for sale recently where we were looking: original floors, grand high ceilings, big skirting boards, fireplaces, v fancy coving etc etc… then all the ceiling roses and central big lights had been torn out and the ceilings just relentlessly covered in LEDs. (Not that I ever turn the big light on, but I think in period houses you need the fixture otherwise the ceiling looks weird.)

Fine to have a couple in the bathroom and a couple in key places in the kitchen, though kitchens also need some ambience lighting and benefit from a big light fixture, particularly above dining tables and peninsulas; gives shape to the space. As above I don’t turn them on, just lurk in the gloom of lamplight.

Exactly @burritofan.

Maybe people just like functionality and aren't snobs? There are millions of 'period' houses, but they're basically boxes for people to live in in a way that works for their family. If you like period features that's great, but if you prefer a more minimal home, or you want lava lamps or tassled fabric pendant shades, what does it matter? I really don't see the rationale for treating a Victorian terrace or 30s semi with great reverence, as though you're caring for something of historical significance. 'Builders pox' is just snobbery. LED spots aren't your taste - that's fine. But if other people like them, that's also fine, surely?

Maybe people just like functionality and aren't snobs?

Or they like aesthetics and they aren’t modernisers?

Both equally legitimate stances.

We have them in our Victorian, inherited from the previous owners. The idiots were obsessed with lighting, they had 8 of the damn things in the small bathroom and in the master bedroom they had a pendant light, 6 spotlights, 2 wall lights and 2 lamps. We’ve removed a good number of them but still have them in the living room. With Hue bulbs you can control the colour and brightness and on a cloudy day we find we do need a light on and the spots are less obvious than a ceiling pendant or lamp. Your house your choice OP.

Yes, both are equally legitimate, but some of the comments about LED spots are snobbish, such as

They are suitable for lighting a spot, such as an actor's face, or an objet d'art, in a dark space. Is that what you have in mind?

C’mon, surely we all know the phrase builder’s pox? When a house is smothered in the damn things

Spotlights = cheap and nasty. Only acceptable in bathrooms

I imagine most of us 'like aesthetics'. My point is that there's nothing intrisically more stylish, fashionable, aesthetic, classy, etc about having lighting that matches the age of your house. It all comes down to personal preference.

I have them in a Victorian house in certain functional rooms: kitchen, bathroom etc. I'm not convinced it would enhance other rooms such as the sitting or dining room even though I'm not a slave to period decor.

My 150 year old house I only had them I the hallway and bathrooms and kitchen. On dimmers in the hallway.
In bedrooms and livingroom and dining room I had central pendant lights (from ikea), plus wall lights either side of bed, and lamps inviting room.

Only in certain spaces. We have some in our kitchen, but use the ambient pendants more often, and in our bathrooms. We also have some in our hallway because the way the stairs go and an upstairs roof light make positioning pendants difficult. I do not like the trend for led spots in living rooms etc. It will really date a property.

If you love them maybe in a kitchen. I'd accept it in bathrooms at a push.

Anywhere else be like the grange hill kids and just say no. There are just so many better lighting options available.

My general feeling is that for fixtures and fittings you can have anything you like that is either the same period or more modern than the house. But older is not good, classic horrible example is the 'Adams style' fireplace you see in new builds (although a high end architect designed house may get away with old fixtures and fittings so even that rule is breakable). Anything moveable, like furniture or rugs or accessories can be any age or style you like.

Builder's pox is called that because of the tendency of builders to put them in a grid pattern in every room in the house. Better to have variety and spotlights where you need their function and other light styles when they are more functional.