Lighting

[BlackAlys]

The digger has arrived to start on foundations and our builder has sent his electrician to see us. I'm panicking a bit as I have a rough idea but was hoping for walls to be built and for my to plan things a bit more in depth, before making this decision.

My question is, have you opted for spotlights or a light fitting at centre?
I'd like spots in the toilet and bathrooms, utility, my office and the piano room (the last 2 are in the back of the me cottage and we back onto a high bank and steep hill so it's quite dark.

Do I have spots everywhere?!
How do I start thinking about electrical points?!

Where do I start??!

Living and bedrooms are better with a pendant light and lamps and bedside lights. Make these rooms dimmable too. You could have recessed lighting, but if it's a cottage I wouldn't, but spots in rooms you need bright light (like your kitchen etc) is a good idea. Think of lights in other rooms as layered - you can change the feel and atmosphere by how many and how bright you have them.
As for sockets, imagine yourself in each room. Where are you plugging in those lamps? Where is your computer, TV, Sky box, stereo going? Where do you charge your phone? Lights for Christmas tree? Get USB sockets where you might use your laptop and phone. At the least a double socket each side of beds and a double socket in each other wall. Don't forget sockets in hallways for vacuum cleaner.
For kitchens think where your white goods are going. Where your toaster/kettle/microwave/radio will sit. Where would you plug in a blender?
Just imagine how you use the rooms, picture your activities and put in light source and electrical points accordingly.

This was one of my nightmares when we did our building work. We opted for downlights (spotlights) in the lounge, extension (kitchen-diner), downstairs WC, bathrooms, office, hallway, landings. Basically in any room that we wanted to be bright. We have normal pendants in all other rooms (bedrooms, snug) as we want a cosier, more homely feel. You can actually have downlights AND pendants, but it might feel OTT. In our kitchen-diner extension we have three wall lights and three pendants over the island, in addition to the downlights, but they are on different routers so we can have some on and some off or all on/off.
we went from room to room and drew onto the floor plans where we thought we'd want them. Put in more than you think you need. We went for a double socket in every corner of every room and extras where we thought we might want table lamps/TV and of course sockets either side of each bed. In my experience, unless you actually physically draw the socket shape on the wall exactly where you want it, the electrician will just put them in where suits them best, as long as it is vaguely where you want them. We learned the hard way and now we have sockets behind beds that are inaccessible. Think carefully where you want sockets in relation to furniture and make sure the sockets will be accessible. Also think about if you want some USB sockets. They are more expensive, but maybe worth it in some locations. We have a few dotted about in places where we tend to want to charge our phones (in the kitchen, by the sofa, by the bed).

Good luck!

Thank you. This has given me loads to think about - really grateful.