Does anyone know anything about Lighting?

[Telemichus]

Getting an attic room redone - it currently has fluorescent strip lights in which need to come out.
I know spotlights are traditional for this type of room, but we dislike them for a variety of reasons.
how do I choose lights? Is there good advice anywhere online? I don’t think we can afford a lighting consultant.
any fittings need to be either flush or very low profile as ceiling is low.
I have seen panel lights, but they don’t look as if they would give a nice light, any experience?
there is one smallish velux window.
it needs a light above the dark stairway.

Posted too soon - any thoughts or experience welcome

Have a look at zangra.com - it's Belgian but I believe they deliver everywhere. They have a a lot of minimalist and in my opinion pretty surface mounted spot lights.

Thank you!

Look at Dunelm as well quite affordable for lighting and they mimic Pooky who make, in my opinion, lovely lights.

Wall lights are good in low ceilinged rooms. And plug in lamps. You don't have to have overhead lighting at all.

To light the dark stairway you could do a run of LEDs on the skirting, or I've seen it hidden with rails too.

That’s an idea I hadn’t thought of. Back to the drawing board.

I would second the suggestion of wall lights and lamps, and we also have one ceiling light like this that is very bright. It really only gets used when I am cleaning or vacuuming as gentle lighting hides a multitude of sins. 😁

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07V1ZM69S?

I had thought about this, have you ever seen IRL? I sometimes think in pictures you’d have to have the placing just so, or it might make them more confusing.
I do think it needs an overhead as well.

@IDareSay I am cleaning in todays bright sunshine for that exact reason lol!

What is the room being used for? A bedroom, guest room, office, gym, playroom, storage? What kind of lighting do you need? Wall lights and lamps would be a good solution but if you need an even bright light, it is worth having a central light too (controlled separately).

I would put in Phillips hue colour lighting. I did my whole flat with this. Not flush to the wall but I put on walls. Spotlights with a multitude of settings. I’m doing a remodel and rewire and will be installing them again

Yes, I did it once tucked inside a picture rail in a bedroom, it looked really nice. I have also seen coving placed a little lower and a top light tucked inside which gave a lot of light with a nice upright effect

If you are rewiring I really recommend putting in some lamp sockets (5 amp 3 pin) which are wired to the main light switch. That way the lamps come on & off with the big switch & you don’t have to go round turning them all on and off individually. You could have two switches one for overhead/wall and one for lamps.

I also recommend dimmers - you need trailing edge dimmers to work with LEDs but your electrician should know this anyway.

Agree no need for downlighters if you are happy with wall lights or flush. But figure out furniture placement first as you don’t want to stick a wall light where a wardrobe needs to go. Flush mounted ceiling lights are having a comeback, Pooky has some nice ones.

Bear in mind many wall lights are not designed to give much light into the room, they are more up or downwards or throw light back onto the wall - choose ones with glass shades if you want more light.

I like houseof, lights & lamps, Pooky, La Redoute, Corston for light fittings

This is the detail I need! It’s knowing what you need to think about & I find it really hard to visualise things.
fortunately the electrician has rescheduled which gives me a bit more time to think.
Its going to be a bedroom / playroom at least short term. I will look at the Phillips hue, my experience of spotlights is,it doesn’t matter how you angle them, somehow they always shine in your eye 😑

The Hue are dimmable and we didn’t have them in eyes but I know what you mean you can angle them etc. I’m a big fan as you can see

For me there are three things that make downlights not glarey:

1. choose a fitting where the bulb is properly recessed
2. 2700k (“very warm white”) light bulbs. Ideally with a high CRI (good colour representation ie colours look like they are meant to)
3. dimmer switch for times when you want the light softer

We have the Enlite Aurora here - see how far up the bulb sits, that’s what I mean by properly recessed

these are also very recessed although not angleable