Light up my life

The lights are on, the heating works, there is clear water running from the taps and I have stairs instead of a hole in the ceiling. Bring on the 10 day count down. 

Today: lights.

After a grand total of 56 hours of painting so far and still going, I'm still smiling because I can finally see some proper progress. Our electrician finished last week - the last few days of that were painful to say the least but we finally got through it without being too ripped off. Message me if you want details of pitfalls and a recommendation of a great person to work with too. I'm always happy to help.

What we had to do: 

Rewire the house the whole way through to make it safe to actually live in.

Put in a new thermostat

Put in an extractor fan in the bathroom

Put in new switches throughout the house

Put spot lights into the living room and the kitchen

Put lights on the roof terrace and add an outdoor socket for partaaays

Add wall lights through the living room

Put under unit lighting into the kitchen 

It turns out I have rather expensive taste in lights - who knew? I browsed the usual sites for hours only to find myself emailing a particularly interiors obsessed friend with a shortlist of things I thought 'weren't hideous'. After she replied informing me that I was in fact incorrect and they were hideous afterall, I gave up on these and started looking further afield. 

A long Pinterest session later, and I knew that what I really loved was antique 30s French factory lights.  What I also knew was that unless you get super lucky, these cost you approximately £250 a pop. So then I started making my own luck on Ebay...

I'm not going to lie. This was a painstakingly long process during which I may have been slightly unbearable. However I came away with a mix and match pair of swan necks with green enamel shades in very different states of restoration. These had to be rewired and fitted but actually look lovely together.

I later found my third, which was to sit on a different wall. This one is smaller so no one knocks their head as they go between the kitchen and the garden but has the same green enamel shade and a distinctive gold swan neck fixture. Lovely... 

To complete the living room, we needed something that would go at the base of the stairs. Rather than getting another of the same kind, I went for the same period and goose neck style but with an exposed bulb. This points up the stairwell and just kind of makes sense in the space, despite being different to the others. It will also cast a light the whole way upstairs when they're not on at night, which is helpful as you can turn it off again from the landing. 

The picture of it in situ is at the top of this post. Here's the one from the listing I bought it on. In total I spent about £30-£40 per light - far, far less than was being asked by professional sellers. The gold baby one was only £8 however which massively brought down the average price!

For the upstairs I needed pendant lights that would go with the overall effect of downstairs. I fell in love with many super expensive bell jar lights until I finally found the exact same shape, but with thicker glass (a nicer effect) from Japan. I snapped up this bargain immediately and then fell in love with this more cutesy version for the bedroom. Well, when you're paying for something to be imported from Japan, you may as well get more than one eh. 

 

Bell jar light here, bird light here

Bathroom lights come in especially hideous form, so it took me ages to not find this one. I sent my mum  a shortlist and she replied with these which she found herself on Amazon - thanks mum. I then had to find something that would look nice with them for the ceiling and which met Zone 1 and 2 bathroom light regulations (near the shower means zone 1.) The solution was simple and pleasing and I was done!

Find the Amazon light here and the Endon light here

Please excuse the hideous walls - they are freshly plastered though are slowly starting to be painted. It's a pleasure doing it with the lights actually on. Check out how bright my spotlights are in the kitchen!

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