BEFORE YOU PUT YOUR HOME ON THE MARKET:<\/strong><\/p>\n Whilst you look around your home, you may do so with a mist of ‘rose tinted glasses’ as the finishing touches are what you once chose and placed with care. You will see memories in your minds’ eye, forming all around your possessions, filling your home with a rosy glow but potential buyers may just see a room in the shadow of its former glory. One of the things that buyers often desire for a new home, is a light and airy feel. Whilst you won’t be able to knock down some walls and add extra windows at this stage, it would be easy with the addition of a few table or floor lamps to spread the light into the corners of the room. This firstly makes it feel bigger and secondly, acts to give it the feeling of airy, light space – even if they are viewing in the evenings. It will also give them an idea about how they will use the space as it will offer task lighting. Ensure that these are lit too for daytime viewings as the weather may not decide to help at all times! Adding additional light to each and every room will only benefit the look and feel of the space to help get potential buyers to fall in love with your home.<\/p>\n Table lamps can really help add a cosy feel to a room and it’s easy to mix and match in different areas of a room.<\/p>\n The main thing about investing in floor or table lamps is that you will be able to take them with you when you move, so you are not wasting any money in using them in your current home. You can add them in any room that you need a little extra light, so they are always a useful and beautiful addition to your home. The lamps in the image above are hand-painted mouth-blown glass and add an interest and drama – as much so as a work of art! Lighting and lights offer hundreds of different types of table lamp in modern styles<\/a>, retro and vintage style lamps<\/a>\u00a0and a vast selection of table lamps to suit traditional homes too<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you’re struggling for surface space to position table lamps, you can always consider floor lamps as an additional source of light to your room<\/a>. Often slim in design, these will fit into corners and in between larger items of furniture for a seamless look. The image below really highlights how the use of light ensures a depth to the space, showing off any architectural features and stretching the eyes further to make a space feel so much bigger. Without the lamp positioned by the bookcase, you would automatically assume that it was a too small to do anything useful with, making it an awkward shaped room. With the accent light there, it could be a cosy snug, or have an additional chair for reading. Buyers will always see a good space as something they can use, if it’s wasted then they’ll start knocking pound signs from the asking price!<\/p>\n In addition to spreading the flood of illumination around your home, there are some other areas that should not be overlooked when it comes to your lighting. According to hugely successful online property portal, Rightmove, the second most important point in the top 10 tips to help sell your house, is “Your front door is the centrepiece of your kerb appeal so repaint it in a tasteful colour. Update the outside lights and put potted plants either side of the door.”. Many potential purchasers will check out the outside of the property before they even book a viewing, so it’s really worth ensuring that you are lighting your best asset at this crucial time. It’s worth ensuring that lights in rooms to the front of the house are left on during dark evenings too, so that your home shines a welcome when they drive past. It’s also worth considering positioning your house name or number in the wash of light so that you are easy to identify. There are loads of exterior lights to suit the outside of all homes from Lighting and Lights<\/a>, so make sure your buyers can find you in the dark.<\/p>\n On the subject of Rightmove, in the same article they refer to lighting on six occasions out of the ten points which highlights what an important consideration good lighting is when it comes to selling\u00a0 your home. Their next point, is about the entrance hall, “The entrance hall creates a first impression\u2026 make sure it is the right impression. Paint it in a neutral colour, remove any bulky furniture, upgrade the lighting and if you feel you need colour add it with accessories and a rug.”. If your buyers are wowed by your hallway, it sets the scene for the rest of the property, so make sure it sends out the right signals and banish any outdated lighting to loft (or the bin!). Lighting and Lights have another blog on how to add a wow factor to hallways which you can read here.<\/a><\/p>\n The next bit of advice is: “The wrong lighting can make your home feel dark and drab so install brighter modern lights to make your home seem sunny, cheerful and up to date.”. We wholeheartedly agree! One of the rooms that we feel can sometimes be overlooked is in the bathroom. They can be a bit boring in this room, but they don’t have to be! Take down any rusty or yellowing lights and dress your bathroom to impress!<\/p>\n For full and comprehensive bathroom lighting advise, read our complete bathroom lighting guide.<\/a><\/p>\n The final area that’s worthy of specific consideration is your garden. Many people will have to view your home in the evening, so by adding some lights to your garden you can still show your outside space to perfection. Lighting and Lights have some great tips on lighting your outside spaces that you can read here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once you have sold your home and you have decided on a property, you can really start thinking about your new home and your future lighting plan.\u00a0Lighting and Lights help you choose the best lights, <\/a>but there’s lots to do before you move in! We help to guide you through the things that you need to consider when moving home. So, we have put together a handy guide to help you ensure that whilst your lights now will of course, be perfect, you won\u2019t forget other tasks along the way.<\/p>\n WHEN YOU ACCEPT AN OFFER:<\/strong><\/p>\n You will need to plan your lighting for a new home, whether you are starting from scratch or if existing lights will be making the move with you. When starting to consider your lighting plan, one of the crucial points is whether you will have enough light in the room. Lights have always been a decorative feature, but nothing is worse than trying to relax in a room where the light levels are too bright or too dim. Lighting and Lights have put together a handy guide to help you work out how many lumens you will need as an approximation, based on the size of your new rooms. You can use this along with the number of lights and lamps you are looking to use, then share the lumens out accordingly to ensure that there is enough light.<\/p>\n So, you’ve now narrowed down how many lights you need, but it’s hard now to understand the scale of the lights that you need for your new home. You have probably only seen the rooms a couple of times each, so even those with a photographic memory will struggle to envisage a light on the ceiling and taking your time with a tape measure will be a luxury that you won’t have. However, you will have the room dimensions for each room from the agent and whilst it’s easy to envisage table lamps and floor lamps by measuring the furniture you’re taking with you, ceiling lights vary hugely and you will have little to compare it to. By using the guide below, you will see what light proportions will best suit the room size. It’s not an exact science, so if you want something discreet, err on the smaller side and if you are after a large statement light, be brave and maybe add on a few centimeters.<\/p>\n Another thing to consider is whether you need any special lighting requirements for your new home. One of the key factors is for homes built before 1970, where you may need to\u00a0use double insulated lighting<\/a>. A regulation was introduced then that ensured the installation of an earth wire in all new builds which has stayed in force to the present day. It’s not a problem if you have a home that was built before this time as some will have an earth cable anyway, but for those without, you will need to use double insulated (sometimes referred to as class 2 lighting) which has an extra layer of insulation which ensures that you will not get any nasty shocks if there is a little surge in electricity and it decides to try and use you as the earth! An electrician will easily be able to tell you whether an earth cable is present or not but double insulated lighting is safe to use in all homes, so if you’re in any doubt we’d recommend using these class 2 lights.<\/p>\n In their infancy, designs were predominantly made out of non-conductive materials, such as plastic or wood and therefore the designs and styles available were quite limited. Thankfully, with technological advances, you can now buy a huge variety of styles, materials and colours, some of which will include contemporary styles that utilise integral LEDs.<\/p>\n Another consideration for lighting is for the smallest rooms in the home – cloakrooms, en-suites and bathrooms. These spaces can sometimes be overlooked as a smaller proportion of time is spent in there, but equally, it’s second to none when you want a long soak, or some pamper time. When planning the space, the first thing to ensure is that all of your lighting has the correct ingress protection rating. All bathrooms will have ‘zones’ ranging from 0 to 3, so have a peek at our guide below to see what protection you will need:<\/p>\n Lights in bathrooms are rarely situated in zone 0, as these are submersed or in a location likely to be saturated along the water course, such as on the inside of a bath or shower. Ingress protection ratings are summarised as ‘IP’ followed by two numbers. The first relates to dust and particle protection and the second relates to the water protection In the case of zone 0, the second figure should be a 7, so for example IP57.<\/p>\n Zone 1 relates to the area directly above the bath or shower to a height of 2.25 metres above the level of the floor and it is recommended that a minimum of IP44 is used in this space.<\/p>\n Zone 2 relates to areas at least 60cm away from a water source and again, a minimum of IP44 lighting is advised here.<\/a><\/p>\n Zone 3 can sometimes be referred to as the ‘outside zone’ and sometimes, it is advised that IP20 light could be used here. At Lighting and Lights, we feel that condensation (such as from a long shower) could still easily affect this area and therefore we would still advise using IP44<\/a> in these areas too.<\/p>\n So by buying an IP44 rated light, you know that you will be safe for the main areas that lighting will be used. Many styles are available here too, so you can make a contemporary statement, add a bit of bling or add a sense of style to a period bathroom whilst ensuring that they meet the approved regulations.<\/p>\n Outdoor lights follow a similar pattern to the ingress protection and there are again, a whole host of styles available. Whether you’re after outdoor lights for a modern home, or traditional exterior lights for a period property, we have loads for you to choose from.<\/p>\n If you live within 5 miles of the coast, it’s well worth investing in outdoor lighting from one of our coastal ranges. Many outdoor lights will not be covered by the manufacturer guarantee if you’re near the sea due to the high corrosion salty air. Our specially designed ranges are perfect at minimising corrosion and damage to the light fitting. They’re still ideal to use in other locations too!<\/p>\n 4 WEEKS BEFORE YOU MOVE:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n 2 WEEKS BEFORE MOVING DAY:<\/p>\n A WEEK BEFORE MOVING DAY:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n THE DAY BEFORE MOVING DAY:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n MOVING DAY!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Lighting and Lights wish you the very best of luck with your house move!\u00a0Come and browse all of our lights to find the perfect one for your home.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lightingandlights.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Post-It-A-1024x362.jpg\")
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Now that you know the how much light you need in your home, how big your ceiling light should be we can now move on to how high, or how long a drop your ceiling light needs to be to best suit your ceiling height. Below in an approximate guide to help you ascertain what will look good – as a general rule of thumb, it’s ideal to have around 7 feet clearance between the floor and base of the ceiling height.<\/p>\n![\"What](\"https:\/\/www.lightingandlights.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Height-of-ceiling-for-Light-626x1024.jpg\")
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