Lighting Design Company

[Weegaz]

Hi All,

 

Has anyone ever employed a lighting design company for their internal lighting?

 

We don't really want to go with standard spot lights in our new build and I remember at one of the shows getting a leaflet for a company in Belfast that will do a design for us.

 

I just don't know if want to justify the expense versus getting the lighting right.

[jack]

I tried once.  We had a couple of specific areas where we wanted some ideas and help.  We took the guy through the house, showed him the problem areas, told him we were on a tight budget, and gave him links to our Pinterest light boards.

 

He came back after two weeks with £9000 worth of light fittings for one of the areas.  It was very nice.  

 

I never contacted him again, and he, quite wisely I thought, didn't pursue us for part of the few hundred quid he'd suggested the whole process would cost.

 

I don't doubt that working with the right lighting person would be absolutely awesome.  The problem is getting someone who can do something interesting without immediately reaching for coloured LED strips in cove lighting (fair play to you if that's what you like - it's clearly very popular - it just isn't my cup of lapsang souchong).

 

One thing we've done in some of the public areas of our house is use wall lighters.  We found some modest, relatively reasonably priced lamps that provide enough light to see by while giving, we think, some atmosphere.  

 

The other thing is to consider using 5 amp circuits and/or home automation to easily allow the use of secondary lighting such as lamps and wall lights.  Personally, at night the last thing I want on is downlights, so in our house, they're secondary lighting in most rooms!

[joe90]

I always use 5amp sockets around a lounge wired back to a wall switch or two to enable standard or table lamps to be switched on when entering the room . Simple and very effective.

[reddal]

Hi,

 

We did most of the lighting design ourselves - but did get a lighting design company to come in and give us some advice on some tricky bits. They came up with some good ideas and it was well worth the modest cost of getting them in. We then bought some of the fittings from them - which were quite a bit more expensive than the cheapo stuff we were sourcing - but turned out to be much better. If I was doing it again I would probably get them involved earlier and more extensively.

 

- reddal

[Stones]

When we built our last house, we went into a lighting shop that had an in=house design team.  After explaining what we were thinking of, we were taken through to meet the design team.  On the way through, the lady casually asked what we were thinking in terms of budget.  We never made it into the design teams office, being gently steered away into the showroom (it being made obvious we didn't have enough money for a 'designed' solution!).  Despite this, we did actually try and order a light fitting from them, only to be told it had been discontinued.  I didn't go back...

[worldwidewebs]

5 hours ago, Weegaz said:

Hi All,

 

Has anyone ever employed a lighting design company for their internal lighting?

 

We don't really want to go with standard spot lights in our new build and I remember at one of the shows getting a leaflet for a company in Belfast that will do a design for us.

 

I just don't know if want to justify the expense versus getting the lighting right.

 

I'm getting a design done by EcoLED and should have it later this week. In reality, there is a lot more to it than just where to place lights but whether the cost is justifiable depends on whether you value good design or not. Give Guy a call and have a chat with him 

[Trw144]

I ve used a lighting designer - the cost of the design was nt too bad (£1200 or something) but you do end up spending more on fittings! I ve sourced some myself (Ecoled for quite a few) - and some via the lighting designer. We ve certainly spent more than we planned but that's because we d have just stuck in a load of recessed spotlights everywhere, but no have some really nice feature and mood lighting

[ProDave]

1 hour ago, Stones said:

When we built our last house, we went into a lighting shop that had an in=house design team.  After explaining what we were thinking of, we were taken through to meet the design team.  On the way through, the lady casually asked what we were thinking in terms of budget.  We never made it into the design teams office, being gently steered away into the showroom (it being made obvious we didn't have enough money for a 'designed' solution!).  Despite this, we did actually try and order a light fitting from them, only to be told it had been discontinued.  I didn't go back...

There's a lighting shop in Inverness that has lots of posh light fittings, but every one seems to have an extra 0 stuck on the end.  We did buy one fitting from there in their "bargain" corner, but everything else was simply over priced.
 

[Barney12]

6 hours ago, joe90 said:

I always use 5amp sockets around a lounge wired back to a wall switch or two to enable standard or table lamps to be switched on when entering the room . Simple and very effective.

 

+1 on the use of 5amp sockets for table and/or floor lamps.

Its something we have always done on our renovation projects in the past. 

Overhead lighting is just so severe.

If you can invest a small amount of money to implement a scene controller for principle rooms then you can achieve great results.

[Weegaz]

Good idea on the 5amp sockets, wife thinks fantastic idea.

 

i agree with comments that lighting can be a big factor with setting the mood of the house at certain times.

 

will have a look at EcoLED, thanks.

 

i want to bring some automation into it all as well, lighting only but

[ryder72]

I am working with a lighting designer. Not cheap and they tend to recommend specialist fittings.

 

I have seen her work on multiple projects and I have to say both the quality of her advise and the price/cost of the fittings are in a different league. Whether its worth it is a very personal opinion.

 

Based on experience elsewhere, LED GU10's are not the same thing as sealed units for quality manufacturers (I am not talking about JCC/Aurora/Halers).  

[Bitpipe]

Our electrician came up with a good lighting design for our house (which has a large open plan kitchen, dining & living area) based on ceiling LEDs (on dimmers), wall lighters, LED strips and lots of switched 5a sockets.

 

Looks good, is flexible and did not cost much. He's equally comfortable installing high end lighting systems (KNX etc) but feels that (aside from colour changing) the same effect can be had at a fraction of the cost using standard fittings and a bit of thought.

[Alex C]

Its a tricky one as a good lighting designer is not going to be cheap and will generally specify more expensive fittings. I have used them a lot for commercial work such as retail design and restaurants, but generally do it myself for domestic, unless a client has a massive budget. As has been mentioned above mixing up lighting types is a really good approach. Maybe downlighters that are dimmable for general lighting and then 5amp circuits and spend you money on some really nice floor standing feature lighting and task lights. You can then take this away with you if you move house. I spent £800 years ago on on an Arco floor lamp (which are now over £1200), but it was money well spent for me as it looks fantastic and has been to 3 different houses with me. Dont make the mistake of putting a grid of downlights in a large open plan space. It is much better to think about what you will want to illuminate such as pictures on walls and place areas or lines of them accordingly. I generally don't bother putting rows of downlights in front of full height glazing as it just reflects horribly off the glass . It is much more effective to put lights where they will shine on walls and then the light into the room is reflected from then rather than direct. Dont just rely on recessed downlights in a bathroom as they cast shadows on your face when you look in the mirror and are not flattering.

[Bitpipe]

3 hours ago, Alex C said:

Dont just rely on recessed downlights in a bathroom as they cast shadows on your face when you look in the mirror and are not flattering.

 

We have a bulk head running through each bathroom and decided to line either side with appropriate temp white LED strips through a diffuser - has worked really well and we decided to treat the rooms in room the same, building a small bulkhead at the apex vs a deeper one to take recessed lights.

 

Our ceiling LEDs are also on a pivot which allows them to wash the wall, rather then straight down. 

[Weegaz]

41 minutes ago, Bitpipe said:

 

We have a bulk head running through each bathroom and decided to line either side with appropriate temp white LED strips through a diffuser - has worked really well and we decided to treat the rooms in room the same, building a small bulkhead at the apex vs a deeper one to take recessed lights.

 

Our ceiling LEDs are also on a pivot which allows them to wash the wall, rather then straight down. 

 

I have been looking at the strip LED's recessed into the wall just this morning and using the diffuser.  I really like the idea and with design input could create a really nice feel and features.

[Stones]

We rarely use ceiling lights in our main living rooms and bedrooms, favouring table and floor standing lamps.  Consequently we are going for a 5amp circuit in the main living area, as this seems a great (and cheap) way to facilitate an interesting lighting scheme. Kitchen will have LED downlights.  Still undecided about what to do in the bathrooms...

[Nickfromwales]

If i put the main light on in the living room I get things chucked at me. Table and wall for us ( her ). 

[Trw144]

9 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

If i put the main light on in the living room I get things chucked at me. Table and wall for us ( her ). 

 

Your not that scary to look at are you?

[Nickfromwales]

 

[JohnW]

HI @Weegaz, I was reading this thread and just wondering if you decided to go with a lighting designer and if so, what was the outcome?

 

[Steptoe]

For my tuppence worth, if you are unwilling to spend upwards of £5k + the designers cost , for 'normal' not automated lighting, don't go for a lighting designer.

How many of you have got interior designers in to design your furniture for you,?

May also be a good idea to note their disclaimers,,,,,,

Bit like surveyors, they take absolutely no responsibility if it turns out shit.

 

The only time I have ever found their designs are any use have been in commercial/industrial situations where they will warranty what they design will meet statutory requirements.

And that's a totally different sort of designer, a domestic lighting designer is merely charging you a lot of money to tell you where they would put the lights if it was their house, imo. 

 

[SteamyTea]

5 hours ago, Steptoe said:

The only time I have ever found their designs are any use have been in commercial/industrial situations where they will warranty what they design will meet statutory requirements.

And that's a totally different sort of designer, a domestic lighting designer is merely charging you a lot of money to tell you where they would put the lights if it was their house, imo. 

I worked for a large light manufacturer once, mainly industrial stuff.  Had to deal with lighting designers quite often.  The industrial side was OK, they generally wanted loads of controlled lighting.

The domestic ones where just a shower, kids that liked to play and make up words to describe it.

[Weegaz]

On 10/02/2017 at 23:16, JohnW said:

HI @Weegaz, I was reading this thread and just wondering if you decided to go with a lighting designer and if so, what was the outcome?

 

 

Hi John, no, we've went ahead with our electricians ideas and ideas we've picked up from website such as Pinterest and Houzz.

 

We have a friend who's an interior designer who's helping with tiles, kitchen, furniture etc she also is giving input into design.

 

I don't want blinding lights when the switch is flicked so using a lot of 5amp switches as above comments and using different circuits for differnet lights which will hopefully work.

 

we are still at first fix so it'll be a few weeks yet before we know the outcome.

[JohnW]

5 hours ago, Weegaz said:

 

Hi John, no, we've went ahead with our electricians ideas and ideas we've picked up from website such as Pinterest and Houzz.

 

We have a friend who's an interior designer who's helping with tiles, kitchen, furniture etc she also is giving input into design.

 

I don't want blinding lights when the switch is flicked so using a lot of 5amp switches as above comments and using different circuits for differnet lights which will hopefully work.

 

we are still at first fix so it'll be a few weeks yet before we know the outcome.

Thanks @Weegaz

[lizzie]

I am going to use a lighting designer. Had first (free) meeting, liked what they said.  Cost is 1700 for the full scheme and we can buy fittings from them or not as we choose.