A Contemporary New Build in Bowdon
A contemporary new build in Bowdon, designed and delivered in twelve weeks after the clients' house sold in a fortnight.
Lighting is usually the last thing chosen and the first thing noticed. Most rooms need three or four kinds of light doing different jobs: ambient, task, accent, and something decorative. Getting that balance right matters more than any single fitting.
We keep a working selection lit in the showroom and order the rest in from catalogues. Seeing a fitting lit, at the height it will hang, tells you more in a minute than an afternoon of browsing.
Lighting schemes are designed alongside the rest of the room rather than bolted on at the end, and for fitted work the wiring is planned with the joinery.
A selection of past work
The heights nobody gets right
A pendant over a dining table hangs roughly 75 to 90cm above the tabletop: low enough to light the table, high enough to see across. Over a kitchen island the same range applies, and a run of three small pendants usually looks better than one large one unless the island is short.
Wall lights sit at about 1.5 to 1.7m from the floor in a living room, lower than most people fit them. In a hallway they can go higher. Picture lights are set to the top of the frame and angled at the picture, not at the wall below it.
Dimming, and the colour of the light
Everything that can be dimmed should be. A room with three lighting circuits and no dimmers has three settings; the same room with dimmers has hundreds, and it is the cheapest improvement available.
Colour temperature matters just as much. Warm white around 2700K suits living rooms and bedrooms; anything cooler starts to feel clinical in a domestic room. The important thing is consistency: several lamps at different temperatures in one room is what makes lighting look accidental. Check that dimmable LED lamps warm as they dim rather than staying cold.
Seeing it in person
The showroom is at York House on Vicarage Lane in Bowdon, open Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm. An appointment helps but is not necessary. It is a retail showroom and you are welcome to walk in.
Questions we get asked
Do you supply the electrician?
No, we do not supply the trades. We specify the lighting and the positions, and work with your electrician so the circuits and the switching are right before the ceiling closes. If you do not have one, we can recommend a reputable electrician, decorator and other tradesmen we have worked with.
Can you help if the lighting is already installed?
Yes. Table and floor lamps, shades, dimmers and lamp choice can transform a room that has already been wired.
Are the fittings available to buy on their own?
Yes. Lighting is ordered in to suit the room and does not require a full design project.
Lighting in finished projects
Where the light is the feature: hand-blown glass in a double-height hall, and hand-made glass leaves above a bed.
A Teenage Bedroom in Knutsford
A teenager's bedroom in Knutsford with hand-made glass leaves above the bed, designed to become a guest room later.
Lights from the ranges we carry
Pendants, chandeliers and wall lights we can order in, beyond what is hanging in the showroom. Sizes and drops are made to the room, and a stairwell or a double-height hall is measured before anything is ordered.
