Belinda

Reading can be one of life’s great pleasures. It provides an opportunity to escape your lived experience and explore endless lives, worlds, and adventures. But whether you’re doing it for business or pleasure, reading with the wrong lighting is not only uncomfortable, but can cause a range of health problems. Including headaches and eye strain. Which is why good reading lights are a great investment for your home. But how do you choose the right reading light for you?

Picture lights are one of the most underused and most undervalued lighting solutions. And yet they hold so much potential for a home and can be used in a variety of ways. Bringing defined focus to specific features, they can transform humdrum corners of your home while improving practicality. Beautifully and subtly. So, let’s have a look at how you can make the most of these elegant fixtures.

It’s been a couple of really difficult years, financially. Almost all of us are feeling the pinch. And that can mean that doing even little things to improve or refresh your home can feel like an unnecessary extravagance. But if you’re a savvy shopper, you’ll know that clearance sections can be the best place to find a beautiful bargain that doesn’t break the budget.

Bedside lighting is really important. And yet too many of us are content to buy a cheap Anglepoise lamp and make the best of the situation. Which is a shame. Because, with a little thought, the right lighting can transform your bedroom into a space that is both fully functional and entirely restful.

Our outdoor spaces are never more important than in the summer months. Whether you’re throwing open your balcony doors to let the sultry air flow through or lingering in the garden after dark to enjoy the peace and solitude. But whatever outdoor spaces you have and however you use them, one thing is for certain: the right kind of lighting can be transformative.

Sometimes, it’s the simple things that make the biggest statements. And this year in bathrooms, if you’re not going big and bold with scenic colourscapes and decorative lighting, simplicity is the order of the season. Clean lines. Smooth shapes. And monochrome colouring. And Astro Lighting’s ‘Matt Black’ series fits right in.

Ceiling fans haven’t been a commonality in the UK. You occasionally find them in holiday homes and similar types of property. But they’re not a standard feature in your average two-bed semi… yet. We think that is about to change. And you might be surprised by some of the reasons why.

If you work from home, you probably don’t need us to tell you how important it can be to get the right home office lighting. It can impact not only how comfortable you are when you work. But how you work. How long you can work for. And how you feel when you’re working. But why is this? And how can you find the right home office lighting solution for your needs?

The way we light our outdoor spaces not only influences the way we use them, but also the way we see them. With the right outdoor lighting, an otherwise darkened house can become welcoming. A sinister sideway can become a useful space. A foreboding nocturnal garden can become friendly, as a light is shone on all those noises in the dark. And a well-chosen patio light can guide us home.

Light fittings are pretty much standardised these days. Since 1998, all new-build houses have had to be constructed with earthed lighting circuits. And the same applies to any homes that have been rewired in the last 25 years. So, most lights produced today are designed to work with earthed circuitry. But what if you live in an older property? What if your wiring is 30 or 40 years old? Or older still? Well, that’s where double insulated lights come in.