A light fitting or not?

[JoceAndChris]

We're starting on the main bedroom this weekend. I'm getting slightly cold feet over our former plan to hack through the reed ceiling and put in a ceiling rose and chandelier, partly because I'm worried about damaging the ceiling, and partly because I don't know that it would look right. You see in the photo that the ceiling has sags and cracks, but they're not too bad.

There is no light in the bedroom currently, though there are a couple of electric sockets.

Wall lights are something of a nuisance as that bit of wall then becomes unusable. The room has to accommodate a wardrobe, a mirror above the fireplace, and full-length silk curtains which will sit well back from the window (they're made so can't change that).

What do people think would be appropriate?

Also, I'm pretty certain it's lime plaster all over painted with modern suffocating paint- is it worth stripping that off? Damp readings on those meter things are reasonably high, but there's no mould or silverfish here.

My dad found the old shutters in the shed, restored them, made a new section and refitted them:

And could someone please tell me why the door has two panels on one side and four on the other?

Again, thanks to all for the knowledge and caring.

 

[Feltwell]

I just think you need to train that cat to open doors.

He clearly thinks running into them at high speed to produce a Tom & Jerry style hole is more fun.

 

[JoceAndChris]

He has learned how to open doors, now. (too late)

But before the cat-shaped holes he used to mew pitifully. We left the bedroom window open last summer, but he was just a bit too heavy to fling himself 6 feet from the ground: we'd hear his claws repeatedly raking down the wall as his leaps failed over and over, it was heart-breaking. So we made the holes.

These holes are regrettable, particularly as I regularly find mysterious cats have wandered in. (I put a lot of cat-food out for the hedgehogs, so the garden is a magnet for all and sundry).

At least we don't have traditional mice-arches in the skirtings, we did in the last place.

 

[JoceAndChris]

And anyway, better people than me have defaced lovelier objects in deference to their cats.

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999996&workid=14756

 

[Feltwell]

Ohh dear, I didn't mean to set off pangs of guilt! Just trying to be amusing (and clearly failing).

We've all done things to our houses that we later regret. I had the leaky roof replaced in a hurry when we moved in, as it was past redemption, plus the house was freezing and we had very young kids. However I used concrete tiles - same style & colour as the originals, but they were clay - the new ones look OK on the main roof which is 3 storeys up, but on the single storey section at the back, up close they look rather false.

They will weather down eventually but the old addage of act in haste and repent at leisure applies here.

 

[Feltwell]

Also, I'm pretty certain it's lime plaster all over painted with modern suffocating paint- is it worth stripping that off? Damp readings on those meter things are reasonably high, but there's no mould or silverfish here.

Shouldn't really matter on the ceiling, it's only external walls that need to be breathable. Damp meters are notoriously inaccurate.

If you want ceiling lights you don't necessarily need to do much damage to your ceiling. You don't mention what access is like to the top of the ceiling - if a loft then it's easy, but even if access is tight you can often get way with feeding cables without disturbing much of the plaster. You can feed cables quite long distances using rods like these:-

http://www.screwfix.com/cats/A235328/Hand-Tools/Cable-Access

If you're struggling to pull cables through with them sometimes you can have more success by using them to feed through string, then attach the string to your cable and pull the cable through. Top tip if you're ever likely to need to pull more through the same route is attach more string to the cable as you're pulling it through, then leave the string in place (this is standard practice for cable ducts in civil engineering, except they use rope!)

If you're careful the only disturbance to the ceiling need be the hole where the cable comes through to the ceiling rose, and a couple of screw holes for the rose itself.

Having said that, when you say ceiling rose do you mean a large plaster rose or something more like this (but no doubt considerably nicer??)

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/17758...ockets/White-Moulded/MK-Range/MK-Ceiling-Rose

 

[JoceAndChris]

Ohh dear, I didn't mean to set off pangs of guilt! Just trying to be amusing (and clearly failing)

No no you did amuse very much, if I sounded terse in my reply it's only because I had just got back from a driving lesson where the instructor had to grab the wheel 3 times and told me we are going to have to put the test off for some time.

I'm sorry to hear about your roof, it's not always possible to get things perfect is it? And it's all such a huge learning curve. Completely understand that you needed to move quickly for the children.

Anyway, thanks so much for the advice, particularly re wiring, though the official version is of course that it won't be a DIY job. And what a relief not to have to strip paint from the ceiling! But perhaps I should strip it off the exterior wall?

Access from above is easy - via the loft. I take your point about it not being too destructive to the reed ceiling, but it's not just cutting the hole in the ceiling, presumably we're going to have to carve a large channel through the wall and along the wall for a switch? The back wall of the bedroom adjoins the lean to where the main electrical stuff is- what do you call those boxes?- this wall is very thick indeed so if we take the electricity from there it's going to involve a fair amount of drilling.

When I said ceiling rose I meant this kind of thing:

http://www.bondsplastermouldings.co...ceiling_roses_centres_450mm___600_mm_diameter

And as there is no coving at all, I want some of this:

http://www.bondsplastermouldings.co.uk/section.php/227/1/floral_style_cornice_coving

Is it wrong?

 

[Schoolmarm]

Bedside lamps would be a far better choice.

 

[Anita]

Or freestanding uplighters that plug in - and can be moved to whererver you want light. Only restricted by the number of sockets that you have. (Not a problem in our house as my O/H has a fetish for plug sockets)!

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I agree with 'Marm - lamps are much nicer - a softer and more controllable light.

However if you are stuck on the chandelier (careful swinging off it in the bedroom!), then you could always run the cable above the ceiling and into the "lean-to", down the lean-to wall and drill through into the bedroom to come in behind where you want the socket to be. That should be invisible as far as the bedroom goes.

It sounds like the box-thingies are called "consumer units" (wot used to be called the "fuse box") - sadly Part P of the building regs says you can't go within 50 feet of your consumer unit these days unless you have a PhD. in electrical engineering. That is of course if you tell them.... :twisted: ... We have John Prescott to thank for this - ironic given his level of educational attainment.

 

[Feltwell]

Is it wrong?

No, it's down to what you like. Would the house have had anything like that originally? Mine definitely wouldn't have had in the bedrooms, cornice and ceiling roses reserved for the reception rooms only. But my house is from a completely different era to yours!

I'm with people on the "lamps are nicer" front, but it's also good to be able to walk into the room and just turn the light on.

 

[chuckey]

Uplighters are OK except for when you want to poke about in the deeper recesses of your wardrobes :lol: .
For fixing light fittings to a ceiling, mark out the position (centrally wrt to fire place?). Drill a small hole through ceiling and push a long bit of coat hanger or suchlike through. Go to top side, locate coathanger, mark joists with a bit of tape, old brick, WHY, then measure gap between the joists adjacent to the coat hanger. Cut a piece of board (floor or chip), 6mm narrower, and nail on to each end an piece of hardboard (width of board X 4" high). Go back to the top and centralize the board over your ceiling hole and nail through the hardboard into the sides of the joist, making sure that the board is as low as possible against the L&P or PB or reeds. Now you have a decent fixing point the only problem is that you have to use long screws, but its safer then splitting laths or only fixing into loose plaster.
Frank

 

[Flyfisher]

I'm with people on the "lamps are nicer" front, but it's also good to be able to walk into the room and just turn the light on.

There are various 'remote control' options that would allow bedside lights to be switched on from a switch near the door. Some (e.g. X-10) have the advantage of using the existing mains wiring, which can mean no disruptive works - a big advantage in a period property.

 

[JoceAndChris]

No, it's down to what you like.

I'm going to have to type fast as curfew kicks in at 10.30; thank so much for the response!
Of course this is my favourite answer, but it is important to try to assess what's appropriate for where we live and not shove in marble and stained glass just because we like it...

I understand completely what you mean about soft, pretty bedside lamps but this has meant a whole winter of mis-matched socks and no make-up.

It is hard to fumble through a dark room too! And a chandelier would, of course be on a dimmer switch with lamps supplementary.

 

[DaveBrigg]

A great lateral thinking puzzle. The answer is obvious.

main bedroom... the ceiling has sags and cracks...
Wall lights are something of a nuisance as that bit of wall then becomes unusable... The room has to accommodate a mirror...
What do people think would be appropriate?

Put the mirror on the ceiling. No more visible sags and cracks (well, not in the ceiling anyway...) and a spare space becomes available for the wall lights. Sorted. You could even put your make-up on in bed.

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol:

A* Dave.

 

[Moo]

it's also good to be able to walk into the room and just turn the light on.

We were completely re-wired about ten years ago and had separate points (on their own circuit) installed, alongside the power sockets in every room. This has meant that we can plug in lamps wherever we wish and they're all switched on from the door.
(This is probably exactly the same as the system Fly has described, but I don't understand all his expert technical talk!)

 

[Feltwell]

We were completely re-wired about ten years ago and had separate points (on their own circuit) installed, alongside the power sockets in every room. This has meant that we can plug in lamps wherever we wish and they're all switched on from the door.
(This is probably exactly the same as the system Fly has described, but I don't understand all his expert technical talk!)

Interesting way of doing it. Sounds rather like what hotels often have - it's always puzzled me why hotels seem to have a complete aversion to any kind of light on the ceiling, they nearly always only have wall lamps, desk lamps and bedside lamps. Ease of maintenance to change bulbs?

 

[Cloudscape]

We've got the same thing in two rooms - a separate 5-amp circuit for table lamps, with a socket by every normal power socket. I was surprised when the electrician installed the sockets for the lamps - they are the two-pin kind. I didn't realize that those are still used. It means I am progressively changing lamp plugs :| , but being able to switch all the lamps on works really nicely.

 

[JoceAndChris]

It sounds really convenient, but also involving more drilling out of the lime plaster- and then re filling, but perhaps worth the effort?