Let there be light
Lighting can make your house appear bigger, fresher and decidedly more chic, as well as add value. Here, Sally Storey, design director of upmarket lighting store John Cullen, shares some of her top trade secrets:
Light up your best features, such as a good fireplace, by installing tiny uplights either side. It provides a focus to a room even when the fire is not lit.
Make your kitchen look contemporary while also saving money by installing hidden fluorescent lights at the top of the units. These bounce an attractive light off the ceiling and cost little to run. It is a trick used by many of the most expensive kitchen designers.
If you want to make a room such as the sitting room look bigger, put an uplighter in the corner. It will pool light on the ceiling and increase the feeling of space.
Achieve a contemporary look by replacing table lamps with recessed light strips, or horizon lights, at the back of a long bench built along a wall. Cover with frosted glass for a wonderful, soft light.
The underside of stairs is always dark, but you can increase the feeling of space in your hall with clever lighting. One solution is to conceal a light behind a batten four inches away from the wall and painted in the same colour. This creates a lovely, soft light. Uplighters in wall recesses create a dramatic look.
Put uplighters on the top of cupboards or tall chests to silhouette objects or create a secondary source of light in, say, a bedroom where bedside lights are insufficient.
If you are extending into a new basement, lure people down there with the most fantastically lit staircase. LED lights sunk into the walls alongside the stairs can work wonderfully.
Obscure an ugly view by planting up a window box, with fake plants if necessary, and position a light outside above the window. At night, this will increase the feeling of space inside as the eye is drawn out, as well as providing something attractive to look at.
Place a downlighter or other light source directly over the dining table to create pocket lighting. It looks really dramatic.
Instead of putting downlighters over a shower, particularly in a room with high ceilings, put smart stainless steel external lights just above the tiles.
Mirrors can help make the most of the light in a room. Open up dark rooms and areas with floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Or find appropriate salvage (large overmantels, paned windows, great picture frames) and add mirror panels to them. Otherwise consider buying an old mirror and repainting the frame the same colour as the walls.
Nothing beats the glow of a real fire. Installing a fireplace in your home will add both warmth and value. Flamewave Fires offer a range of traditional or contemporary woodburning stoves, coal and gas burning fires and stoves.
Hang crystals on fishing wire at the windows to catch the sunshine and send it dancing in rainbows round the room. Inexpensive, but so effective.