Lighting Plan Help

Lighting is the one thing in a room you buy before you can see it. A chandelier that looked generous online arrives too small for the table. A driveway ends up with four bollards where seven were needed. Nobody sells you the measuring — so we do that part for free, by email, whether or not you buy anything.

Send us the room and we will write back with a specific answer: the size to look for, the height to hang it at, how many fixtures the space needs, and which of ours fit. If nothing we stock is right for what you are describing, we will say so and tell you what to search for instead.

What to send

Use the form below and include as much of this as you have. None of it is compulsory, but the more you give us, the more exact the answer.

• A photo of the space — a phone photo in daylight is perfect. If you reply to our email you can attach images there.
• The measurements that matter: for a room, the width and length and the ceiling height. For a dining light, the table's width and length. For a driveway or path, the run length in feet. For a post or pillar cap, the width of the post top.
• What the light needs to do — a statement piece over a table, task light over a worktop, safety along a path, washing a facade after dark.
• Your budget range, if you have one. It saves us both time and we will not push past it.
• Whether power is already there — for outdoor work this is the deciding question. If there is no cable run to the spot, solar is usually the honest answer and we will tell you that even though the hardwired fixtures cost more.

The rules we will apply

These are the standard sizing conventions used in lighting specification. We are publishing them here because you may not need us at all.

Over a dining table

The fixture's diameter should be roughly half to two-thirds the width of the table — a 40-inch-wide table takes a 20 to 26 inch fixture. Hang the bottom of it 30 to 36 inches above the tabletop with an 8-foot ceiling, and add about 3 inches of height for every additional foot of ceiling. For a long rectangular table, a linear suspension almost always reads better than a single round fixture.

In an entry or stairwell

Keep the bottom of the fixture at least 7 feet above the floor where people walk. In a two-storey entry, hang it so it sits in the middle third of the window when seen from outside. For a stairwell, the light should be visible from both the bottom and the top of the flight.

Wall lights beside a door

Centre a single sconce about 66 to 72 inches above the threshold — roughly eye height. For a pair flanking a garage or double door, size each fixture to about one third the height of the door, which is usually larger than people expect.

Path and bollard lights

For a continuous wash of light along a walkway, space bollards 6 to 8 feet apart. For a punctuated, less runway-like effect, 10 to 15 feet. Along a driveway, work to the wider spacing and use a taller fixture — around 30 to 40 inches rather than the 18 to 24 inches typical for a garden path.

Post and pillar caps

The cap should match the width of the post top or overhang it very slightly. Measure the post itself, not the fence panel. On a masonry gate pier, err toward the larger size — an undersized cap on a substantial pier is the most common mistake we see.

Facade and wall washing

Space up-down washers at roughly the distance their beam throws, so the pools of light just meet rather than overlap. Keep them off the corners of the building by at least a couple of feet, or the beam spills past the wall and lights nothing.

What we will not do

We will not tell you a fixture is something it is not. Our lighting is contemporary design manufactured to order, not handmade or made in Italy, and we say so. Where we do not have a published specification for a piece — a blade span, a wattage, an IP rating — we will tell you it is unpublished and get it from the manufacturer before you commit, rather than guess at it.

We answer within one business day. There is no obligation and no follow-up sequence; if you do not reply, you will not hear from us again.