{"id":1378,"date":"2021-07-12T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kezzabeth.co.uk\/?p=4252"},"modified":"2021-07-12T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-12T10:00:00","slug":"our-new-cellar-lighting-installing-electric-to-a-victorian-basement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/twitsguides.co.uk\/our-new-cellar-lighting-installing-electric-to-a-victorian-basement\/","title":{"rendered":"Our New Cellar Lighting \u2013 Installing Electric To A Victorian Basement"},"content":{"rendered":"


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HALL-E-LUJAHH we finally have electricity in our victorian cellar<\/a>! This has been such a long time coming, I can\u2019t even tell you! We probably finished working on the basement back in April\/May of last year (2020) and then spent the rest of the year simply waiting and saving until we afford to move forward.<\/p>\n

Back in December, just a couple of weeks before Christmas, we finally were able to have this job completed! The day had come where we would no longer have to enter the basement by torchlight, we weren\u2019t going to unexpectedly be hit in the face by a cobweb, and for the first time EVER, we could put away all those trawling extension cables. The basement was finally going to actually be USABLE. <\/p>\n

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It was a celebration for sure! But not too much of a celebration as unfortunately the electricians we hired didn\u2019t do a great job and there\u2019s quite a lot we now need to re-do. Some of their work isn\u2019t even compliant with current regs and the certificates they provided mentioned work they hadn\u2019t even done. Yep, it really was just a BAD experience. It\u2019s not often we hire tradespeople, but somehow we just seem to be jinxed when it comes to electricians.<\/p>\n

Some of the non-electrical work, such as running the conduit, we could have done ourselves and NEARLY did \u2013 but given that I was 8 months pregnant at this stage, we decided to pay the electricians to do it. Their work is unlevel, unfinished, sloppy. They even ran out of conduit and instead of buying more, smashed holes in the ceiling to run it through the joists, despite the fact we specifically WANTED it in conduit. Oh and have I mentioned the broken light they tried to pretend they didn\u2019t know about? Even though it was in 2 pieces and they\u2019d gone on to install it on the wall. Ugh.<\/p>\n

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Basically, it wasn\u2019t a great job, BUT the good news is \u2013 it\u2019s all fixable. It\u2019ll take a bit of time, effort and money of course, but it\u2019s not the end of the world. At least, that\u2019s what I kept telling myself.<\/p>\n

So anyway, with the negative stuff aside, let\u2019s take a look at the positive stuff \u2013 we now have LIGHT and POWER in our basement!! So I thought I\u2019d do a quick little post showing you our new cellar lighting and the style we\u2019ve gone for.<\/p>\n

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And doesn\u2019t it look GOOD?! We\u2019ve basically gone for a quirky underground industrial vibe using low wattage wall lights to create a dark and moody atmosphere. As these rooms have no natural light, it was really important for us to get the lighting right down here. Essentially, it would set the entire \u2018feel\u2019 of the room.<\/p>\n

Our ceilings are also fairly low down here, so we knew ceiling lights wouldn\u2019t have worked in this space. The great thing about wall lights though, is that they also act as a decorative feature. Being right at eye level, they\u2019re unmissable. I also like how they often focus the light (ie up-lighting\/down-lighting) and they create a lovely ambient light. The opposite to something like spotlights, which are discreet and provide more practical lighting.<\/p>\n

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With a tight budget (and the fact we required A LOT of lights \u2013 13 in total!), I searched high and low for the best bargains I could find for our cellar lighting. All of these lights above are from eBay \u2013 From top left to bottom right:<\/p>\n

We have, however, also opted for some additional brighter lights in the two rooms where we need more practical lighting. One of these rooms will become a DIY workspace and the other, an office. There\u2019s still quite a bit of work to do, but you can get a rough idea of how the office will work below.<\/p>\n

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