Home renovations in London are incredibly popular, particularly at this moment in time. With more people working from home, homeowners are looking for ways to make their properties more space efficient. Here at Home Tales, we specialise in home renovations, ground floor extensions, first floor extensions and loft conversions all over London. If you are looking for more space within the home, there are a variety of ways you can go about achieving it. All of the solutions come with different budgets and time constraints, so you might want to explore what option is the best fit for you. We offer free telephone consultations which do just that. We go through the options that are available to you and talk you through the design and build process. We also take the opportunity to address any initial questions you might have. Following the consultation, we issue you with a quote for the works. 

When you are undertaking a home extension, you will almost certainly need an electrical plan when you come to the build phase of your project. We do offer electrical plans as a bolt-on should you want them. Electrical plans show your electrical layout. This includes fire alarms, plug sockets, light switches, consumer units, extractor fans, spotlights, pendants, wall lights and anything else you might want to include, such as an ethernet cable outlet. 

Spotlights vs Pendants

Here is an example of an electrical plan we recently completed for a client in South West London. As you can see, the homeowner has opted for a variety of lighting options on the ground floor of their property. Pendant lights are better suited to living areas and bedrooms. They offer a more relaxing light distribution throughout the room. Wall lights are also a popular option and offer a relaxing glow rather than a direct downlight. They are often connected via a different switch so you can select to have them on independently. They are also most frequently connected to a dimmer switch, so you can select their brightness. We extended into the side return of this property, which made their kitchen larger. The kitchen is a more functional room, so spotlights are typically favoured in this case.

If you are converting your loft, the head height can limit your options when it comes to lighting. Head height is notorious problem for lofts in London. There are a couple of ways to solve the problem from a building regulations perspective, as bedrooms needs to be a certain head height to be recognised as a bedroom. The first is to raise the ridge line and the second option is to lower the first-floor ceilings. If you have a high ridgeline and have no issue with head-height in the loft, you might want to consider pendant lighting. This softer lighting tends to be favoured in bedrooms. If your head height is tight, you can opt for spotlights. Another option is wall lights, but this does then limit your options for placement of items on the walls (eg. bookcases, TV units).  

Spotlight use LED bulbs, which are super energy efficient and can run for tens of thousands of hours without failing. This is generally regarded of about 3 years constant use, with many lasting up to 15 years. Another advantage of spotlights is there placement. You can cluster placement and create zones within your room, which can be really handy when it comes to functional areas, such as a home office, workshop or kitchen. 

Personalise your electrics 

If you are undertaking a home extension, such a ground floor extension or loft conversion, you have complete control over the electrical layout of your room. You should think through the functionality of the room, and how you intend to use the space when it’s finished. For example, you can put plug sockets inside kitchen cabinets and in-built desks. This can be particularly useful if you like to bake and want to plug your KitchenAid or whisk into your prep space. It can also be useful to house a charging unit or a gas and electric monitor. You might want to run an ethernet cable up into the loft, for a study or office space. Wireless internal can be boosted in a property but nothing is as reliable as an ethernet cable. 

Integrated sound systems are another popular design solution that we see being used more frequently. In-built speaker systems and smart technology is very popular with homeowners. Did you know you can also get electric Velux windows? They open and close with the click of a button! They even have sensors in so that they shut automatically when it rains. How cool is that? If you are interested in technology for your home, check out our blog article on home gadgets. 

If you are thinking of extending, get in touch with our team today. We would be delighted to talk through your project in more detail. Call us on 0207 043 2378 or email us at hello@hometales.co.uk. We also have a live booking page where you can book a consultation directly.