Customising rooms with feature lighting and saving money

Disclaimer: I was sent a selection of lights for inclusion in this post, as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own

With the Summer now in full swing, the need to turn on lights in the house has greatly reduced, thank goodness as I get so fed up with everyone turning the lights on then leaving a room and forgetting to turn them off again. I am forever coming home from the school run to find the upstairs bathroom light left on, both kid’s bedrooms fully illuminated and even Paul manages to leave his bedside lamp switched on far too often then leaving the house for work.

Once I am dressed for the day, I don’t tend to go upstairs again until after the school run as I’m far too busy making breakfasts, school lunches and getting everything/everyone ready to leave the house at 8.20 am. They have been told so many times they need to turn off their lights and open their curtains before school yet 9 times out of 10 it’s forgotten.

Customising rooms with feature lighting and saving money

Thankfully, while it’s so bright outside owing to being summer time this has greatly reduced currently, so there is far less shouting about the cost of electricity these days from me, however, it’s only a matter of months before that all changes again.  I’m already planning my visits to their houses when they’ve flown the nest, where I will leave my shoes thrown all over the hallway, leave lights on in every room and plates and cups left where I am sitting! – I may even throw a selection of dirty washing all over the floors just for good measure.

I’m sure my parents had the same issues with my Brother and me when we lived at home and were younger, but in my mind, we were absolute angels and this certainly couldn’t have happened.

Recently, I came across Lights4fun.co.uk when they asked me to take a look at their indoor lights collection and choose a couple of my favourite lights for my home. After entering a rabbit hole and spending far too long looking at their wonderful selection available, I narrowed down my search by thinking about the rooms I would like these to go into – that was far easier and within no time at all I’ve picked out the perfect pieces for the front room and both Emmy & Harry’s bedrooms.

TruGlow® Stacked Grey LED Pillar Candle Trio with Remote Control

For my front room, I choose a set of 3 stacked LED candles, these are 3 different-sized candles in a grey ombre colouring. They are battery-powered and also come with a remote control.

They have a TruGlow effect to make them look like real burning candles, the light on the top is made to look like a real candle and it flickers as a candle would do.

You can switch them on and off at the bottom of each pillar or use the timer option instead and also do this via the remote control. When using the timer option – these candle lights will illuminate for 6 hours before turning themselves off and then turn on again 18 hours later.

This was a great feature for when we returned home last time from a family day out, the house wasn’t plunged into darkness at almost 10 pm as it usually would have been by that time of night – instead, there was the inviting soft candlelit glow without the worry of real candles being left burning while we were out.

I’m very reluctant to burn real candles these days, although I do love them, as I worry I’ve not remembered to blow them out before going out or that they haven’t extinguished properly – I’ve heard and seen far too many horror stories.

These really do look like normal candles, especially with the flickering effect, and the added timer means the battery life will last longer as it doesn’t matter if you forget to turn them off, they will automatically turn off again 6 hours later.

One thing to note is the remote control is small so could easily become lost if not placed in a safe place – that wasn’t the issue I faced however, it was that I completely forgot they had a remote control option in the first place, so unpacked the 3 candles from the packaging and didn’t see the remote at all as it was so well placed in the packaging it was almost invisible. Thankfully I remembered before the recycling was taken away and it was lost forever.

You are unable to change the timer option from 6 hours illumination to a smaller amount of time so in the winter months when it becomes darker far earlier, you can solve this by turning them off and then turning to timer at the time you want them to come on. Currently, mine turn on around 7 pm and go off at 1 am. In winter I’ll set them for around 4.30/5 pm when it is darker much earlier.

These are priced at £26.99 however are currently on offer for £23.99

Rocket Children’s Wall Light

This is what I chose for Harry’s bedroom to use as a nightlight option. His bedroom has a mural wall of a Batman cityscape at nighttime which I painted for him years ago now, so this was a perfect addition to add to the night sky on that wall.

Crafted from wood, this wall-mounted Green rocket is backlit by 18 warm white LEDs which give off a soft and cosy glow and is sure to add a pop of colour to any bedroom.

There is a rocker switch on the back of this to turn it on and off or you can use the remote control option for turning on & off or to set the timer option. Again this timer is set for 6 hours of illumination before turning itself off, and back on again 18 hours later.

Harry is enjoying this as a nightlight option and so am I as it means I no longer have to leave the hall or bathroom light on overnight for him, sneaking around when he is fully asleep in the middle of the night to turn them off again as I am on a missing to reduce electricity costs wherever I can.

This is priced at £19.99 and is currently on offer for £14.99. It takes 2 x AAA batteries which are not included but the remote comes with batteries included.

Shhh Neon Wall Light

Although this is a plug-in light I just couldn’t resist choosing this for Emmy’s bedroom – being a typical teen she hides in her room day and night, emerging for food and school only. There is often music blasting from her Alexa or very loud talking, screeching and giggling when she’s on call to her friends.

It was just perfect as I’m forever telling her to shhh at night time when I’m putting Harry to bed or she’s telling us to shhh if we dare to venture into her pit and disturb a call to her friends – It seems kids these days are unable to hold a mobile phone to their ear to have a conversation as I would have done and still do, instead ALL calls are taken over loud speaker for everyone to hear meaning all conversations are shouted instead of spoken. Even though she has earphones/earbuds which she never seems to use – we are all able to hear entire conversations even from downstairs. I know she’s not alone here and all her friends do the same but I will never understand it, mobiles for me mean no longer having to sit on the bottom step of my parents’ house with everyone listening in to my conversations arranging a date with my boyfriend.

Lit by 134 warm white LEDs within the neon flex, it illuminates with a comforting glow. As the LEDs stay cool to the touch, it’s really safe to style in bedrooms around fabrics or little hands. It comes with a 5m cable, so you will be able to plug into most sockets easily, and it has a rocker on/ off switch on the cable. You can attach it to a wall or pop it onto a shelf, dressing table or a windowsill.

Priced at £44.99 but currently on offer for £24.99