top of page

As featured in...

As featured.jpg

Welcome!

 ...and thanks for stopping by. I'm Claire Douglas,  DIY and home interiors writer specialising in money-saving and creative home interior projects. I've spent years developing my 'bespoke on a budget' approach to DIY and home interiors and I love sharing all my tips and tricks in tutorials and posts here on my blog, in articles I write for some of the leading titles, in the press, on Instagram, Tiktok and my online course

4 Home decor hacks to help up your lighting game without an electrician

Updated: Jan 26

If hardwired lights are a no-go, there's no need for FOMO with these home decor hacks

Round wall mirror and candle wall lights in white living room with wall panelling

I don’t know about you, but I love a bit of decorative lighting and have a particularly soft spot for wall lights in my living room. I earmarked a few locations where I really wanted them and got our electrician on the case (naively) thinking it would be an easy job - you just need to bung in a few wires right?! Wrong!


It transpired that the locations i’d picked in my living room had a combination of ‘challenging’ factors like solid walls, the need for double insulated light fittings, proximity to the main fuse box (RCD I think?!) tiled floors above the ceilings in question… you get the idea. Back to the drawing board…


It was time to get creative and then I had a lightbulb moment (sorry, I couldn’t resist - gotta love a lighting pun! 😂) and realised that this situation might actually have its advantages…


There are pros and cons to each option which I’ll share below...

1. Plug-in wall lights

lighting home decor hacks showing plug in wall light

This was a total bargain from the H&M website as it was only £49.99 at the time of purchase and I used a discount code to buy it for £41. I noticed recently that they had snuck the price up to £69.99, which is still not a bad price as the whole light is able to swing left and right so you can position it in the most convenient place to read for example and then swing it back to the wall afterwards.


These are great because…


- They don’t need batteries

- You can adapt the colour and strength of the light by varying lightbulbs

- They can be easily moved around.

- There are lots of cool options available


The downsides are…

- They have a visible trailing cable down the wall

- They need to be installed close to a plug socket (or need an extension lead which means more cables)

- There isn’t quite the same selection available as for hardwired wall lighting.

2. DIY vase lamp…

I’ve shared this hack before but here’s a reminder in case you haven’t seen it…

I made this fun lamp from a vase I'd bought last year from Dunelm and a ceramic shade I found in a charity shop. I added a remote control battery-operated puck light and it became a small stylish lamp without any cables messing up the look of my built-ins!

I probably had a bit too much fun with this DIY project, but that's the great thing about decorating in your own home you can make it as mad as you like and luckily Mr D approves!

3. Battery-operated puck lights in wall sconces


This little hack just requires normal wall lights that you would usually wire in and a set of remote-controlled, battery-operated puck lights which are readily available from Amazon.

home decor hack light on the wall

The pros


- You can adapt most wall lights meaning you have a huge selection to pick from (steer away from clear glass styles as you’ll see the puck light through the glass).

- Battery-operated lights often have a variety of settings meaning you can change the strength of the light each time you turn it on.

- You can turn it on and off with a remote control giving you flexibility from the comfort of your armchair.


The cons


- Battery-operated lights require batteries (funnily enough) which is an ongoing cost & maintenance consideration.

- Don’t lose the remote control as they can be tiny!


Here's the (aff) link for the wall lights in case it's useful.


4. Battery-operated puck lights in ceiling bar light

Minimalist kitchen with black ceiling bar light

This is the same idea as for the sconces above but the puck lights are fixed into a ceiling bar light instead. The ceiling bar pictured has light fittings with a smaller diameter than the wall lights earlier so requires a smaller puck light to go inside, here's a suggestion.


Here's the (aff) link for the ceiling bar light in case it's useful as it was a bargain at under £30.


Let me know in the comments if you found any of these tips useful or are going to try them.


Thanks so much for reading. I'd love to keep you up to date with future DIY, decorating, interior styling, and upcycling projects, if you would like to receive my (not more than weekly & no spamming I promise) emails then please subscribe (scroll down to the box at the bottom of the page).


Why not check out some of my other lighting-related posts...









Kitchen recommendations - click to shop 

cereal.jpg
Milk frother
Screenshot 2023-11-12 at 20.52.40.png
Screenshot 2023-11-12 at 21.00.59.png
Screenshot 2023-11-12 at 21.27.29.png
Screenshot 2023-11-12 at 21.33.18.png
Screenshot 2023-11-12 at 21.37.32.png
Screenshot 2023-11-12 at 21.43.07.png
bottom of page