Fear Of Lighting FOMO

Oblong glass ceiling light that I’ve chosen for the corridor

So I really have to get down to it. I have to choose my own light fittings. Hocine (the contractor) has advanced so much that he’s taking a week’s holiday next week while we wait for the windows and the kitchen to be installed in a couple of weeks time. He has suggested installing the parquet after the windows have been installed, just in case there’s an accident carrying the windows (which are big - loads of natural light, yay!), which would damage the parquet.

For the parquet, after several back and forths, and many suppliers visited by Hocine, we have settled on a solid oak, factory varnished parquet which is 16cm wide (6.25 inches). And Hocine is delighted with himself because he negotiated and got me a great deal! As my building was built in 1964, the modern lines and volumes can take a parquet this wide. It would probably be too contemporary for a Haussmannian apartment, unless the design was really setting out to ‘casser les codes’ (break traditional codes).

Hocine will transport the parquet and leave it in the apartment beforehand to give it time to acclimatize to the apartment. This way there won’t be any surprises when he installs it, as wood can expand depending on temperature and humidity. Elsewhere, the bathrooms are just missing the final touches of basin units and shower screens and he’s just finishing what painting he can do before that. Progressing apace!

So back to the light fittings. Not quite sure why it’s taking me so long to get down to this. Probably because client work obviously takes priority, and also because until this morning when I saw the apartment, I hadn’t realized just how close we are to finishing! When I went on Friday morning, the hall painting was practically finished, and it’s the beautiful Little Greene ‘Baked Cherry’ red I had chosen. Wow! It certainly packs a punch! And it looks great with the wide windows of the salon beyond. Love it!

Hocine asked me what color to paint the doors - they could be either Baked Cherry or Chocolate Colour, like the skirting boards. Yes, I want the walls of the ‘day’ spaces to have a kind of dark punctuation mark before they get to the floor, and black would be too harsh, so I’ve settled on the Little Greene, very dark brown, Chocolate Colour.

I asked Hocine what color he advised for the doors. After reflecting for a good minute, he said ‘Antonia, les couleurs, ça ne se discute pas !’ - meaning that one can’t discuss colors, as they are such a matter of personal taste. He went on to elucidate that if it was his apartment, he would have painted it white. All over. And not even blanc cassé - off white as he doesn’t see the point.

So, no, he’s definitely not the person to advise me on this! I’ve decided on Chocolate Colour for the doors to break up the Baked Cherry. At this stage, you’re probably imagining a gaudy kaleidoscope apartment! Which it might well be! Or it could just be color rich and wonderful. At least that’s what I think it’ll be. And, as les couleurs ne se discutent pas, and it’s my very own apartment, I can think and do whatever I like!

But I digress. Again. Back to the lights. I need central ceiling lights for the hall (with that deep red!), the dining room and for the kitchen. And three of the same ceiling lights for the ‘night’ corridor. For the separate loo, the boy’s shower room, the laundry room and my bathroom, in each I need a ceiling lamp and a wall lamp / mirror lamp. For the living room (salon) and the bibliothèque (library) I need four and three lamps respectively (the light switches will control the lamps). One wall light for each of the boy’s rooms, plus a standing lamp and a desk lamp. And finally for my bedroom, I need two wall lights and two liseuses (reading lamps). That’s a pretty long list! No wonder I’ve been procrastinating….

When choosing light fittings, as usual I start with function then move on to aesthetics. For the ceiling lights, I’m looking for general lighting, as opposed to task lighting. And I need them to be relatively bright, as we need to be able to see to tie our shoelaces in the hall, for example! I’ve asked that the hall and dining room switches be dimmable, so that when I’m entertaining, I can have them low and cosy. And if/ when the boys lose their keys (yes, such horrors still happen), we can amp it up and find them quick as a flash

I haven’t specified a false ceiling anywhere in my apartment, as at 250cm (8 feet, 2.43 inches) I didn’t want to lose any ceiling height. So I can’t have spotlights, and I don’t like them anyway, apart from in bathrooms or above the counter top in the kitchen. And, no, I don’t like the simple round, flat ceiling lights either as too mundane (yes I’m a lighting snob). 

I’m looking for ceiling lights that are close to the ceiling for the hall, for example, as I don’t want the light fixture hanging down and distracting from the perspective towards the salon. It has to be a warm light, too, as we’re not in an operating theater! And I don’t like seeing the bulb either, as I find it leaves a temporary imprint on the retina which is disagreeable. And in terms of metal tints, I want a bronze / gold color, no chrome or silver as it would look too hard in this space. Wood could work too, as warm.

Picky? Me? Absolutely! I’ll have to look at these every day and literally live with my choices…. And I’m slightly worried that I’ll choose, then get lighting FOMO in a few months time when new lights come out. What will I do then? I know I’ll want them, but how could I justify changing so quickly? I just have to stop being the deer frozen in the headlights and do what I do for my clients, i.e. make good choices now with what’s available.

For the more utilitarian lights, notably the ceiling lights, my first port of call is a great website called www.lampe.fr, would you believe! There are so many lights on this site that it can be off-putting. As there are a whopping 20,171 ceiling lamps on lampe.fr (337 pages!), this may take a while. But judicious use of the filters does help! I’ll put a cut-off price wise at about 30€, I think, to leave more budget for the statement pieces in the dining room, living room and library.

So, now it’s just a question of scrolling through the possibilities and seeing what catches my eye. For the hall, I’ve found a round ceiling light with a waffle dark-wood criss-cross effect shade on it. A bargain at 24€ (reduced from 135€)! For the three corridor lights I’ve found an oblong shaped glass shade with a vertical cut-out pattern (see photo, difficult to describe!), for 29,99€ (reduced from 140€), which will look lovely!

Four down, loads to go. But at least I’ve started! Will update you on the rest in a couple of weeks. I’ve decided that if I find that I absolutely have to change a couple of fittings, I’ll just give away or sell the ones I replace…. Anything to get over ‘frozen’ mode and tick this off the list!