Please see our blogs on lighting, we hope they inspire and help you. https://www.lighterest.com/ buying guide Kind regards

Hi, We would second linen shades. They are lightweight and thin, allowing a wide array of light to filter through. You could also try rattan shades these allow a large amount of light out through the gaps in the shades. Glass shades are also ideal and non of the light is filtered as it comes through the shade. You can see our whole range of easy-fit shades here - https://www.litecraft.co.uk/lighting/shades/all-lamp-shades Thanks, The Litecraft team

Go with the rooflights if you want a nice bright space. Builders don't have much vision in my experience, and prefer to do what they've always done.

A smart home system can either be hardwired (so basically the lightswitches and sockets themselves are smart. Lightwaverf is an example), or the individual bulbs and plugs themselves are smart (like Philips Hue, TP-link Tapo and so on). I have a mixture of both, and there are pros and cons to each. It is worth bearing in mind that the protocols for controlling smart devices are evolving, and the new ‘Matter’ protocol is intended to allow different smart devices from different manufacturers to be compatible with each other and better integrated with the various controlling apps. So if I were starting from scratch I’d be looking at individual smart devices (which can be added to in an adhoc fashion and more easily updated than hardwired systems) which are Matter capable.