Hi ! Congrats on the purchase !!! I think the red carpet doesn't help - it's absorbing all the light !! So if you have something lighter that will help ! Natural light can flow in if you set curtains so the fabric hangs on the walls either side - rather than in front of the windows... If you want mellow lighting then having lamps that all come on either individually or even switched from the wall as one lot could work well? For task lighting ( for reading etc) have a brighter angled lamp, that is only switched on when you need it. Personally I like soft lights - but some prefer brighter - depends what you use the room for ! I only use central pendant lights as a last resort - I think there are much more interesting ways to bring light in ! Hope that helps a little ! Happy Houzzing !!

I'm building a new house and I've specified some Smart Home technologies - mostly for the lighting and blinds, which together can help give that lived-in look when nobody is home. I chose industry-standard technologies (DALI and KNX) so that nothing is tied to one manufacturer (who could go out of business or decide to stop making / supporting something) and there's no single central 'brain' which would cause chaos if it fails. I agree completely on the 'open technology' point - it's nice to have an app on your phone but it's not nice to have 10 separate apps because you bought things from 10 different companies, so you want everything controllable from one place and you want the labour-saving automation of one system talking directly to another (e.g. "I've just set the intruder alarm, so nobody's home, so turn down the ventilation system"). I'd also say it's worth making a judgment on where technology is changing most and not to invest a lot in something that's likely to become out of date quickly. For example, you can pay a lot of money for fancy KNX light switches but a cheap tablet will be more flexible, and voice control with Siri and Alexa is close to being mainstream.

I would strongly advise against using Nest or the smart light bulbs with Wifi in. The reason I advise this is following a training on Thursday with my smart technology supplier. He advised me that whilst Nest have an appealing aesthetic they don't work well. I think if you want to use Smart technology you would benefit from professional advise on linking your existing heating system and then ensuring you can add any further technology such as lighting and TV or audio in future easily. Having a hub is very much the way to go, you also want to get your wiring configured correctly from the earliest possible stage. There are better control systems for different elements, but they all talk through IP. There is also one which ensures consistent standards and means they won't develop further technology that can't link to the previous one. If you would like further information please contact me.

Heeeelp. any ideas or recommendations on lighting for this floor plan. theatre room will have a bulkhead with led lighting. what are peoples thoughts on smart lighting and what you be the important things not to miss when planning lighting!!