In less than a week’s time the final part of Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday celebrations will come to an end.On 10th June other members of the Royal Family will join the Queen in a National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral and on the 11th June the spectacular Queen’s Birthday Parade otherwise known as Trooping the Colour takes place.
Join with us at Bespoke Lights in celebrating the Queen’s 90 birthday. Although the Queen celebrated her 90 birthday on 21 April she also has an official birthday in June each year. The Queen’s Official Birthday Parade, otherwise known as the Trooping the Colour, will take place this year on June 11th in central London.The Queen has dedicated her long reign to serving our country and the Commonwealth with great dignity and has recently entered the record books as the longest reigning British monarch, surpassing the reign of her great- great grandmother, Queen Victoria.
Decorative crystal chandeliers make spectacular feature lights and creative home owners and designers are using them nowadays in many rooms around the home. A few years ago it would have been unheard of to have a chandelier in your bathroom or kitchen! The beauty of crystal lighting relies on the prismatic refraction of light passing through the crystals creating the sparkle we all associate with lead crystal chandeliers. When the gradual build-up of dust and grime reduces this effect and your chandelier will begin to lose its sparkle.
KEEPING YOUR LIGHT FITTINGS LOOKING AS GOOD AS NEWMost light fittings come with instructions on how to fit them but not many have any information on how to keep them looking as good as new. Dirty light fittings not only look nasty but will reduce your light levels and waste energy. The slow build-up of dust and dirt on light bulbs can reduce their light output by up to 30% and if you add greasy, bug ridden shades you have a built in dimmer switch whether you want it or not.
The Art Nouveau movement was a relatively short lived decorative and architectural style that was popular during the later years of Queen Victoria’s reign and it is regarded by many as the first modern 20th century style. Art Nouveau evolved from the Arts and Crafts style and still concentrated on the same quality and craftsmanship but with more emphasis on modern materials and technology. Materials such as glass and iron were now being mass produced allowing the Art Nouveau style to be more accessible to the middle class homeowners of the time.
Nearly everyone has at least one small room in their home, but the good news is that Bespoke Lights have plenty or lighting tips and tricks that can help make the smallest of rooms look larger and more spacious. Dark badly lit rooms appear smaller than they really are but with the clever use of lighting you can eliminate all the dark corners and make the room seem bigger.
Tiffany lights are one of the most iconic and easily recognisable styles of lighting because of the use of stained and art glass pieces. All the Tiffany lighting we offer here at Bespoke Lights are handmade and lovingly created from pieces of stained glass in much the same way as the original Tiffany lamps made way back in the late 19th century.
At the start of Queen Victoria’s 63 year reign in 1837, houses were lit by candles and oil lamps and from the light provided by coal fires. Gas lighting was introduced in the mid to late Victorian period and at Victoria’s death in 1901 electric lighting was only in its infancy. Many of us still live in homes built during the Victorian period and although we tend to think of the typical Victorian terraced houses there were, in fact, many styles of houses built during this time, ranging from Gothic and Italianate to Queen Ann Revival and Arts and Crafts style homes. In this blog we will show you how to inject some Victorian style into your home.
Retro lighting is all about using trends and styles from the past to create new light fittings that are fun and funky with a certain nostalgic charm and character. Every so often old designs seem to come back into fashion and so it is today with retro lighting. Whilst the term retro could be used to describe almost any period it is more commonly used to cover the 3 decades – 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. From the post war 1950’s with rock and roll and American diners to the psychedelic 1960’s with groovy designs and fashions to the 1970’s pop culture with flared trousers and platform soles. As the saying goes ‘if you can remember anything about the sixties you weren’t really there’, but either way you can still take inspiration from Bespoke Lights retro style lighting. We are finding that many restaurants, bars and hotels are taking a trip down memory lane and sourcing modern retro inspired lighting for their interiors.
Lighting is often overlooked when people are considering the interior design of their homes. This is a great pity as with a little careful thought and planning lighting can make a real impact. A well planned lighting scheme will enhance your home, provide warmth and atmosphere and identify the different areas within your home.There are essentially three main types of lighting that should be considered and depending on the room you are decorating you may need elements of all three.
