Wall Lights in Brass, Black and Glass

Wall lights put light at the height of a person rather than the height of a room. That is the whole argument for them: a ceiling fitting lights the floor and the tops of things, while a wall light lands where people sit, read and look at themselves, and it does it without taking up a surface or a corner the way a lamp does.

Wall Lights in Brass, Black and Glass

Wall lights are seen against the wall from a few feet away, closer than any other fitting in a house, so the finish is read in detail rather than as a silhouette. Brass, antique brass and antique bronze warm the light as it passes and suit a room with wood or older joinery. Black holds a clean line against pale paint and disappears against a dark wall.

Satin chrome and antique chrome stay cooler and sit with the metal already in a bathroom. Glass changes what the fitting does rather than how it looks: clear and ribbed glass scatters light in every direction, while opal softens it and hides the lamp from anyone sitting below.

Wall Lights for a Living Room

Wall lights solve the problem a ceiling fitting creates. One light in the middle of a ceiling leaves the corners darker by contrast, and a pair of wall lights on the chimney breast or either side of an alcove fills exactly those corners without a lamp taking up a table.

Height is the thing to get right: roughly eye level for someone standing, which puts the light above a seated head rather than in it. Symmetry matters more here than anywhere, because two wall lights at slightly different heights are obvious in a way a single fitting never is.

Wall Lights for a Bedroom

Wall lights beside a bed do the job of two table lamps and give back the whole of the bedside table. Mount them a little lower than you would in a living room, at roughly the height the shade of a bedside lamp would sit, so the light falls on a book rather than on the wall above it.

The half of this range with a switch on the fitting is the half that matters here. Without one, a bedside wall light has to be wired to a switch by the door or to the room circuit, which means getting up to turn it off.

Wall Lights with a Switch

Wall lights come both switched and unswitched, and roughly half of these carry their own switch on the body of the fitting. That decides more than it sounds like. An unswitched fitting has to be controlled from somewhere else — a wall switch, a pull cord, the room circuit — and if that wiring does not already exist, adding it is the expensive part of the job.

A switch on the fitting sidesteps all of it. Each product page states whether a fitting has one.

Up and Down Wall Lights

Up and down wall lights throw light in both directions from a single fitting, washing the wall above and below rather than pooling in one place. On a stair, in a hallway or along a plain wall that reads as dead space, the two beams give height to a wall that a single downward light flattens.

They suit a textured or painted wall better than a papered one, since the beams draw attention to whatever the wall surface is doing.

Wall Lights for a Bathroom

Wall lights in a bathroom are usually about the mirror, and light from beside a mirror beats light from above it — overhead light casts shadows down a face, which is the worst light for shaving or make-up. A pair either side, at about eye level, is the arrangement that works.

Any fitting in a bathroom has to carry an IP rating for the zone it sits in. Rated fittings state it on their product page; where nothing is stated, the fitting is for another room. If there is any doubt about which zone a position falls into, ask an electrician rather than judging it yourself.

Wall Lights FAQs

How high should a wall light be mounted?

Wall lights sit at roughly eye level for someone standing, about 1.6 to 1.7 metres from the floor, in a living room or hallway. Beside a bed, mount them lower, at about the height a bedside lamp shade would sit, so the light reaches a book.

Do wall lights come with a switch?

About half of these wall lights have a switch on the fitting itself. The rest are controlled from a wall switch or the room circuit, and the product page states which type a fitting is.

Do wall lights need an electrician?

Wall lights are wired fittings, so yes — each one needs a supply run to it. Where no cable already exists at that point on the wall, that wiring is the main part of the job rather than the fitting itself.

Can wall lights be used in a bathroom?

Only wall lights with an IP rating stated on the product page. Where no rating is given, the fitting is not for a bathroom, and an electrician should confirm which zone a position falls into.

Do wall lights come with shades?

Every wall light on this page is supplied with its shade, matched to the fitting by the maker.