Castle Lighting - Barrett Electrical was delighted to be the supplier of the lighting and electrical supplies for this beautiful home which was constructed in 2019 outside Omagh, County Tyrone.

Set in the idyllic countryside on a family farm, this impressive red brick home was carefully thought out in every aspect. It was meticulously constructed by local building contractors Corra Contracts and we catch up with the owners to find out more…

What was the design inspiration behind your home?

“The brief to our architect Andrew from ACA Architecture was to design a traditional style home that felt like it had always been built on our site. We aspired to have brick walls, sandstone reveals and high roofs along with unusual features which were not symmetrical or square.

In our spare time we spent much time gathering photo examples from magazines and a range of social media sources such as Pinterest and Instagram so that we had examples to portray our vision.

We also sketched out a draft layout of our dream home and this along with the examples we had collated gave Andrew a good starting point to work from. Throughout the design process Andrew skilfully added his flair to create a range of features which we hadn't thought of and cherish.”

How did you create the heart of your home?

“The kitchen was manufactured by local kitchen provider, Woodbank Kitchens who are located in Omagh. We wanted a traditional style kitchen that had a modern feel. With the help of their design team we choose a shaker kitchen. The doors are painted in a partridge grey colour with the grain showing as we were advised a smoother finish paint would be likely to be easier to damage. To complement the grey doors we added splashes of oak to vocal areas, including our wine rack and the inside of the glass doors.

The island is a slate grey finish with a curved Oak worktop. The rest of the work tops are a white Quartz made by Project Marble in Dungannon.

The tiles are from Miller Wholesale Newtonstewart who advised us to choose much larger tiles than we had originally anticipated. This was so that the large space looked visually more appealing due to it’s size.”

How did you plan and choose the lighting within your home?

“The island lighting was particularly difficult to choose within the Kitchen. We spent a long-time trying to choose lights and almost opted for lights which were too large but the team at Castle Lighting helped guide us in the right direction.

In the end we settled with the curved glass lights, which we loved with filament style light bulbs. Generally, it is unusual to have three small lights over the island, rather than one big light, but we saw the idea in a magazine, and the team at Castle Lighting helped us recreate the look.

To view the clear glass and chrome pendent lights shown in the kitchen image above, priced at £85 each please click this link >> https://www.castlelightingomagh.com/product-page/chrome-vintage-effect-clear-glass-pendent

The other lighting in our home was much simpler as we had a clear vision in our heads and the lighting within their showroom met our brief.

We were always on the lookout for ideas and were impressed by a hotel which we had visited which had low level guide lights in their hallways. We thought this was a good idea and recreated the effect with the help of the team at Castle Lighting who sourced the right shape and size. The lights we choose are actually designed for outside use but work just fine inside.”

To view the ceramic and frosted glass wall light shown in the hallway image above, priced at £40 each please click this link >> https://www.castlelightingomagh.com/product-page/curved-ceramic-wall-light-with-frosted-glass

· Have you any top lighting / electrical tips for other new home owners?

“We have a number of 'kill switches' in our bedrooms and living room which means that when we go to bed at night we press one switch and that turns off the lamps, tv’s etc. We would strongly recommend anyone to consider adding this feature.

For those building a new house we would also recommend building an underground pipe system around the front and back, to your electric supply. This means that in the future if you decide to add outside lighting, cameras, electric gates or exterior Christmas lighting, it is much easier to do so.

If we were to do it again we would spend more time creating our lighting plans. For example we would now plan better where each light was positioned in our home and what switch turns it on. It's also a good idea to have a couple of light switches for certain lights; for example a light switch next to the bed.

Over the last year we have had a large number of power cuts. Our electrician recommended putting in emergency lighting and we agreed to put one in our hall. This was a fantastic addition and when we had no lights we could sit in our hall for hours. We regret not adding more.”

· If you were to rebuild your home would you do anything differently?

“There is a number of things we would do differently. We would add more emergency lighting and cat 5 points. We forgot to add a phone point to our kitchen, so the phone is in the wrong place within our home. We would also spend more time on creating lighting plans as mentioned.

We also did not plan our electric cupboard well enough and in the end it has taken up a large section of our utility room leaving no space for baskets and clothes.

One year on after moving in, we are very pleased with the overall result. We feel the lighting both inside and outside of our house is not only practical but it is what makes our house a real 'home'.

Why not view our online store >> www.castlelightingomagh.com/shop

SUPPLIERS WEBSITES:

Architect: ACA Architecture

Contractor: Corra Contracts Kitchen: Woodbank Kitchens

Electrical Supplies: Barrett Electrical

Lighting: Castle Lighting Omagh