#50! Sockets, Switches, and Spotlights: Electrical Plans Explained for your Renovation

Designing your electrical plan isn’t just about picking lights - it’s about how your home actually works every day. In this episode (our fiftieth!), we break down the lighting, sockets, switches and electrical decisions that happen during the first fix and second fix stages of your renovation. This is the second of a two-part episode on creating your M&E plan - we covered the mechanical plan in our previous episode.

💡 What we cover in this episode:

• Lighting basics: lumens, kelvins and how to create a plan
• Creating layered lighting - general, task and soft mood lighting
• Choosing adjustable spotlights, LED strips, and avoiding mixed light tones
• Where to place sockets, switches and other controls
• Planning for charging points, vacuum routes and future flexibility
• Data points, Wi-Fi planning and avoiding dead zones (especially in older Irish homes)
• First fix vs second fix - when you need to make your key electrical decisions

👉 If you’re planning a renovation, this episode will help you avoid harsh lighting, missing sockets and costly changes later.

Follow the podcast on Instagram @ripitup_podcast_official, or follow us - Jenny is @workerscottage and Kate is @victorianrathmines

Transcript

Speaker: [00:00:00] Welcome back to a brand new season of Rip It Up. Every renovation teaches you something, but it's only after you've lived through the dust, the delays, and the decisions, and then done it again like me, that the real lessons appear. This season, we're revisiting our biggest renovation topics, not with theory, not with optimism, but with hindsight.

Process planning, lighting, kitchens, bathroom windows, what worked, what didn't, and what we'd never do the same way again. This is what we wish we knew then.

Jen: Welcome back to the

podcast. Hi Kate. 

Kate: Hi Jen. 

Jen: How 

are you doing? 

Catch up record - 2026 02 23 12:00 GMT – Recording: doing? 

Kate: good. 

Jen: Great. 

Uh, 

this is my favorite 

topic. 

Um, we did 

part one last

week of a mechanical, and electrical plan. Your m 

and e 

plan.

Last week, week we did 

mechanical. It got a bit 

scatty in the 2 cents of the world

word's, 

a 

lot of toilet talk this 

week.

we're gonna keep it much cleaner, much more 

glamorous. Uh, your electrical plan. 

Um. 

Which sounds kind of daunting but [00:01:00] isn't. 

Um,

but 

do get it right. 

Don't get it 

Kate: It is important. Like it's one of 

those 

key, 

I suppose, 

structural

things in your house that's hard to change afterwards.

Now I will say some of the 

electrical stuff has gotten easier 

with, 

you know, 

rechargeable 

lights, all this kind of stuff in the last few years. But still, if you

plan it well, like, I think it could just work. so much better. 

Jen: because it's not just 

lighting. 

it's your, 

your plugs 

where 

you're charging 

your phone, where 

your robot vacuuming was going 

to plug 

in, like all that kind of

stuff.

And the easier, 

the, the more 

thought you put 

into 

it. Now it's not rocket 

science, but the more 

thought you put into it now

your life will 

genuinely 

be 

easier. Um, Okay, so here's 

how you do it, right?

Kate: Mm-hmm.

Jen: Uh, what we're talking about with

electrical 

plan, 

this is again, back to your first.

fix 

stage

of your 

renovation.

This 

is where the 

walls are 

still open and your

electrician is 

gonna

come to you at some stage and say, what's your electrical plan? And what they mean

is 

roughly 

where should 

we put [00:02:00] the wires for the things that you

want, 

uh, 

before 

the 

plaster board goes up

Kate: Yeah. Otherwise you're chasing walls and making 

holes

after the fact, which is not what you want. 

Jen: Yeah, exactly. So what that 

means 

is that at that 

stage, 

if it, if you're at first

fix, 

is that you need to roughly decide where you're 

going to have lights, roughly decide where 

you're gonna have sockets, your wifi and data points,

um, your, any kind of appliances that you're gonna 

have in your

house. 

Uh, any,

anything that needs to be kind of wired in.

Like it could be your alarm, 

for example. Or an extractor fan. Um.

Things like that. 

that's, what you need to have decided roughly where are they going to be. So there's 

a few 

things that help.

One, what that means then is

at this stage, 

you do need to have a rough idea 

of the layout of your house. So, Roughly where your kitchen 

is going to be and your bathroom. So you know, you where to put your wall lights and

things like

that. Um, but also roughly where your big pieces of furniture are going to be. Like, you need to know roughly where you're gonna put your bed 

so that

[00:03:00] you have the wall lights and the switches and the sockets and everything at the right

points. Um, 

Kate: say not for a few things because how many times have you been in the bedroom and you've tried to plug something in, and the plug socket is right behind the bed frame.

Jen: Just a bit too low or behind the 

Kate: the 

plug won't fit 

then 

'cause it's a deeper plug and it's in the way, 

or 

you know a 

locker is completely blocking it and you're reaching behind a locker to put in a

plug. like stuff like that It's so annoying. And it's just things that you

can kind of.

fairly 

easily, I would say plan 

in for like we know the wall 

the bed is going on, but in

terms of like standard spacing, if it's a super cane, you know, how many centimeters out do you want either side 

of 

that heights from the walls?

It's kind of a standard 

minimum, but like roughly where do you want them?

you get that wrong by five or 10 centimeters,

one way or

the other, the 

leg of your bed could be covering. it. 

Jen: Yeah. 

So 

if you're at first fixed stage, you've got a bit of wiggle room, you want to know 

where your bed is going, but like there's a bit of leeway between say like a king or a

super king. If you're at second

fix, this is where the plaster board is [00:04:00] going up, the walls are getting 

plastered. Now you're down to your

your centimeters and you really 

need to get that. Right. Um, okay. So. 

Tips 

then for

how

do you decide all that? 

Kate: Hmm. So lighting, like I know this is your baby, but like one thing I learned in this time around, I did this on my iPad and it's so simple.

Like a lot of 

architects, if you're doing a major renovation, will probably do a lighting plan

for you. Or an electrical plan for you, or at least a draft one. But then you have to kind of take that and do a walkthrough yourself and kind of

decide. 

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: like is it enough? Is it right, is where the 

architect has drawn the kitchen and the size of the 

island 

exactly what it's gonna be.

And so like I walked around with 

that and 

with kind of just different 

color pens or markers, said, no, I want a pendant here. I want less spots. Like, 

I 

think 

spots can be so heavy in some of these 

Jen: Yeah, there's no need. 

Kate: pair 

them back

if I can. then, like, 

I actually put them in a lot in 

this renovation is 

like, um, surface kind of 

adjustable spots, like you know, the tubular ones [00:05:00] 

Gives you a bit of wiggle room. 

You don't

have to be exactly where the kitchen is or exactly where something is 'cause you can angle the light 

one way or the other 

and it's a bit softer than 

Jen: Is on that point, like the reason we keep saying this, and if you've been a long time listener, you might have heard us 

say this so many times, we don't like 

spots because straight down 

overhead lighting, is really unflattering 

and

it looks like you're being interrogated and.

there's just They tend to just get thrown in on 

mass when a house 

is being done and it's not necessary. 

And it's much nicer in most

rooms

to have wall 

lighting, diffuse lighting, whatever it might

be.

So you do need

spots and 

task lighting, certainly in your kitchen,

potentially in your bathroom, or maybe over a desk or something like that.

But you don't need as many as you would think. And 

Catch up record - 2026 02 23 12:00 GMT – Recording: yeah.

Jen: Those ones that you're talking 

about, 

the 

kind of, 

maybe the

ones that are on 

trackers or the

kind of

angled spotlights, they're much nicer '

cause 

they're not giving 

you that 

straight direct 

vertical, you know, 

down lighting.

Um, 

anything that 

can be

changed to

kind 

of come at 

you at an 

angle 

is much nicer 

than overhead. 

Kate: One of, one of the 

things, [00:06:00] as much as I hate downlights, I have

what? B 3, 4, 5, 6 in my kitchen and I 

have two more in my hallway, maybe. 

Jen: Yeah. You need them in certain places. 

Kate: And 

this 

without 

a doubt. 

If I did a 

renovation a hundred times 

over, I would 

put in these

spotlights, which just plastered 

in spotlights, trim, less

Jen: they look so good. 

Kate: These have to be known kind of before the plaster work is done. 

So 

they're a tiny bit more exp. Well, they're a little bit more expensive, but they are more 

expensive to install because they have to be done before the plaster comes in and skims over the kind of 

mesh that goes into your ceiling.

or plastering spots, 

trim 

less, spots recessed up in the 

ceiling. They're almost invisible. They 

are 

Jen: Yeah, they're 

Kate: can even get ones that are plaster in and adjustable within the ceiling 

void, like 

won the lottery when I 

put those in.

Jen: And 

if you put them

on a dimmer

switch, then 

they're, that's 

perfect. I'm fine with

those then. I

don't mind those at all.

That's, 

Kate: But I, that would be one takeaway for me. I, would do it time and time and time again. Put in the plastering spots

without the trims, you know? And they look so minimal. 

And then I think 

a lot of renovations now, for the most [00:07:00] part, if you're doing an extension, 

you probably have some sort of roof light.

You know, I would say 90% of the ones that I'm seeing put in now have a

roof light. Use the 

hips and the side walls

of that roof light cavity we say, or that opening to surface mount 

some of those, you know, adjustable 

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: be the

additional light, you know?

Um, so that's another way to kind of minimize the amount of spots in your ceilings. 

Catch up record - 2026 02 23 12:00 GMT – Recording: Yeah. 

Jen: just 

reduce that 

overhead glare, interrogation 

room 

look, that's what we're after. Um, 

okay. 

That's 

really, really helpful. So it's,

it's, it's 

thinking 

about then, 

like the way I like to approach it when I'm doing a house is

thinking about it in terms of those layers of lighting. So where are the main 

points that you need?

Uh, those main lights, so those overhead lights, that task 

lighting? 

Then 

the 

second layer is like, 

where do 

you need,

um, 

specific task lighting?

That might be a reading light 

in the corner beside

your 

couch, or it might 

be, um. You know, shelf lighting, like we both have LED strips on our kind of under our shelf [00:08:00] lighting, 

um, which can look really good.

And then finally, where do you want your 

nice accent lighting? And that could be just a 

little 

uplight and an alcove or 

maybe like.

A light for a piece of artwork or something like that. Kind of really more 

of a 

feature and like atmospheric 

than actually necessarily providing light. 

Um,

but those are 

the 

three layers and it's really 

helpful 

to just do a walkthrough then of your house and maybe your 

house doesn't

exist yet in it or in, its like future state.

So you might have to do a virtual walkthrough kind of on your

plans. But really just thinking about like 

when you come in 

At 

The front door. Can you turn on the light when you go into a certain 

room, 

can you turn on the light? Can you 

turn it off from bed? 

Can 

you 

turn 

it off from 

the top of the stairs?

Um,

can 

you 

uh, can you dim it? 

if you need to dim it? Like what is that room being used for? That's always our number one thing. 

Um. Do you want that to be? Is there gonna be people being entertained in that room? Do

you 

need to be able to dim that 

lighting? Should it be more atmospheric? Um, if you're using a spare room? 

crucially as a bedroom is when, when it's [00:09:00] in use as the bedroom with the sofa, bed or whatever is

folded out,

is that person sleeping in there gonna be able to 

turn on and 

off lighting 

in that room?

Um,

All 

that kind of stuff. 

Kate: I

generally think like

controls in terms of the circuits, the number of circuits, you know, is paramount that you can turn on wall lights separately, you can turn on spots

separately, you can turn on pendants separately, that they don't all come on together and you know, you have no option to kind of dim

or soften that light.

And then I 

also think for lights that you want really bright at certain times of day, 

but really dim in 

the evenings,

just put 

a dimmer 

on them. Do you know, I would say put a dimmer on almost everything.

that 

you can 

for in terms of main

lights.

you know, 

I just think it's worth it. I don't think 

you'll 

regret a dimmer switch.

I think maybe, you know, like that, those kinda atmospheric wall 

lights, maybe they don't need dimmers or whatever, but for the most part, 

like lots of spots 

probably could do it. Some dimmers, even the 

adjustable spots and some pend. could do with dimmers and like, if you've already done

this and you've probably, 

if you've [00:10:00] made some of these 

mistakes, 

you haven't 

put them in. There are like other

smart ways.

Literally smart 

ways, like smart bulbs and all that, that you can kind of fix it retrospectively.

But um, if you're planning at the planning stage now, I definitely say like the amount of adjustment that you could build in now

will make your life easier and the house just feel nicer. 

Catch up record - 2026 02 23 12:00 GMT – Recording: nicer.

Jen: Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely. Um, 

and we're 

still on lighting

here, so one thing, like we're talking about

where

you might need main lighting, where you might need task lighting.

Catch up record - 2026 02 23 12:00 GMT – Recording: And 

Jen: a

concept that 

you need to be aware of in

order to plan that out

properly is how much light 

you 

need

in each

space. So 

it used to be that you 

bought your bulbs 

based on watts. 

that's changed 

now. 'cause most bulbs 

are LED, 

so it doesn't,

it doesn't have the same translation. So the 

terminology that's used or the, the unit that's used to 

measure the amount of light that comes out of a bulb is lumens 

or luxe. So what you need to,

you can, you

can 

Google it 

or we'll tell you, we'll put in the show notes

as well. 

Per 

area 

or per 

[00:11:00] room,

there's 

a recommended guide

for how many lumens per 

square meter you need for that kind of ambient light. So typically.

Catch up record - 2026 02 23 12:00 GMT – Recording: Like 

Jen: living rooms and bedrooms need

between kind 

of three to 

400 lumens per square meter.

kitchens and bathrooms. When you're, you know, if you're 

working and you've got, 

you need your task lighting, they can be 

higher, like five 

to 

seven, even maybe 800 per square meter.

Um, 

and, 

uh,

yeah, If you've dimmers, then you can obviously adjust that as you go. But what that

helps you to decide is how many 

lights and light

bulbs do you need in that room

in order

to achieve that man lighting? 

Kate: And just a consideration that we had to make as well, because we have high ceilings in some of the rooms.

You know, usually these kind of locks for square meter are calculated, that kind of standard enough ceiling heights, like two, 2.4 or whatever, ceiling 

heights. If you're up around the three meter ceiling heights, you might need to like adjust that up another little bit

because the light fall that you get down at your table level or your

kitchen level or whatever is gonna be [00:12:00] lower.

So I like.

Again, 

dimmers 

here, your friend. You can obviously adjust bulbs 

and stuff after 

the fact as 

well,

unless the

fittings have like fixed bulbs. So like, you know, you have a bit of wiggle room depending on what bulbs

you put into 

what fittings. 

Um, but talking about like

lumen 

lux, another one. And we know we love talking about this as Kelvin's, 

Jen: Yeah.

yeah, 

Kate: knowing the warmth of your bulbs as well. I've walked into 

kitchens and you know, they've.

Just renovated a lovely 

kitchen. What do you think of our kitchen, and they're all 

cool white spots, and I'm like, oh my God, 

I feel like I'm at a dentist. Do you know like, 

Jen: yeah, 

Kate: cool. 

white bulbs has just not exist in a residential setting. I'm 

sorry,

Jen: agreed. I never 

liked 

Kate: it to 2,700, 

3000 Kelvins, 

like 

over that. 

You could push 

to force 

sometimes 

in some areas, 

but like over 

that,

It's 

not 

nice. It's just not nice for a residential setting at all.

Jen: Agreed. So yeah, Kelvin's is how, how warm your light is from like. 

really, 

really, 

yellow, 

that almost kind of candlelit, orangey yellow is 

a really,

low [00:13:00] Kelvin's like 

2000, something like that.

Um, even 1500, you can have those really, really, really warm lights. And then higher

Kelvin's 

is that 

white clinical light, 

Kate: almost blue. It goes up 

to like when you get up to the five, six, 7,000. It's like, wow.

Jen: nobody. looks 

good in it. There's just no need for it. 

Kate: no. And the house doesn't look 

Jen: unflattering. 

No it 

doesn't. 

Kate: and 

remember as well, the 

Kelvins can 

really 

affect 

your paint colors, you know? So you have to kind of 

consider 

that as well. 

If those lights are gonna be on all the time, your paint will be 

affected by the

color of your

bulbs as well. 

And a harsh lesson I learned here, and I think I explained

this to you a while back, that um, I bought wall lights that have fixed bulbs in them, 

so you couldn't change out the bulbs. I 

even asked my 

electrician, but they're kind of welded in. They're kind of LED components, so I couldn't change 'em out. 

But my wall lights in my hall.

were Different than the lights in my kitchen. And you could kind 

Jen: That drives me mad. Yeah. 

Kate: the mixing of

Kelvin's looked really crap, and I was like, I'm gonna have to just change

the wall lights And the lovely follower sent me a message saying that she used a di dimmer tape. It's like a brown [00:14:00] mesh 

tape that you tape 

over LED bulb. like the the little dot bulbs, you know, those kind of LED ones.

and It just dims them and warms them. So now they're all matched. So it's a great little tip. 

Jen: That's really ha. 'cause I know loads of people who would've put in maybe

LED 

strips or

whatever, but

those, like

being able to see those into a 

light individual lights

Is a 

nightmare. 

And you might not always be able to put a diffuser over them. Will, 

we'll put a link to

that, 

uh, tape into the 

Kate: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Jen: On Amazon. or something. 

Kate: So 

if you've made the mistake like I did, that's a nice kind of retrospective fix. 

Jen: Yeah, and like, and we 

did 

say it like 

do try to get it right but don't freak out about 

it. Like it is getting much easier to retrofit

these 

things. Um, smart lighting 

and smart bulbs

are,

are. Getting much, much cheaper because there's new technology or well, IKEA have 

introduced new range that is matter compatible

so that Oh, all just

means it's 

going to be cheaper and easier

to, 

um, to get smart bulbs. The rechargeable lamps are getting

better, but 

Kate: they are.

Yeah. Yeah. 

Jen: as, as 

well, outdoor 

lighting 

is one to be 

to think about. And this 

is another 

one

that's

[00:15:00] actually quite easy to retrofit because there's so many really good

solar 

lights out there

at the moment, um, which you probably want to use anyway.

Um, 

so, Um,

if you nail 

your kind

of main 

outdoor 

lights, 

like maybe you want like one outdoor at your front door on a sensor or something like

that, um, or if you want like specific lights that you know, like uplighting your house or something, that's fine.

But don't freak out too much about your 

garden lights. You're probably easier going 

with 

Kate: Yeah. Plan for an 

outdoor plug though. And then you

always have a backup, you know, for wired. kind of lights in amongst your plants and stuff like that. You know, the kind of wired ones you can bury.

We have some of those in our back garden as well and some of them are just plug in, which works. 

Jen: Yeah. Yeah. And switches

potentially outside as well, 

Kate: yeah. And you talked about Kelvin's there in smart bulbs, 

a 

lot of the new smart 

bulbs are like 

multicolor. If you want color, like my kids unfortunately do in their bedroom sometimes, but like the Kelvin's, you can put all the way down 

to 

like whatever, 1500 really 

low 

orange light all the 

way 

up to bright,

cool light. And there's even like candle 

settings on some of them. 

So if you had really funky wall lights, you can set the [00:16:00] smart bulb to a candle setting that flickers like

a

candle. 

Jen: Oh, that's quite sweet.

Kate: so like they're the Phillips Hu ones I 

have. Yeah, it 

is 

nice. It's actually, I've used it in 

the

dining room. It's kind of a

nice soft light at 

night. 

But, so these are all kind of 

retrospective

fixes that can give you the 

illusion that 

you've 

done. All right. the First time that, 

Jen: Cozy cos 

Kate: hmm. 

Jen: okay, 

that's 

lighting and there is a lot in

it. Um, that's not the only thing that 

goes into 

your electrical plan. you 

also need to

think about where

your sockets

are going to go, 

where your switches are going 

to go.

And then anything that needs to be kinda hardwired 

in, 

um, 

you need to think about where that's gonna go well. And then crucially. Wifi points, data points.

Especially if you're in an

old house that really needs

some

planning. 

Kate: Yep. And 

it's worth noting, I 

suppose, for your walk around or for your

first fix with your electrician.

Generally they'll want 

to know, like they don't wanna know what fitting 

you have. Like those light fittings will come at the very end and those

sockets will come at the very end and those

like, you know. 

Catch up record - 2026 02 23 12:00 GMT – Recording: Uh, 

Kate: the 

actual 

fitting is 

so far 

down the 

road, but 

they just 

kind of generally 

want to know, 

is 

this, is 

it a 

spot 

that's in your [00:17:00] ceiling that they have to plan for that kind of cutout?

Or is it just a pendant 

where it's a flex coming out and the 

light fitting is connected to

that? Or if it's, you know, like you said, a cat six or a wifi point or whatever, or

socket. you know,

like that's all they 

kind of need to know at this stage. 

So 

it can be as simple 

as 

dots 

on a piece of paper, you know, mapping 

Jen: Yeah.

Kate: going where. 

Jen: Plus what circuit 

is

each one on? So you mentioned there like it's really helpful 

to

have, you know, different layers of lighting 

on different switches. Um, it's also helpful to have, 

uh, different switches controlling the same 

lights at different points in your house. So top and bottom of your stairs is, is an obvious one 

there. Um, or maybe 

just inside your bedroom door and then 

beside your bed.

could be another one. 

Um, but just, yeah. What, what kind of circuits are, are those lights on? They'll want to know what that, status at and then we would 

always say 

it's, it's better to go for too

many,

um, switches

and sockets than too few.

[00:18:00] But just 

bear in

mind 

it is that if you are going for

expensive plates, if you have like 

really fancy plates, uh, switch 

plates 

or 

socket 

plates or whatever, um, that that

is.

a cost that's gonna hit you towards the end.

Like if you're getting something really 

like a really 

nice like brushed brass 

switch 

plates or 

something like 

that, you could be looking at it like a few hundred exterior at the end. Nothing 

wrong with 

that. 

Like, we still say go 

for extra, but just bear in mind that that cost 

Kate: But like it's, you're 

very quickly up at like

80 to a 

hundred 

across 

your house. You know, you're like, you're adding up and you're like, no way. It 

couldn't be 

that high, but

it 

kind of 

is when 

you 

add Like 

possibly four sockets for a 

room and a switch, and then fittings, 

whatever, like

it's it really racks up. So it's, It's not to be underestimated, I 

suppose. 

Jen: Yeah, 

And 

I 

always think 

as well with those, 

like it's, I, 

I'm really 

into 

those lovely 

like 

accent plates and switches and all 

that 

kind 

of stuff.

You don't

necessarily 

have 

to 

do 

it everywhere. Like you might have it in

the 

obvious, 

you know, 

maybe 

in 

your kitchen 

backsplash 

or 

something 

like that. If 

you want to have a really [00:19:00] nice one. It doesn't mean you can't 

put like plain white

ones in 

kind of less visible areas of the house. Do you know? They don't 

Kate: or something that you 

upgrade later, right?

Like, once you have, 

it's better put in the 

the point, the plug or whatever, and have it there, and then upgrade the face plate later if you want to. And you have the money then a year down the line. 

But putting in 

a, a 

socket that's not on a 

wall where 

you 

want 

it is a much bigger issue down the line. 

Jen: Yeah, 

exactly. exactly. 

Catch up record - 2026 02 23 12:00 GMT – Recording: Exactly. 

Jen: Um, so that's sockets and then just be 

realistic

about like 

where,

you know. 

Where do they go? Like 

either side of the bed, easy 

to access 

from the bed. Not hidden behind the 

bedside 

locker.

Like, especially like our plugs in 

Ireland 

are so

bulky.

So if it's a piece 

of furniture

covering a plug, it's really hard to get the plug in.

Like 

you really have to 

put it out. 

Um, 

so where's 

your desk 

going? 

And 

then, 

you know, we 

mentioned 

it earlier, but 

if you're 

in an older house,

you definitely need

extra 

data 

points,

wifi points for, um. Extenders or routers,

whatever it might be, 

because,

uh, the signal just doesn't get [00:20:00] through those 

old walls.

Kate: Yeah. You want at least one upstairs and downstairs, but like, you probably want them at all your TV points 

Jen: Yeah, yeah. 

Kate: Ideally so like, just make sure that it's kind of relatively 

central in the house that that signal can get all the way out. 

It's

just not 

blocked by solid brick walls or whatever.

Jen: Yeah. Um, and then lastly, where do you want your anything to be

hardwired in? Um, so we have switches, we have sockets, we have data points, we have lights, but there's also gonna be certain

items, like me, you might 

have a 

house alarm, 

for example, where there's certain appliances and your kitchen, your extractor fans.

They'll need to be hardwired in and they might not necessarily be on, well, they'll be on their own, kind of

separate switches, but, um, 

at this point you'll need to know where they're going as well. 

Catch up record - 2026 02 23 12:00 GMT – Recording: well.

Kate: If That's something worthwhile planning for as well. Isolator switches, because you can have a lot of appliance in your kitchen now, right?

You can have four or five of them and like,

I mean, electricians love putting in individual ones 'cause they're easier to wire. [00:21:00] But you can get multi gang isolator switches like four or five on the same face plate that are labeled differently 

and 

Jen: Which is why I have, Yeah, 

Catch up record - 2026 02 23 12:00 GMT – Recording: if 

Kate: it's on a backsplash or tucked into a corner or whatever.

So just plan for that. Um, like 

where are they? Where are the isolated switches going. I thought I was really 

smart in my last house putting up in. the hidden side of the island until people

with kids come in. They were like, your kids are gonna have a lot of fun with these switches,

like switching 

them off 

Jen: were they just switching them on and off? Oh my God. Did you frost your whole freezer?

Kate: by the time we moved out, I suppose Matt wasn't really old enough to have discovered 

them, but like other kids come into 

our house 

and 

just switch

them

off. 

You know the 

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: You, 

know, because the switches were down at their access. 

Jen: maybe that's something that goes in the cupboard or something like, that, that your kids can't 

Kate: like,

technically they have

to be reachable, 

right? For safety. 

But like we 

thought we were 

very smart 

putting 

them there, whereas people, or kids were like, that's a terrible position for them, 

Jen: Oh, do you know, another one that people always forget as well is, um, almost everyone has a robot Hoover now. [00:22:00] So just think about, or like where you, 

where and as well maybe 

wiring in sockets, 

like you have a cupboard

where you do your recharging.

where 

you 

hang up your, you know, your hoover, your like stick 

hoover Or 

vacuum cleaner. So like, where's that kind of stuff gonna, 

gonna recharge? 

Um, so maybe 

think about having

sockets in one of your cupboards and think about that being

specifically for recharging 

your, uh, you know, like a handheld vacuum or

something like that and then if you do Hoover robot vacuum, where is that gonna be recharging? Um, do you know what one is

kind of, I 

found really difficult to get is 

the bathroom sockets 

for 

charging up your, uh, 

electric 

toothbrush.

I had a Nightmare 

getting 

those 

Kate: that look nice or 

Jen: just in 

general, just

getting one 

in

was was 

Kate: ones 

or 

Jen: yeah. The shaver's only one. 

Yeah. My 

electrician 

was 

Kate: have to 

put 

them like, 

Jen: hard.

Kate: specific 

points, 

don't 

you? And I, when I was in the States recently, they had a lovely

vanity, someone I was staying 

with. And when you open the drawer,

the vanity, the plug was built

into the drawer of the 

vanity. I was like, oh, the [00:23:00] dream. 

like, 

why can't we do that 

here? like

Jen: like listener, if you're listening from Ireland.

Like, 

if you're listening from

Ireland, 

you basically can't put electrics into

your bathroom at 

all. It's really, really strict what you can put into your bathroom

in terms of electric. So like all 

the

lights 

that you have 

to put in 

uh, that you 

put in have

to be 

bathroom

rated. 

Um, and the only

socket that you're allowed to put in has, is that. 

shavers

only, 

uh, one that's rated for a 

bathroom. You 

know, that. A two-prong 

one that you can 

stick your your

thing 

into. Nothing 

else.

It's not as strict in 

the continent as all. We both lived in the Netherlands separately,

like for,

um, for a period of time in our

twenties. And, 

uh. 

they all have like washing machines and dryers in their bathrooms, just

where they put them.

We can't do that at 

Kate: know 

what? they didn't 

throw a bloody hair

dryer into their bath either. You know, I survived the

time I 

lived there It's

Jen: We made, it. 

Kate: I won't throw my hair dryer into 

the

bath. Like, it's 

so I'm gonna dry my hair in the bath

while I'm here. 

Jen: it's really 

strict, but you 

gave a 

tip on a previous episode, which is so good, which

is. If you're really stuck for bathroom lighting, also [00:24:00] include outdoor lights

in 

your search. because they're

rated 

the same. so you 

Kate: the same. Most of them look the 

same. Like 

the wall lights, the 

bathroom wall lights. I think there's like ip, is it 50 or 55? And 

then there's IP 65. So like if it's in a splash zone, you need the, 

Jen: mm-hmm.

Kate: IP 55 or whatever. And then if it's

in. 

shower or like 

beside a wet zone or very close to splash zone then you need like the IP 

65. Whereas all the outdoor

lights, all of them are IP 65. And then there's an even higher rating,

again, I

think it's IP 67, which would be 

Jen: Mm-hmm. 

Kate: essentially Swimming 

pool setting or 

something like 

that. But like 

all the 

outdoor lights will 

work, and I found them like a fraction

of the price for, 

Jen: yeah. 

Kate: Outdoor wall lights as opposed to bathroom wall lights, you know? 

same thing. 

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: um, 

so yeah, it's 

just a watch out 'cause they are expensive. so like 

when you're doing your lighting plan here, you might need to know the position of 

your mirror 

and wall light or your

wall light 

slash mirror 

if It's all in one piece.

Do you know? So that positioning kind of might need to be[00:25:00] 

Catch up record - 2026 02 23 12:00 GMT – Recording: thought 

Kate: at this stage as well.

So 

Jen: Yeah, 

Kate: you don't have 

Jen: and I think. I 

think that's it.

I think 

that's 

Kate: I 

think so, 

Jen: electrical plan.

Kate: but 

yeah.

Jen: Yeah. great. 

Catch up record - 2026 02 23 12:00 GMT – Recording: great.

Jen: Simples. it's 

simple. Like really 

think 

about it, but just be smart. Like re just think about it in terms

of 

of 

usage 

and utility 

and go through your day in your head, of waking up, going to bed, walking in the front door, having guests over.

Think about that. Like think about everything 

you want to be, 

like, where are 

you charging your phone? 

Um, all 

that 

kind of 

stuff. Where's your 

TV going? 

Like all 

that. 

Um, just really think 

very, 

very, practically as

much detail as 

you can about how you live in the 

house and where you need 

that stuff to go.

And that's it. And don't be, 

Kate: think about like what you see

in the same line of sight. 

You know? that like wall lights 

match or they're not clashing or they're not like All slightly off level, so they look a bit weird. So just think about what you

see altogether as 

well. 'cause sometimes looking across a kitchen and seeing an island like, and wall lights and everything 

can look very busy. 

Jen: Yeah. Agreed.

Yeah. 

Kate: Um, 

so do give 

that to consideration. 

I think. [00:26:00] I personally think. Kitchen

Island pendants are on the out. 

Jen: I don't, I'm okay with them. I

still 

like them.

Yeah. 

Kate: I 

dunno, I 

Jen: the. Debate that's divided in 

nation. 

Kate: that, 

or wall lights. I think too is 

too busy. 

Jen: Yeah,

agreed. I do agree with

that.

Yeah, 

I do agree with that.

Kate: Less 

is more 

people. Less is more,

Jen: you have it.

The show notes 

are gonna be,

uh, 

stuffed 

for this one. 

Kate: Yeah, Stuff.

Jen: We'll put 

a 

picture up,

We have like a little kind of sample, just 

like 

easy 

lighting plan with those different 

kind of 

color dots and stuff. We'll put that up

on 

Instagram 

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: and 

we will see you next

week. 

Kate: See you 

next 

week. Bye. 

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