Lounge wizard

Nigel Donnelly decides to cast a spell on the dark corners of Penny's rear lounge

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LAST MONTH, WE pledged that we were making improvements to Penny's rear lounge, and with the blinds now providing some privacy, we moved on to an upgrade to make it cosier and more practical. With only a single ceiling lamp and no means of charging phones, devices or Bluetooth speakers, a nice little upgrade plan was hatched. Penny is getting some rear spotlamps. Not just any old lamps, however. To bring her up to date, these new lamps come with USB charging sockets.

Choosing LED

First things first - we needed some lamps. We are keen to make sure that Penny is parsimonious with her power requirements, so LED lamps were a must, rather than cheaper halogen options which are commonly available secondhand. There were plenty to pick from on Amazon, and we opted for ones that not only have charging sockets, but also had touch controls, rather than actual switches. We also decided a subtle nickel finish suited our tastes more than the gold ones upfront.

Mounting the lights isn’t really a problem thanks to the overhead lockers, but there wasn’t an easy source of power available. Our first thought was to try and tease a cable under the shower tray from our supplementary fuse box to provide the power. That would work, but the cable runs would have been complicated.