Light fixtures.

[gary baldy]

Can anyone explain why in some houses (especially those built in the 60's and 70's) why some ceiling light fixtures are placed off centre and near the window. This seems to defeat the object and seems illogical to me?
Please explain!

[corkycat]

so the light source is from the same direction day or night perhaps.

[les saisies]

I believe it is to do with privicy and the way in which a shadow is cast within say a bedroom or bathroom.

If the light source is near to the window and the occupant is between it and and the back wall the shadow fall within the room. Equally if the occupant is between the light source and the window then a silhouette is cast in such a way that it can be seen from outside the room.

It is also why bedroom doors are hung so that when the door is opened it still obscures a view into the room. It may not be the obvious way to hang it but it is best from a privicy point of view.

[gary baldy]

les saisies - not only have you answered my original question (quite brilliantly i might add!) but also cleared up another mystery for me re. doors hung the 'wrong' way.

Seems obvious now you explain it although it no longer seems in vogue to set things up that way does it?

[carolegif]

We had a house near Cambridge that had off centre lights. My mother thought they were wonderful as she wasn't blinded when my father went to the bathrook in the night and turned the light on!!

carolegif

[maggie01]

We have those in our bedrooms. Seeing as the only place our bed fits is under the window, it's brilliant to read by. Other than that, they are a pain and don't look too good either.

[Alibobs]

We had off centre lights in our bedrooms when we moved into our 1930's house.

As I am anally retentive about symmetry, when we had the house rewired not long after, I had all the lights centred.

Our electrician told us it was because most people have their dressing tables in the window and it meant the lights were above them at night time

[stanleyman]

As a sparks for many years and responsible for fitting many of these lights near the window the reason I understood it to be was to replicate the light direction from the window. Yeah I know, just one of these silly ideas that catch on.

[netibiza]

All dressing tables were usually placed in front of the window, getting natural light for making up (used to be 3 mirrors for all angles) so the overhead light was for making up the face and hair at night.