Wall lights are what stop a living room reading as one flat, overhead-lit box. They put light at eye level rather than above it, which is why a room with two wall lights and a lamp feels calmer at 9pm than the same room under a single ceiling fitting.
Mount at roughly 1.5–1.7 m from the floor — high enough to clear a sofa back, low enough that the light lands in the room rather than on the ceiling. Where you are running a pair or a row, 2–2.5 m between them keeps the pools of light overlapping. Below that they read as one blob; above it you get scallops with dark gaps.
PlacementHeightWhat it does Either side of a fireplace or TV1.5–1.6 mFrames the focal wall, cuts screen glare Behind or beside a sofa1.6–1.7 mReading light without a floor lamp taking space Above artwork15–25 cm over the framePicture lighting; angle it, do not wash the wallAn uplighter bounces off the ceiling and lifts the whole room — good in a low room, useless under a beam or a sloped ceiling. A downlighter throws a defined cone onto the wall and works next to a chair. Up-and-down fittings give you both and are the safer choice when you are not sure how the furniture will end up.
Wall lights on the same switch as the ceiling light give you no second setting, and a second setting is the entire point. Either put them on their own circuit at the door, or choose fittings with a switched cable outlet or plug-in flex so you can retrofit without chasing the wall.
Fittings with a shade or diffuser that hides the lamp from a seated eyeline, around 2700 K, ideally dimmable. Bare exposed bulbs look good in photographs and glare in real rooms.
Two is the usual answer for a 4 × 5 m room — a symmetrical pair on the focal wall. Long rooms take a row of three at even spacing.
Hard-wired ones, yes. Plug-in wall lights with a flex and switch are a straightforward alternative in rented flats.
See also Ceiling Lights for the base layer and Floor Lamps for the reading corner.
