Use the sockets you already have. A floor lamp, a table lamp and a plug-in wall light give about 2,000 bulb lumens, which suits a 4 by 4 metre room on our working figure of 100 to 150 lumens per square metre. No wall gets opened and nobody touches a wire.
This guide is for three people: the owner improving a room without opening its walls, the landlord, and the tenant. If your walls are coming off anyway, stop reading and get the wiring done while the plaster is off; our guide to layering a room is your better read. For everyone else, this is the order we would buy in, what plug-in and battery lights really do, and what Part P says when you swap a fitting.
The short version
- Buy lamps first. They need no fixing, no drilling and no electrician.
- Multiply your floor area by 100 and by 150 for a bulb lumen range. A 4 by 4 metre room comes to 1,600 to 2,400.
- When a corner stays dark, add a light in that corner. A brighter bulb elsewhere will not reach it.
- A plug-in wall light skips the wiring and still needs screws in the wall.
- A battery wall light is a reading light. At 121 lumens against 470, it will not light a room.
- In England, replacing an existing fitting is not notifiable under Part P, but the work should still meet BS 7671. Use a registered electrician.
Can you light a whole room using only sockets?
Yes. One light in the middle of the ceiling is what flattens a room after dark. Three lights around its edges, at the height of the people using them, are what make it look considered, and every one of those can run from a socket.
The sum is ours: floor area in square metres, times 100 and times 150, gives a range of bulb lumens. We use that figure for a ceiling fitting in how many lumens a living room needs, and we would keep it when lamps take over the whole job. It is a working starting point, not a lighting standard, and shades hold some of the light back, so the check at the end of this section counts for more than the arithmetic.
| Room | Lumen range | What we would plug in | Bulb lumens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small living room, 4 x 4m (16 sq m) | 1,600 to 2,400 | Floor lamp, table lamp, one plug-in wall light | 2,010 |
| Larger living room, 4.5 x 5m (22.5 sq m) | 2,250 to 3,375 | Floor lamp, two table lamps, two plug-in wall lights | 3,250 |
| Bedroom, 3.5 x 4m (14 sq m) | 1,400 to 2,100 | Two plug-in wall lights, one table lamp | 1,710 |
| Home office, 3 x 3m (9 sq m) | 900 to 1,350 | One table lamp, one plug-in wall light | 1,240 |
Those totals use a warm white E27 GLS bulb (£9.60, checked 2nd November 2026) at 770 lumens in each lamp and a 4W E14 golf ball (£5.95, checked 2nd November 2026) at 470 lumens in each wall light. Add the wall lights up on their own and you see why we would not rely on them: a 16 square metre room would need four to reach 1,880 lumens, which means four cables and four switches. One plug-in wall light, at under a third of the 1,600 the room asks for, will not brighten a dark room by itself.
The check takes one evening. Switch everything on after dark and stand in the doorway. Any corner where you would not read a paperback gets the next lamp. Keep the bulbs warm white in any room you sit in, as our colour temperature guide explains, and use the switches as a dimmer of sorts: one lamp for the television, three when people come round.
Which lights work without any wiring?
Four kinds, and they do quite different jobs. This is how we rank them for lighting a room, with the output of a real product or bulb from our range against each.
| Option | Output | Fixing | Our view |
|---|---|---|---|
| Floor lamp | 770 lumens with an E27 GLS | None | Buy first, for a seat and the corner behind it |
| Table lamp | 770 lumens with an E27 GLS | None | Buy second, for a low pool of light at eye level |
| Plug-in wall light | 470 lumens with an E14 golf ball | Screwed to the wall, cable to a socket | Third, if you can drill, beside a bed or a chair |
| Rechargeable wall light | 121 lumens | Mounted on the wall | Good for a book, never the main light |
What should you buy first if you cannot rewire?
A floor lamp, because it fills a corner and changes how the room looks in one move. Choose it for the shape it makes against the wall, then check the size. The Endon Lyon in matt black (£91.65, checked 2nd November 2026) has a tiered shade with a brass painted inside that warms the light, stands 1500mm tall under a 395mm shade, and has a foot switch on its 2 metre cable, which matters when there is no switch by the door. For about a third of the price, the Novena Malle tripod with a grey linen shade (£30.06, checked 2nd November 2026) comes with its E27 bulb and is 1550mm tall. Its feet spread 700mm, so measure the corner before you fall for it.
Then a table lamp at the far side of the room, because light from two directions is what stops a room looking lopsided. The Endon Noah in cream cotton cord (£59.35, checked 2nd November 2026) is 400mm high with a textured shade that makes a soft glow on a console or side table, and its switch sits on the 1.5 metre cable. The size question for both lamps is answered in how to choose table lamps and how to choose a floor lamp. If you know the type and want names, go to our best floor lamps, and if you own a base with a tired shade, read how to choose a lampshade that fits.
The odd one out is worth a place in a rental. The Astro Limina (£80.04, checked 2nd November 2026) is a plaster egg 170mm high that sits on the floor and throws a wash up the nearest wall, and you can paint it to match. Fit a 450 lumen GU10 (£5.95, checked 2nd November 2026) and tuck it behind a chair. It will not light the room, and it will make the wall look far more expensive than it is.
The full ranges are in floor lamps and table lamps.
Are plug in wall lights any good?
Yes for a bedside or a reading chair, and less so for lighting a whole room. A plug-in wall light is an ordinary wall light with a cable that runs down to a plug instead of into the wall. We list five families, all from Astro, so here is the whole of it, checked on 2nd November 2026.
| Light and price | What it looks like | Lamp | Switch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Astro Arbor, £106.95 | Curved arm and fabric drum, 308mm high, 177mm wide, black or white | E14, 7W max | On the cable |
| Astro Carlton, £115.23 | Porcelain shade on an adjustable joint, 110mm wide | G9, 5W max | On the backplate |
| Astro Serge, £138.69 | Parisian domed head that tilts and turns, 143mm wide, black or white | G9 | On the cable |
| Astro Ascoli Swing, £104.95 | Swing arm with an aimed head, matt white | GU10, 6W max | On the backplate |
| Astro Gio, £68.31 | Compact aimed cylinder, 80mm wide, black or white | See the listing | On the cable |
If you want a wall light to light a room, buy the Arbor, because its fabric drum softens the bulb where the others aim it. Over a bed or a chair, take the Ascoli Swing and point it at the page. 'Works well and easy to fix up', as one buyer, Paul A., put it. There is nothing here under £40; if that is the budget, the Malle tripod above is the better use of it. For height and spacing, our living room wall lights guide says 150 to 170cm up and our bedside reading guide covers the page.
Plug-in does not mean no drilling. All five mount on the wall, and the Serge and Ascoli listings include a screw pack. We would not hang a 1.12kg Serge from a sticky pad, however confident the packet looks. If you cannot put a screw in the wall, go back to the lamps.
Can you make one look hardwired? No, and we would stop trying. A cable is a cable. Put the light directly above a socket so the cable drops in a straight line, choose a finish close to the wall, and if it still bothers you, run it in stick-on trunking painted to match. Never bury it in the plaster: that makes it fixed wiring, and that is an electrician's job.
Is it worth rewiring for wall lights instead?
It is if you own the place and are decorating anyway, because a pair of wired wall lights on a dimmer is better than anything in this guide. It is not worth it in a rented home or a freshly plastered room. We will not guess what an electrician will charge you, as it depends on the wall and the route, so get a quote and set it against two lamps. Our guide to wall lights or ceiling lights in a small living room helps with that decision.
Are battery wall lights bright enough to light a room?
No. Battery wall lights are for reading and for pictures, and they are good at both. The Novena Slancio Wall (£169.00, checked 2nd November 2026) gives 121 lumens, about a quarter of the 470 from a golf ball bulb in a plug-in wall light, and it costs more. You would need fourteen of them to reach the 1,600 lumens a 4 by 4 metre room asks for. Its real strengths are that it dims from 5% to 100%, runs for six to seven hours on a three to four hour charge, and leaves no cable on the wall.
The battery light we would buy first is a picture light, since a picture only asks for a little light in one place. The Endon Cirali in warm brass (£58.95, checked 2nd November 2026) has three settings of 27, 90 and 200 lumens, charges in nine hours and gives up to 60 hours of light. Our picture light guide covers the width to choose.
Pendants are the thin end of this. We have no plug-in pendant to recommend, and the only rechargeable pendant in our range is the Novena Anello Fly (£189.00, checked 2nd November 2026). It gives 200 lumens at most for nine to ten hours, still needs a hook or rail on the ceiling, and its listing says the power adapter is not included. Treat it as a decoration that glows. For what rechargeable lamps do well and badly, read are rechargeable lamps any good, and the range is in indoor rechargeable lights.
Do you need an electrician to replace a light fitting?
In England you do not have to notify anyone, and we would still use a registered electrician. Approved Document P says only three kinds of work are notifiable: a new circuit, a replacement consumer unit, and additions or alterations to circuits in a special location, meaning the space around a bath or shower or a room with a swimming pool or sauna heater. It lists 'replacements, repairs and maintenance anywhere' as not notifiable. The same document says that work should still meet BS 7671 and be inspected, tested and certificated, and the IET confirms that Part P covers DIY work too. Ask for the certificate an electrician provides and keep it.
Rules differ by nation, so this is one to check where you live.
| Where | What applies |
|---|---|
| England | Part P, Approved Document P 2013 edition. Replacing a fitting is not notifiable. |
| Wales | Its own version since 2014, the IET notes. Welsh Government guidance treats kitchens, bathrooms and outdoors more strictly, and says to ask local building control if unsure. |
| Scotland | Building standards rather than Part P, and Part P self-certification schemes do not apply. |
| Northern Ireland | No equivalent statutory requirement, according to Electrical Safety First, which still recommends a registered electrician. |
A plug-in wall light raises a fair question, because it is fixed to the wall. Paragraph 2.8 of Approved Document P answers it: fixed equipment is within the scope of Part P even if it connects by a 13A plug, and it is notifiable only if it involves one of those three kinds of work. So in England, a plug-in wall light on an existing socket outside a bathroom gives you nothing to notify. Plugging in a lamp is no installation work at all.
Before you buy a metal fitting for an older house, get the ceiling looked at. Electrical Safety First says the wiring rules in homes built before 1966 did not require an earth at every lighting point, and that a lighting circuit with no earth is not compliant with BS 7671 today. Its guidance is to add an earth or replace metal and Class I fittings with Class II ones, which are double insulated. Once the electrician has looked, check the class on the listing or ask us. If a swap is what you are after, what size ceiling light your room needs and semi-flush ceiling lights are where to start.
What can tenants and landlords do without rewiring?
Tenants can do everything in the lamp section tomorrow, because a lamp you plug in and take with you changes nothing in the property. Anything with a screw is different: read your tenancy agreement and ask your landlord first, in writing, before you drill or touch a ceiling fitting. If you do get the go-ahead to swap one, keep the old fitting and put it back when you leave.
Landlords in England must have the electrics checked at least every five years by a properly qualified person and give tenants proof, and the same guide says social landlords who provide electrical equipment must have that tested too. If you are improving a rented room, our view is to spend on a good ceiling fitting put up by an electrician, keep the certificate with your other paperwork, and leave the lamps to the tenant, who will have opinions anyway.
How many lamps can you plug into one socket?
On the numbers, more than you will ever want, and we would still keep to one plug per socket where the room allows. Warwickshire's fire safety advice is never to put more than 13 amps or 3000 watts on a socket or extension lead. The larger living room in our table draws about 30 watts with LED bulbs, about one per cent of that, so it is whatever else shares the lead that needs adding up. Essex Fire and Rescue says to use one adaptor per socket, never one plugged into another, and to choose a bar on a lead over a block. Put each lamp on a wall with its own socket where you can, and do not trail cables across the floor or under a rug, which Electrical Safety First warns is a trip hazard and Essex warns can wear through unseen.
Before you buy anything, move the lamps you already own. Switch off the ceiling light, plug them in where the sockets are, and see which corner stays dark. That corner is your first purchase.
Frequently asked questions
Can you add a light without wiring?
Yes. Floor lamps and table lamps run from any socket and need no fixing at all. Plug-in wall lights run from a socket too, though they screw to the wall. Rechargeable lights need no socket while in use, but their output is far lower: the Novena Slancio Wall gives 121 lumens, so we treat those as reading lights, not room lights.
Do plug-in wall lights need an electrician?
No electrician is needed for the wiring, because the cable ends in a plug. You still have to fix the light to the wall safely. In England, Approved Document P says fixed equipment on a plug is notifiable only if it involves a new circuit, a consumer unit or a special location, so one on an existing socket outside a bathroom gives you nothing to notify.
What is the best plug-in wall light?
For lighting a room, our pick from the five families we list is the Astro Arbor, because its fabric drum softens the bulb and a 470 lumen golf ball sits comfortably inside its 7W limit. For reading in bed, we would take the Astro Ascoli Swing and aim the head at the page. Both cost a little over £100, checked 2nd November 2026.
How many plug-in wall lights do I need for a small living room?
On our working figure, a 4 by 4 metre room wants 1,600 to 2,400 bulb lumens, so four wall lights with 470 lumen bulbs would reach 1,880. We would not do it, because that is four cables on show. One wall light with a floor lamp and a table lamp gives about 2,000 lumens and looks better.
Are rechargeable wall lights any good?
They are good at small jobs. The Novena Slancio Wall gives 121 lumens for six to seven hours, which is plenty for a book and nowhere near enough for a room. Buy one where a cable would spoil the wall or there is no socket nearby. If you want the room lit, a plug-in wall light with a 470 lumen bulb gives about four times the light.
Can you fit a light without an earth wire?
That depends on the fitting and is for your electrician to judge. Electrical Safety First says homes built before 1966 may have lighting points with no earth, and that a circuit like that does not comply with BS 7671. Its guidance is to add an earth or replace metal and Class I fittings with Class II ones. Get it checked before you buy.
Can a tenant put up wall lights?
Only with the landlord's agreement, so read your tenancy agreement and ask in writing first. A plug-in wall light still needs screws in the wall, and a wired one is a job for an electrician. If the answer is no, a floor lamp and two table lamps need no fixing, leave no marks and go with you when you move out.
Do you need Part P to change a light fitting?
Part P still applies in England, but replacing a fitting is not notifiable, so nothing needs to go to building control. The work should still meet BS 7671 and be inspected, tested and certificated, which is why we would use a registered electrician. Wales has its own rules, Scotland uses building standards and Northern Ireland has no equivalent.
