Scotlight Direct Blog - The latest lighting news, products and guides

Scotlight Direct sold to the SM Electrical Group

We are very pleased to announce that the Scotlight Direct website has been sold to the SM Electrical Group who operate lighting showrooms and electrical wholesalers throughout Scotland. SM have been established in the electrical and lighting industry since 1988 and are still a family run business to this day. The Scotlight Direct acquisition enables SM to further expand our contract and retail customers throughout the UK and develop our brand portfolio with exciting new ranges planned for the start of 2018.

We look forward to working with you.

Steven & Leigh MacDonald

SM Electrical Supplies LTD

161-167 Rosslyn Street

Kirkcaldy

KY1 3HT

Double success for Scotlight at major national business awards

Scotlight Group is celebrating after winning an awards double at the Herald Scottish Family Business Awards 2016 in Glasgow on December 7th.

Scotlight was named Rural Family Business of the Year in the small and medium category, sharing the prize with quarrying company Hutton Stone Co. We also scooped the award for Customer Service Excellence, which recognises a company which has excelled in the provision of customer service as an integral part of their business.

Herald Family Business Awards Scotlight — Accepting the award for Rural Family Business of the Year, along with Hutton Stone. Image from Newsquest

The awards were presented to Managing Director Andrew Fraser and Commercial Director Finn Barber at a glitzy ceremony in Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel. Representatives from across the company also attended the awards on behalf of all the staff.

Scotlight delighted by Family Business Awards success

Speaking after he received the awards from celebrity host Sanjeev Kohli, Andrew said: “It was fantastic to be recognised alongside other such impressive businesses at the Herald Scottish Family Business Awards.

“It is a testament to all the hard work our staff and the family has put into growing the business over the past 12 months, and indeed the last 20 years.

“It reinforces our commitment to excellent customer service and motivates us to keep improving.”

The Herald Scottish Family Business Awards are amongst the most prestigious awards for family businesses in Scotland. Now into their fifth year, the awards ‘celebrate the success of the diverse, dynamic and innovative family business sector, and the contribution which these firms make to the communities in which they operate and to the wider economy.’

Some of Scotland’s most recognised brands were nominated on the night, including Graham’s The Family Dairy, House of Bruar, Bells Food Group and Di Maggio’s Restaurant Group. The Awards are supported by Business Gateway, Clydesdale Bank and the University of Strathclyde’s business school, amongst others.

Scotlight was previously nominated in 2014 but this year is the first time that the company has been victorious.

Previous winners at the Awards include Scottish Borders egg giant Glenrath Farms, whose work with Scotlight in 2015 led to Scotlight being recognised in the Select Industry Awards that year.

To read more about the Herald Family Business Awards, use social media and search for the hashtag #FamBiz16.

To find out more about Scotlight Direct and the Scotlight Group, visit our website.

Scotlight awards: Scotlight nominated for Business Awards

Scotlight is delighted to announce that it has been shortlisted in two categories for the the prestigious Herald Family Business Awards 2016 – for Rural Family Business of the Year and Customer Service Excellence.

At Scotlight, awards success is not unusual. It is the second time that the Innerleithen-based company has been recognised at the national awards, after making the shortlist twice in 2014, while it was also on the shortlist for the 2015 Select Awards.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Glasgow in December.

The Herald Family Business Awards, in association with Business Gateway Scotland, recognises family businesses from all sectors and of all sizes, right across Scotland.

Previous winners include Glenrath Farms, who Scotlight has worked with closely in the past.

Scotlight Awards

The first category that Scotlight is nominated in is for customer service. We are proud of all our staff, especially the diligent and professional way that they support our customers.

This category will recognise a company which has excelled in the provision of customer service as an integral part of their business. Judges will be looking for evidence of how this has been achieved and contributed to the success and development of the organisation (Newsquest Scotland).

Scotlight is also nominated in the Rural Business of the Year (small / medium) category. Our headquarters are in the small Borders town of Innerleithen, which has a population of just 2500, and we remain rooted in the local community, despite now expanding to serve the whole of the UK.

Businesses in rural areas play a vital role in providing employment and wealth in the communities in which they operate. This category recognises family businesses in rural Scotland with 100 employees or less, from any sector, which have made a real difference (Newsquest Scotland).

The news is great timing, as Scotlight has just celebrated its 20th birthday. The Scotlight awards success is further recognition for our amazing employees who make the business what it is.

To find out more about the company, read about Scotlight Direct here.

Buy lights online today from the Scotlight Direct online superstore.

Scotlight celebrates 20 years in business!

Scotlight is celebrating 20 years in business this October and to celebrate we are giving you the chance to win your order for free!

Scotland’s favourite lighting specialist has seen huge growth since it was first established by Tom Fraser in the Scottish Borders town of Innerleithen in 1996.

The company was set up as a lighting design company and has since evolved to offer supply and installation of a huge range of world-beating light fittings, as well employing tradespeople from electricians to plumbers.

The business is still based in the same High Street location that it was founded on 20 years ago, but the building which was originally just a shop is now a state of the art lighting showroom incorporating office space, meeting rooms and warehouse facilities.

The online superstore Scotlight Direct launched in 2006 and is celebrating its tenth year of being the go-to destination when shopping for lights online.

Our Price Promise, where we will match or even beat the price of any light fitting if you find the same one cheaper elsewhere online, is just one of the great incentives we use to reward customers for choosing to shop with us.

Scotlight is marking its 20th birthday in various ways. As a thank you to all our customers, old and new, we are offering everyone who shops with us online in the month of October the chance to be entered into a prize draw to win your order for free!

Simply make a purchase from the website and you will automatically be entered into the prize draw. The winner will have their order refunded in full!

As well as that, we have been visited by reporters from the local press including The Peeblesshire News who featured a story about our big birthday prominently in their newspaper.

Scotlight also held a party for its staff, suppliers, friends and clients in the Merkat View cafe in Peebles which featured entertainment from local band The Dirty Beggars.

The company could never have got to where it is today without the brilliant staff that we employ and without our loyal customers who continue to place their trust in us to design, supply and install lighting in domestic and commercial properties across the UK.

From everyone at Scotlight, we’d like to say a huge thank you! And here’s to another 20 years!

For a chance to win your order for free, shop online with Scotlight Direct before the end of October.

To find out more about Scotlight Direct and our history in the lighting industry, read our About Us page.

Use lights to make your house a home

There are many ways to make your house a home but using lights is one of the simplest and most effective.

How to make your house a home

What makes the perfect home? While everyone is likely to have their own definition, there are definitely features that most of us can agree on.

Most people would aim for a home that is bright during daylight hours and warm and cosy at night time.

One way to ensure your house gets plenty of natural light is to have a building with large windows that are south-facing, letting in as much sunlight as possible. But what if you aren’t lucky enough to have that with your house?

At Scotlight Direct we have a team of lighting experts with decades of experience in the lighting industry. They are brimming with ideas and tips on how to make your house a home by using lights.

They are happy to discuss all your lighting needs with you. You can contact us using the form provided and we will get back to you with solutions to your queries.

Choosing the right lights for each room in your home is very important. The height of the ceiling, the size of the room, the design features, the colour scheme and the function of the room all play a part when deciding what lights are best for you.

For example, you can make your rooms feel warmer by using warm-coloured lighting. Reds, yellows, oranges and browns all add depth and warmth to your home.

If your home lacks natural light you can invest in bright lights that simulate daylight.

It might also help to buy dimmable lights so that you can change the brightness and intensity of the lights to suit the occasion, the season, the weather or the time of day.

You might even be able to find LEDs that change colour, meaning you can have a different ambience depending on your mood at the time.

For more ideas on how to use lights to make your house a home, read our comprehensive series of free lighting guides which give you useful hints and tips on how to light individual rooms in your home, from your kitchen and bathroom to your dining room and garden.

To browse our full range of lighting options visit the Scotlight Direct online superstore.

Ceiling pendants: From traditional to ultra modern

Ceiling lights come in all shapes and sizes but among the most popular and fashionable styles at the moment are ceiling pendants.

Ceiling pendants from Scotlight Direct

Ceiling pendants are suspended from the ceiling and hang downwards. They are often circular or oval in shape, although there are a whole host of different designs available including triangular, multi-armed and chandeliers.

A small selection of them are pictured in this article, but you can see the full size and scope of the selection by visiting the Scotlight Direct homepage and searching for ‘pendant’ in the search bar at the top of the page.

Ceiling pendants are great for most rooms in your home but they also great for businesses, offices, shops, restaurants, bars and hotels.

The style pictured below, for example, is typical of the sort of design you might find in a classic American diner, but it would work just as well as the centrepiece of a child’s bedroom or hanging above the bar in a trendy pub, for example.

Ceiling pendants are just one of the many ceiling lights that you can find at Scotlight Direct. In our extensive online superstore you will also find:

Ceiling downlighters
Ceiling spotlights
Chandeliers
Bedroom ceiling lights
Bathroom ceiling lights
Kitchen ceiling lights
Non-electric ceiling lights
Flush ceiling lights

Ceiling pendants work best in rooms with high ceilings. This is because they are suspended from the roof and hang down several feet, so if you have low ceilings you might find that you bang your head on them!

If you would like to find out more about the suitability of ceiling pendants for your own home or business, contact our team of experts.

With decades of experience in the lighting industry between them, including everything from design and installation to sales and customer service, our team are perfectly equipped to advise you on any query you might have.

You can also find out more about how to use different types of lights in each individual room in your home by reading our fantastic free series of lighting guides, which give you hints and tips on how to light your home.

You can buy ceiling pendants online today by visiting the Scotlight Direct online superstore.

Autumn lights: Bring Autumn into your home

Autumn is one of the best times of the year if you like colours and atmosphere. As the leaves on the trees begin to fall, the world is showered in vibrant reds, oranges, yellows and browns.

For interior designers, whether they are professional or simply amateurs like yourself, these colours provide great inspiration for an autumn lights makeover.

Autumn is also the time of year when the darker nights start to creep in. Street lights come on sooner and people start to think about lighting candles in their homes, for example.

At Scotlight Direct we have a great range of lights that reflect autumn and all of its colours.

By installing lights that mirror the amazing colours you are seeing outside, you can help create a warm autumnal feel in your own home.

LED candles are a safe and odourless way of recreating firelight in your home. Real candle can often be a fire hazard, and they are also not always suitable if you have young children or animals in the house. LED candles do not burn a real flame and are not hot, so they give the impression of a real flame but without the danger.

They also don’t burn out like a normal candle, making them super-efficient and great value for money.

Orange, red, brown and yellow are great colours for creating warmth, which is ideal for the autumn when the temperature starts to drop and winter approaches.

The search option on the Scotlight Direct eCommerce site allows you to filter our lights by colours, meaning that you can type “yellow”, “red”, “brown” or “orange” into the search bar and be presented with a selection of light fittings to suit your tastes and requirements.

If you would like to find out more about how you can use autumn lights to give your home a makeover, check out our series of lighting guides that we have produced to help talk you through the specific requirements of each room in your home or office.

Shop for autumn lights online in the Scotlight Direct online superstore.

Have you caught the lighting bug yet?

Lighting is often something that you don’t notice but once you have caught the lighting bug there is no going back!

In sport, they say that a good referee is one that you don’t notice. This can sometimes be the case with lighting too.

It is true that bad lighting will instantly catch your eye, but if the lighting is perfect it can do its job without you even realising.

If you know what to look for, though, it is really easy to catch the lighting bug!

Good lighting can transform your home, office, garden or natural environment. It can accentuate features, create an atmosphere, highlight items, allow you to perform tasks properly, contribute to an interior design or act as a work of art in its own right.

Once you have seen what lighting can do you will definitely catch the lighting bug yourself!

As lighting technology continues to improve it opens up whole new possibilities of what can be achieved. Lights are now cheaper and more environmentally friendly to operate, and they come in more styles, designs, shapes and sizes than ever before.

The fittings can be small enough to be almost totally obscured from view, or large enough to make them major design features in the room.

We have created a series of lighting guides to help demonstrate how lights can transform each room in your home, from your kitchen to your bathroom, your living room to your bedroom, and your garden to your office.

At Scotlight Direct we want to encourage you to catch the lighting bug, so we offer a Price Promise whereby we agree to try to match or even beat the price of any product you buy from us if you can find it cheaper anywhere else online.

Visit the Scotlight Direct online superstore today and browse our full range of lighting products from some of the world’s leading brands.

Shop local this Christmas

Scotlight Direct is proud of its local connection and community roots

As we officially move out of summer in the UK, our thoughts begin to turn to Christmas again. Can you believe it is nearly that time of year again already?

Why not shop local this Christmas? Scotlight Direct has always valued its role in the local community, and while we are now successful national business we have never forgotten our roots in the heart of the community from which we started.

Our headquarters is still on the same high-street site that we started out in more than 20 years ago.

We employ and train staff from the local community, and we have worked with a number of local businesses including Glenrath Farms and Stobo Castle Health Spa to design and install bespoke lighting solutions for their successful businesses.

So why not shop local this Christmas and help invest in the talented and committed people up and down the country who make local businesses work all year round?

Shop local this Christmas at Scotlight Direct

At Scotlight Direct we stock a wide variety of Christmas lights, including:

Christmas tree lights
Christmas garden lights
LED candles
Ornamental lighting
Fairy lights

We deliver across the UK and work with a number of suppliers who may be local to you, including lighting designers and manufacturers throughout Scotland and England.

Not only will you be helping to support local business, you will also get the best deals on the market! At Scotlight Direct our Price Promise means that we will try to match or even beat the price of any light fitting if you are able to find it cheaper somewhere else online.

So it really does pay off to shop local this Christmas!

To find out more about Christmas lights, read our blog post Christmas Fairy Lights.

To shop local this Christmas at Scotlight Direct, visit us in store or browse our online superstore.

Domestic lighting solutions for your home

Take DIY to the next level with domestic lighting solutions for your home

Many of us love redecorating our homes but domestic lighting is often something which we overlook.

We all know how to use wallpaper, paint and furniture, for example, to make our homes look better, but lighting is one of the most important parts of all interior designs yet it is often the most neglected.

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Nowadays there are so many amazing domestic lighting options that can totally transform your home. They come in all different shapes, sizes, designs, and colours, and can emit a huge variety of different shades and styles of illumination.

At Scotlight Direct we are specialists in lighting solutions for your home.

Our online lighting superstore stocks thousands of fittings from the world’s top lighting designers, including floor lights, wall lights, table lamps, ceiling lights, garden lights, candle lights, LEDs, bathroom lights, kitchen lights, cabinet lights, mirror lights, picture lights, and light bulbs.

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The domestic lighting solutions provided by Scotlight can either complement an existing interior design, or help create an entirely new one.

As well as selling lights, our expert team of electricians is available to help with installations, designs and safety issues. If you would like to discuss any aspect of domestic lighting contact us today and one of our experienced professionals will get back to you.

You can also check out our great free series of helpful lighting guides, which include information on using domestic lighting in all of the different rooms in your home.

Visit the Scotlight Direct online superstore today and check out our full range of domestic lighting solutions.

If you would like to find out more about lighting solutions for your business or commercial property, read Stobo Castle gets a makeover from Scotlight Direct!