A custom finish: our Clear and paintable products

Using paint or wallpaper, you can bring a tailored look to your switches, sockets and spotlights.

A custom finish: our Clear and paintable products
Our switches, sockets and some of our surface-mounted spotlights can be customised to either blend in with, or stand out from, your walls and ceilings. Here’s how we’d suggest going about it.

In short
Our Brompton, Durham and our new Pembroke spotlights are prepped, primed and ready to coat in your chosen paint colour. The same goes for our new paintable switches and sockets.

The primer itself has been developed by us. It’s etched, which means the paint will adhere to it really well, and it’s easy to get an even coverage.

There’s also our Clear switch and socket offering. The ultra-slim plates are made from transparent polycarbonate and come with a paper template that you can either paint over or use as a guide to cut out wallpaper.
In detail, starting with switches & sockets
We’ve written all about our Clear collection here (there’s a helpful installation video included too). It covers how to use wallpaper or paint to achieve a really discreet, near-invisible look on your walls.

There is, however, another way to approach the range. One that makes a feature out of the transparent plate instead.

If you’ve used (or you’re planning to use) wallpaper on your walls, you can pick out an accent colour in the wallpaper’s design. Then, simply select a matching paint and use it to cover the paper template that’ll sit behind the Clear plate.
This will work just as effectively with our primed paintable plates too – although there’s no paper template needed in this instance; just grab a roller and apply the paint straight onto the front of the plate.

Instead of a high-sheen, almost glass-like appearance (characteristic of our Clear style), the painted finish on your switches and sockets will be more or less completely matt, depending on the type of paint you’ve used.

As with our Clear plates, you can, of course, also pair our paintable plates with painted walls. For the subtlest, most seamless look possible, use the exact same paint on both surfaces.

Otherwise, why not ring the changes and choose one standout colour for both your woodwork (think skirting, architraves, even the door itself) and switch and socket plates?
And now, for spotlights
If you want your home’s electrics to be as inconspicuous as possible, you can customise more than just our switches and sockets.

Our paintable range of surface-mounted spotlights are primed in the same formula as our front plates, meaning you can coat them in the same paint as your ceiling before installation.

Alternatively, if you’ve opted to paint your switches and sockets in a contrasting shade (whether or not that extends to your woodwork too), you could take it one step further by bringing your spotlights into the mix.

The same goes for the wallpaper approach. Take the accent colour selected from the design onto your spotlights as well as your paintable or Clear switches and sockets to create a harmonising look that’s unique to your home.

Published on 13th May 2024