Flick of the Switch

I mentioned on Tuesday that the electrician had turned up to replace all the sockets and switches, but realised today that I’ve not shown any evidence of the end result! The lower socket in the picture is one of the black nickel, flat plate type that we had fitted throughout most of the house (kitchen and bedroom were to be done at a later date) two years ago. At that time, we were planning to have this finish throughout - we’d chosen door handles and hinges to match. But by the time we’d organised a joiner and got covid lockdowns out of the way, we’d fallen out of love with those sockets and switches. They’re great if you’ve got absolutely flat smooth walls, but we live in a 50 year old bungalow and those are two adjectives you definitely can’t apply to a description of our walls. Factor in that we specified a satin chrome finish when we actually came to order the door handles, and you can see that the change of sockets and switches was inevitable.
And the new ones are a great improvement, both in looks and in fit. And because the joiner has finished in the bedroom, we’ve now got them fitted there as well. And the ones for the kitchen are sitting in a box, just waiting for the tiler to do his thing next week.
When we moved into this house 18 years ago, there was a right mish mash of sockets and switches. They worked, but looked dreadful. But now we are in touching distance of having everything looking the same. Some might say that, as the old ones still worked, it is a bit of an indulgence just to change them for ones that look better (especially as this is the second time we’ve done it!), but I don’t care. This is likely to be our home for many years to come and we want it to be as nice as possible. And we need to get it right this time because I’m not sure I could face going through all the mess and upheaval again in five or ten years time.