Case study

Modern Detached, Cobham

Contemporary render and wide glazing, lit along the horizontal: eaves, canopy edge, boundary wall and two clipped bay trees.

CobhamEaves, canopy, boundary, bay treesWarm white linear and pea fairy

Modern detached house in Cobham with warm white Christmas lights along the eaves and canopy and two lit bay trees at the entrance

Property: Modern detached
Area: Cobham, Surrey
Wall type: Render — no penetrations
Palette: Warm white, second season

Schemes like this run £2,000–£3,000 for the season

The brief

A modern detached house in Cobham — render, wide glazing, a flat-roofed porch canopy and almost no traditional roofline to work with. Contemporary houses are the ones people assume can't be lit well. They can; it just needs a different approach.

What we installed

Warm white following the eaves line and the flat canopy edge, emphasising the horizontal geometry
Two clipped bay trees either side of the entrance, close-wound
A low run defining the front boundary wall, so the plot reads as a whole
Deliberately nothing on the glazing: reflections in large panes turn strings into glare

The constraint

Render. You do not fix into render, and anyone who offers to is costing you a repair. Everything is carried on non-penetrating fixings to the fascia, canopy edge and hard landscaping.

The result

Clean horizontal lines, no clutter, and a lit entrance that suits the architecture rather than fighting it. The owners kept the same design the following season.

Same treatment, your house