Mood lighting: How to set the scene for Valentine’s night 

Create the perfect romantic atmosphere in your home by utilising those light settings to best advantage

Smart mood lighting can form part of your wider entertainment hub. Controlled including dimming by a dedicated app, Philips Hue offers a good entry point, but you use individually controlled bulbs without even a hub through the Ikea Tradfri (from 10 a piece), ikea.com/ie

A piece from a 2014 copy of the US edition of Men's Health magazine caught my attention. Set in the midst of reasonable, intelligent ideas for configuring a sexy environment with dimmers and candles because “if your bare babe is like a lot of women, ‘lights off’ is a prerequisite for any amorous activities” is the sort of spirit-squashing pressure that turns anyone over the age of 25 off like a proverbial light switch.

If my husband brought these staging suggestions to me overtly, he wouldn’t be in good health or enjoying the marital bed for a very, very long time.