LIGHTING DESIGN RULES YOU SHOULD BREAK
In the world of design, lighting rules are sometimes meant to be broken. Whether you’re designing a formal dining room or a gourmet kitchen, your options for light fixtures are virtually endless.
Before you nix a decorative lighting plan for its unconventional direction, make sure to consider these “lighting design rules” we think you should break.
- Chandeliers Are for Formal Spaces: Decorative fixtures are no longer relegated to our most formal rooms. Breaking the “design mold,” chandeliers are making extravagant appearances in unconventional areas, including bedrooms, bathrooms and over small kitchen tables. We primarily choose decorative lighting based on aesthetics, but a custom chandelier can also provide functional task lighting as a central fixture in master bathrooms.
- Light Fixture Materials Must Match: In fact, greater visual interest can be achieved by crafting light fixtures from unique materials. For instance, you can play up the look of distressed metalwork by introducing a hand-hewn Craftsman light fixture into a luxury kitchen full of stainless steel appliances. Mixing metals and other materials (think lashed rawhide in a sleek dining room) is a great way to give timeless pieces a contemporary twist. Hammerton routinely works with customer-specified materials, including textured glass, organic eco-resins and semi-precious stones, to match virtually any style.
- All Lighting Styles Must Be the Same: Static rooms can start and end with the ceiling. Spruce your room up with more than one lighting style to create a dynamic look with an eclectic vibe. Instead of installing one contemporary light fixture in a modern living room, consider staggering a cluster of pendants that showcase different colored lens materials. Grouping different pendants in complementary styles can still maintain a cohesive look in transitional spaces.
- Light Fixtures Can Only Perform One Function: Lighting designers often tell us “there are four different kinds of light: ambient, task, accent and decorative,” but you can often get two or three types of lighting in one fixture. For instance, a contemporary dining fixture can provide ambient, accent and task lighting when downward facing puck lights are included on the underside. This is extremely important when the rules of thumb on lumens are not generous enough for older eyes.
Hammerton crafts light fixtures in hundreds of designs using a variety of materials to meet every style and function. Contact us to explore creative possibilities for your home’s lighting.
