Light it Up

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March 4, 2025

Few things get me more excited when building, designing and maintaining a home than lighting!! Lighting is the bling, the style, the glue that unites your style room by room! It can add joy and life, cozy vibes, practicality and uniqueness to the various spaces you desire to create. Here’s a few things I’ve learned that can help you elevate the overall look and brightness of your home.

Do use complimentary lighting. Don’t matchy-match!

It can certainly be tempting to fixate on a singular shape, color or type of lighting and implement in all rooms and spaces in your home for coordination. In doing so, though, a home can give a sterile and predictable vibe rather than a flow of collected spaces that are unique in function with a cohesive design. I recommend incorporating lighting that is stylistically similar but subtly surprising as you move through your home. This doesn’t mean that all light fixtures are a showpiece, but that, individually, they point to the home’s overall design theme in their unique way.

2. Coordinate your finishes within your space and home.

Though each light can have differing qualities, coordinating your lighting with finishes is a great way to keep it all unified. In our home, we have both brushed gold and matte black finishes and hardware. When considering and planning lighting, we made sure that those tones were the anchor. Matching gold tones is important too. It can be a challenge but the payoff is massive.

3. Consider functionality and utilization, not only style.

Planning ahead when choosing lighting is key. Does your space require a lot of light? Does your light fixture have shades that will darken or dampen your space? Does a dimmer make sense in a room? Does the fixture size match the space you need it to fill? Lighting that looks beautiful but is also practical will go the distance!

4. Don’t forget about your bulbs!

When we built our first house I was AMAZED at the impact of what type of bulb we used. Daylight, soft white, amber, etc…they all have their place. I prefer and recommend consistency as much as possible. Soft white is my favorite for the home. It tends to add to a sense of cozy while avoiding some of the sterile hues or somber vibes of other bulbs! Use dimmers where you’d like to have options for more intimate lighting.

5. Change them when needed!

I recently walked through a home for sale that was beautiful, yet displayed extremely dated lighting. Updating it would be a simple, cost effective way to elevate the home and make it stand out amongst its competitors. Not all homes need a major overhaul every few years, lighting updates can do amazing things to add value!

6. Have fun and shop around!

DO have so much fun! Explore various shops online, big box stores and specialty ones as well. Find styles you love and look for affordable dupes. Decide what fixtures mean the most for you to invest or splurge on and where you can simplify. Antique stores or Etsy can be a GREAT sources of unique fixtures where they make sense! Enjoy making your house a home!