Saturday, April 30, 2011

In-Laws' House: Lighting

I previously mentioned the light fixture hunt, but realized I never shared the results.                                                                                                                                                         
Right or wrong, we bucked the realtor's advice and chose not to use oil rubbed bronze lighting in my in-laws' house for resale.  The reasons were threefold:                                                                                                      
Dining Room pendant
1) Trend. The whole family felt oil-rubbed bronze is trendy, and possibly on its way out, while stainless/nickel is more timeless.                                                                                                           
2) Dark.  We were getting rid of most of the 1970s dark brown and didn't want to add any back in, especially at eye level.  We wanted the metals to blend with the new light finishes, not connect with and bring the remaining dark finishes to the forefront.                                                                                                                                            
3) Dull.  ORB fixtures have tan or amber glass shades, diminishing the light offered by the fixtures.  The dull glow of such fixtures will not be advantageous to the feel of the home, which, additionally, has low ceilings in every room but the living/dining, and not a lot of natural light.                                                          
The challenges were to choose something contemporary without being too 'out there' for buyers with more traditional tastes, and, of course, not to spend too much money.  Attractive, and with some interest, but not overbearing or expensive.                                                                                                                                   
Entry fixture.  The ceiling height dictated the
choice of a flush mount.
We ordered from LightingUniverse.com and LightingDirect.com.  Both companies shipped quickly and offered good prices and free shipping.  The only complaint I had was with Lighting Universe.  Too often something I liked and placed in my cart was listed as "In Stock" on the description page, but came up as "Out of Stock" at checkout.   I would think I finally had a suite of fixtures that would work well together, that would arrive in a timely manner, but then have to start over.  Lighting Direct didn't have those problems, but didn't have as many fixtures to fit our needs in the price range I set.


Bedrooms and hallways have similar fixtures,
just in different sizes for proper scale
                                                                                                                                     
                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                                                                         
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