Bed and wall art

So what do you think of when you think of lighting? Brightness? Ambiance? Type of usage? Color tone? All of the above? In my first condo, just like in my first rental apartment, my main goal was just to be able to see what I was doing, whether I was eating dinner sitting at my two-seater round wicker and glass table or reading a book sitting comfortably on my couch. At that time, I bought what I could afford and what I was able to easily obtain. So I suppose during those early years my basic focus was on how bright my lighting was. The lighting fixtures for me only served a basic purpose, they were functional....Are they allowing me to see what I am doing? Placing a floor lamp in the corner of my living room near my couch similar to this one was perfect for book reading. 

floor lamp with shade

While placing a flush mount such as this filled my need for lighting during my evening meals.crystal flushmount

 

Three years passed in my three bedroom condo, and all I ever changed about my lighting was the light bulbs...until I was introduced to a beautiful porcelain light fixture. It was a handmade chandelier from overseas, small enough to fit over my round wicker and glass dinner table. Given to me as a gift, it opened my eyes to the world of lighting possibilities, no matter how small the space of the room. Here is an example of a smaller chandelier. small black steel chandelier

For the next several years, my attention was on my family, work, and furthering my education. During that time I studied a lot and used desk lamps to help illuminate my study area. pivoting linen lamp shade desk lamp

Eventually, with my relatives and friends from overseas and in the USA visiting often, I decided it was time to find a larger square footage to live in. For the second time, the perfect place for me was found by accident. Do you ever drive along a route and way in the distance see a big helium balloon tethered to the earth? To the real estate agents that don't believe in this type of recruitment… for us adventurous people out there, it beckons to us, "Come explore what we have to offer!" A model home to look at, a few houses already built, a map showing the future neighborhood, and my pick of the best plot of land to build on. No directly facing neighbor to the front, a huge expanse of farm land behind my fenced yard, a good grocery store 1 mile away, schools and shopping places all less than 15 minutes away….perfect. Within one year, I moved in. Besides new furniture for my bigger space, what was my first very important focus? The type of lighting fixtures, of course! I had fallen in love with handmade glass chandeliers, so I proceeded to put clear ones in the dining room and alcove (where I had three bookcases filled with books and memorabilias), and a small brownish tinted one in the master bedroom. When people entered my home, the comment always was,"Wow! Beautiful chandeliers!" They were like eye candy, real attention getters. The combination of the type of furniture I placed in my rooms and the style of lighting fixtures I installed overall created a very warm ambiance. You can do the same by choosing chandeliers such as this one.gold metal shade chandelier

The feeling of my home known to my family and friends was always "My home is your home." Coffee for the morning was always pre-set the night before, and everyone knew where to easily find the sugar, cream, and their favorite coffee cup. Colorful fruit in a bowl on the kitchen countertop sat available  to be eaten at any moment of the day when it caught someone's eye, and the refrigerator door was opened and closed at will. Over the years, those who visited felt very comfortable in my home and noticed how my taste in decorating changed as time went on. The last few years of my time in my house saw a few changes here and there. The dining table was changed, the couches were switched out, the book shelves were moved out, the tv was enlarged, and of course one of the lighting fixtures was exchanged. I replaced the handmade glass chandelier in the dining room for a more modern one. It had a chrome frame, silver wires for hanging from the ceiling, and one round black cloth lampshade that enclosed 6 lights. Another good example of a modern chandelier is shown below.urban industrial brass chandelier

I never considered changing the "Wow!" impact of the glass chandelier in the alcove near my front door entrance, nor the small glass brownish tinted one in my master bedroom. What I learned at this time is that it is okay to have different styles of lighting in the same home, even if they are within eyesight of each other in different rooms. It actually makes a home more interesting inside if everything is not so matchy-matchy.

At some point, I began to think….change is good....the time is right....time for a new adventure. And so the hunt began for a new home. Notice I say "home," not house. The decision was made to sell my house and in return buy a condo….in a different city, different state. Talk about adventures! It was daunting to think about how to downsize from living in a home with a garage for many years to a condo with no storage but large walk-in closets. And once again, choose new furniture and lighting fixtures. For the furniture; color, style, and comfort was my focus. For my ideas on the lighting, I concentrated on where they need to be located to suit my needs, what style is best for the type of ambiance I wanted to create, and what type of material or finish I wanted to see throughout my home. I found that by pinpointing these three aspects, I could more easily sift through the many options available to me. During my search, I found that I needed to also think about the vanity lighting in my bathrooms. Should I get horizontal ones? horizontal silver crystal vanity light with shades

Or is it better to do something different like going vertically? Here is a good example of a vertical wall sconce. iron wall sconce with glass shade

Now you would think that after deciding upon the lighting fixtures to be in one's home that it would be the end of the decision-making related to lighting, right? Well... you should also consider which types of bulbs you want in your lighting fixtures. For example, maybe you want to switch your bulbs in your pendant lighting such as the one showing? black finish drum pendant

If you want bulbs that save energy, are cool-to-the-touch, and long lasting, then I suggest getting LED bulbs. If you go this route, remember to also think of which type of LED bulb temperature you want for each lighting fixture. This has to do with how bright you want the lighted area to be ....soft white, bright, or daylight. If you instead want to use standard incandescent light bulbs, then you need to choose what wattage you want them to be, either 40, 60, or 100 watts. The higher the number, the more brightly lit the area.