Why I will never understand the big light.
By Lara Martin | Sandy Beach Decor
I am weirdly particular about lighting.
Actually, weirdly might be an understatement. I want options. I want the light for cleaning the house, the light for reading, the light for having people over, the light for watching TV and the completely unnecessary little lamp in the corner that isn’t really illuminating anything but makes the whole room feel better.
And they need to be warm.
If I turn on a light and suddenly feel like I’m sitting in CVS waiting for my prescription, we’re going to have a problem.
I think lighting is one of the most overlooked parts of decorating a house. We spend so much time choosing paint colors, furniture, rugs, wallpaper and everything else, and then sometimes stick one bright bulb in the middle of the ceiling and call it a day.
Meanwhile, that one light can completely change how everything else in the room looks.
I want my house to feel warm. I want little pockets of light. I want to be able to change the mood depending on what we’re doing. And I really, really love a vintage light fixture.
The Big Light Has a Purpose. Sometimes.
I’m not saying I don’t have overhead lights. Obviously I do. Sometimes you need to actually see what you’re doing.
If I’m cleaning, looking for something I dropped or trying to determine what questionable substance the dog just tracked through the house, give me all the light.
But that’s not the same lighting I want at eight o’clock at night when I’m sitting on the couch.
That’s where lamps come in.
A couple of lamps placed around a room instantly make it feel different. Instead of one giant blast of light coming down from the ceiling, you get these softer little areas of light around the room. Everything feels warmer and calmer.
And the best part is that you can change it.
That’s what I love most about having different lighting options. A house doesn’t have to have one mood.
I Want Options
During the day, I want as much natural light as I can get. At night, I want to control exactly how the room feels.
Maybe I want enough light to read. Maybe I want the room dim and cozy. Maybe people are over and I want everything glowing. Maybe I’m watching a movie and I only want one little lamp on across the room.
Lighting lets you change the entire personality of a space without moving a single piece of furniture.
That’s why I would almost always rather have several smaller sources of light than one giant one.
Table lamps. Floor lamps. Hanging lamps. Sconces. Picture lights. Candles. Little lamps on counters.
Yes, I will absolutely put a lamp somewhere that probably doesn’t technically require a lamp.
I stand by it.
Warm Light Changes Everything
I am firmly on Team Warm Light.
There are definitely places where brighter, cooler lighting makes sense, but in the spaces where I’m trying to relax, I don’t want harsh white light.
Warm light makes wood look richer. It makes vintage pieces look prettier. It softens a room. It makes colors feel warmer and suddenly that random corner you didn’t know what to do with feels intentional.
It’s also why I pay attention to bulbs and not just fixtures. You can buy the prettiest lamp in the world and put the wrong bulb in it and completely change the feeling you were trying to create.
One of the pieces on my lighting list is actually the macramé hanging lamp shade I use in my own bedroom. I put a 60-watt bulb in it and it’s enough for me to read while still giving the bedroom the softer feeling I want.
That’s exactly what I’m talking about. I need the room to function, but I also care about how it feels.
Vintage Lighting Is Basically Jewelry for a Room
I have such a weakness for vintage lighting.
Colored glass. Milk glass. Amber globes. Old schoolhouse shapes. Brass. Ceramic fixtures. Anything that looks like it might have already lived another life before it got to me.
Even in a newer house, one vintage-looking fixture can immediately make the room feel more collected.
And you don’t necessarily have to hunt antique stores or pay antique-store prices to get that look anymore. I found some really beautiful vintage-inspired pieces for my lighting collection, including an amber globe fixture with that old Victorian/schoolhouse feeling, a milk-glass pendant and a turquoise glass pendant that would be so good in an entry or hallway.
That’s the kind of thing I love.
Give me one slightly unexpected fixture over five perfectly matching ones any day.
Your Lighting Doesn’t All Have to Match
This goes right along with what I said in my post about making your home feel collected instead of decorated.
Please don’t feel like every light fixture in your house has to come from the same collection.
They should get along. They don’t need to be twins.
You can have an old-looking brass fixture in one room, a beautiful glass pendant in another and something natural and woven somewhere else.
In fact, I think that’s what makes a house interesting.
My lighting list is a perfect example of that because it’s kind of all over the place in the best possible way. There are vintage glass fixtures, a blue lotus pendant, raffia, Capiz shell, a purple striped-glass pendant, brass vanity lighting and even a rattan ceiling fan.
They’re not a matching set.
They’re things I would actually stop and look at.
That’s the difference.
Plug-In Lights Deserve More Credit
This is one of my favorite decorating tricks because you don’t necessarily need an electrician to add another layer of lighting.
Plug-in lights have gotten GOOD.
There are plug-in pendant kits that let you turn a shade you love into a hanging lamp, and there are actual plug-in pendants now that don’t look like something you rigged up in a college apartment.
I found a purple striped-glass plug-in pendant that I honestly couldn’t believe was a plug-in light.
This is especially good if you’re renting, you’re not ready to start opening walls, or you just want to experiment before committing to something permanent.
Find a dark corner. Hang something beautiful. Add a warm bulb.
Suddenly the corner has a reason to exist.
Lighting Can Be the Interesting Thing
Not every room needs twelve focal points.
Sometimes the light fixture can be the thing.
If your room is fairly simple, that is exactly where I’d bring in something with personality. A colored glass pendant, an unusual vintage shape or something with texture can make a basic room feel completely different.
I especially love this idea in entryways and hallways because those are spaces we tend to forget about.
They’re also the first little glimpses people get of your house.
Put a beautiful vintage-inspired light in an otherwise ordinary hallway and suddenly the hallway isn’t ordinary anymore.
And Yes, I Still Love a Little Coastal
Sandy Beach Decor isn’t just coastal decor, but come on. I’m still me.
Give me Capiz shell and woven raffia and I’m going to look.
The trick for me is keeping it subtle. I don’t necessarily need a room screaming BEACH HOUSE. I like pieces that hint at it.
A Capiz shell fixture catching warm light is gorgeous whether you’re actually overlooking the ocean or nowhere near it. A natural raffia shade adds texture without making the room themed.
I have both in my lighting collection because they’re exactly the kind of pieces that give you that relaxed East Coast feeling without putting an anchor on everything.
Before You Redecorate the Room, Change the Light
This is probably the biggest thing I want you to take from this.
If you have a room that feels off and you can’t figure out why, don’t immediately start buying furniture.
Turn off the overhead light.
Seriously.
Put a lamp in a dark corner. Try a warmer bulb. Move a lamp from another room. Add a little light near a chair. Light a candle.
Then look at the room again.
Sometimes the room wasn’t the problem at all.
You just had it under interrogation lighting.
I’ve been collecting lighting I love in one place because apparently this is now one of my hobbies. There are currently 27 finds in the collection, divided between plug-in options and hardwired fixtures, so there are choices whether you’re doing a real renovation or just trying to make one sad corner of your house prettier.
Some are vintage. Some are boho. Some lean coastal. Some are feminine. Some are a little weird.
In other words, exactly how I like it.
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