Choosing light fixtures for function, form, and budget
Dining and kitchen light fixtures at Little Farm
Our apartment in NYC had incredibly poor lighting. We had one wall of north-facing, floor-to-ceiling windows (with a taller building to the north) and vastly insufficient built-in lighting. There were pendant fixtures over the kitchen island, and nothing else in the main living space or bedroom. Despite our efforts with floor and table lamps, the apartment was just plain dark.
When it came time to choose lighting fixtures for Little Farm, we wanted to make our new home would have ample and appropriate lighting. We created our lighting plan while considering function, form, and budget — meanwhile being blessed with southern exposure and loads of natural light.
Function: floor plan first
A conundrum of new home construction is that the wiring for electrical fixtures comes early in the process. Once the house is framed out with studs, the electrician gets to work. That means we were making decisions on what kind of light fixtures we wanted where, long before there were walls or floors.
However, knowing how we would use all the different areas of our house was a critical input to knowing how we should light those areas (and also have power for things like an extra fridge in the garage). Our floor plan, including furniture layout, didn’t have to be set in stone, but it had to be in the ball park to support function-specific lighting.
We did a (virtual) walkthrough of our entire house with our electrician to determine the number and placement of:
Recessed lights
Pendant lights
Wall-mounted fixtures
Under cabinet lighting
Exterior lights and sensors
Plus appliance, power outlets, and internet access points
Those are some pretty serious decisions, coming at a time when the interior house was bare studs! Fortunately, I had gotten to work on our floor plan before even day one, so I was able to make lighting choices informed by the function of each space (e.g., knowing where our desks would be). Other decisions, like where we wanted smart switches and dimmers, would come much closer to the end of the project.
Form: defining our style
Once we knew the type and general placement of fixtures, it was time to start in on choosing the style. For years, we have been collecting approachable modern furniture pieces, with some mid-century modern touches. We also have a vintage art deco bar that came from an apartment on Park Avenue in Manhattan in the 1940s. Therefore, it seemed like our new living room was absolutely calling out for a classic George Nelson bubble fixture.
George Nelson bubble pendant above our living room
I didn’t want to go with the first idea in my head without exploring other fixtures. So I looked at dozens and dozens of other options in wood, metal, fabric, you name it. But after all was said and done, nothing would be as perfect as a large George Nelson saucer pendant. It’s visible from the outside when you approach the house. It’s at eye level when you’re on the second-floor loft. And it’s the perfect complement to our living room furniture.
Other important fixtures in our home include the dining and kitchen island lights. Being adjacent to one another in an open floor plan, I wanted them to work together, while honoring the farmhouse design of our home. Searching for “modern farmhouse” on any given lighting site yields a wealth of wagon wheels and other forms that are not what I would consider modern.
Design vocabulary is hard, as words mean different things to different people. I think Pinterest is where I first saw our kitchen island light fixture. And that helped eliminate the need for pesky vocabulary. Once you have an image of something you like, Pinterest is fantastic at helping you find similar things.
I fell in love with the Hinkley Fulton light fixture right away. It’s the perfect balance of modern and rustic. The bronze and brass finish brought allowed me to introduce metals into the palette, while adding warmth. Once I was certain the scale of our kitchen island could accommodate such a large fixture, it was a lock.
Kitchen island and dining light fixtures at Little Farm
The use of bronze is what turned me on to our Barn Light Loma Pendant for the dining fixture. I had my eye on Barn Light Electric Company as a provider of beautiful, customizable, modern farmhouse lighting options. The bronze finish on the simple dome shape connected the metals in color and finish, while providing contrast to the hard angles of the Hinkley island fixture. I simply love how these fixtures work together.
Budget: making it fit was pretty easy
Compared to kitchen cabinetry, lighting was pretty easy to fit within our budget. We chose our handful of statement pieces first, and none of them broke the bank. With a fixed amount for the remainder of our lighting budget, we got to work on finding the best deals.
Light fixtures are an easy target for cost savings. Here are a few reasons why:
Very basic fixtures are fine for less frequently used areas. I went with simple, modern LED bars for above the vanities in our guest bathrooms. Choosing the right wattage equivalent (lumens) and color temperature (Kelvin scale) for the function of the rooms was most important.
Price shopping is easy with lighting. Find the model number of piece you want and do a Google search. You’ll get plenty of results. We saved hundreds doing this.
Online lighting stores have lots of sales, especially around holidays. Time it up, and you’ll easily save 20% or more on fixtures, lamps, and bulbs.
Amazon is a good source for things like exterior fixtures, security lights, posts, and post lights. These come in a wide variety of styles, but are not the focal point of your lighting plan. Amazon is also a good source of smart switches, smart bulbs, etc.
At end of the day, we were delighted to come in exactly at budget for our lighting. Function, form, and budget all came together perfectly, which is an all-to-rare statement to make in new home construction
