Now that summer is here, a lot of people
are considering home improvement projects,
but you don’t have to tear down walls
or rearrange the furniture to make a statement.
In most cases, reworking the lighting is all
it will take to transform a room from drab
to fab.
“When people go into model homes and
see what’s in – the high ceilings,
angled walls and dramatic lighting –
they want to recreate those looks in their
own homes, but run into limitations. Unless
they’re willing to spend a lot of money
on renovations, they can’t do anything
about the shape of the room, but decorative
lighting can be used to transform the space
and create a sense of style anywhere,”
says Joe Rey-Barreau, educational consultant
for the American Lighting Association and
professor of interior design at the University
of Kentucky.
Rey-Barreau travels the country tracking
lighting trends, and believes one of the reasons
decorative lighting has become so popular
in the past two or three years is because
it allows you to easily add a modern touch
to any room without having to make expensive
upgrades.
Among the many options gaining in popularity,
putting recessed cans in kitchen and living
areas to better balance the light, installing
track lighting above areas you want to highlight,
putting up picture lights to showcase photos
and artwork and adding pendants that will
allow you to showcase a small area. These
days, lights are being hung over islands and
peninsulas in kitchens, and in rooms dedicated
to entertainment, over bars and gathering
spots in basements.
“When you think of a pendant, the image
that comes to mind is probably a small, obscure
fixture hanging from the ceiling to light
a specific area, but these days they are anything
but obscure,” says Rey-Barreau. “They
are fashion statements.”
Pendants are now available in all shapes,
sizes and looks ranging from traditional to
eclectic.
“The pendant offerings we have found
our customers reacting favorably to have been
those with a color pallet consistent with
an Asian Fusion, Retro and Tuscan/Mediterranean
style. Those utilizing calming neutrals with
clear hues infused with light are popular
as well,”
Marc Pfeiffer, national sales manager for
W.A.C. Lighting in New York, says the hottest
sellers right now are small pendants featuring
colored and multi-colored glass. “People
are seeking out the most unusual fixtures
they can find and putting them up not just
for the purpose of lighting a room, but also
to be conversation pieces,” he says.
Pendant fixtures made of metal can give a
room an almost gothic look. Ceramic fixtures
can be painted any color under the sun.
“If you’re looking for a more
unique look, a popular material to go with
is Murano glass that is hand-blown in Italy,”
says Ray-Barreau. “Each one is an original
work of art.”
Some Murano fixtures feature a single color
of glass blown into a bell- or bowl-shaped
fixture. Others are tapestries of color twisting
and turning into unusual shapes. Once you
hang the pendant up and add a light bulb,
color dances across the ceiling or wall where
the light is pointed.
Just as varied as the colors and materials
available for pendants are the methods of
display. “A lot of people are putting
up not one, but two, three or even four pendants
in a circle or row to emphasize a space,”
says Pfeiffer. “Some people hang each
of them from single channel fixtures. I’ve
also seen them displayed on tracks.”
Pendants range in price from around $30 to
upwards of $500 for those made of hand-blown
glass.