Dear Jean and Richard, I’ve noticed from the before and after photos on your website that you use a lot of lamps, sconces and chandeliers in your designs. I’m not sure my bedroom would look right with fancy fixtures, but it needs more light. What about track lighting? –Help me, Rhonda, Lee’s Summit, MO

Richard: Uh, no. That is, unless you want to merchandise your furniture for a photo shoot. I sense that you are averse to chandeliers, but they are available in all shapes, sizes, and finishes, and can offer a great deal of light for just one fixture.
Jean: Your choice of lighting makes a big statement. Are you romantic and mysterious, or are you clinical and no-nonsense? Track lighting is great for utilitarian spaces, but generally is not as sexy as chandelier candles or indirect lamp light. You would not normally put track lighting over your dining table, and I wouldn’t want it over my bed, either.
Richard: Well, you don’t have to be always practical or always romantic. But it’s true that lighting represents more than function these days. It wasn’t always like that—in medieval times, windows were installed to allow sunlight to illuminate the indoors rather than to look outdoors. Fireplaces were invented in the 13th century, which offered firelight as well as heat, and candles did not give way to lanterns until a few hundred years ago. The first electric lights were in general use barely a century ago, but rooms were still gloomy because most employed a single overhead bulb, while lamps were relegated for reading. Only recently have we had a choice how bright or dramatic we want our home environment.
Jean: Wow, Professor Fast! And I thought you got by on just your good looks! Well, if that’s all true, we’re lucky to be living in an era with so many options. And I say since you have choices, don’t select a light source on the basis of function alone. What’s wrong with replacing that 20th century overhead fixture with a chandelier styled for the 21st, or for that matter, styled to look like the 18th?
Richard: Certainly chandeliers made a statement of grandeur long before electricity came along. Today the options seem limitless, and some even can make a clean contemporary masculine statement. But lamp options are limitless too, and with that variety you can combine your sense of style with the amount of light you need.
Jean: Rhonda, I hate to admit it, but Richard’s right. Rather than have your light source come from overhead, consider a variety of floor and table lamps. Don’t have them match in design, but select them on the basis of a common quality. For example, if your bedroom has a period theme, select lamps that mirror the period. Or if your furniture is over-scaled, don’t use wispy lamps. And for a dramatic effect, add some sparkly things in the room that reflect the lamp light and offer a sense of enchantment.
Richard: For that matter, today many lamps—and fixtures—are truly works of art, and even the home improvement stores are starting to offer some interesting designs. I for one applaud the efforts many builders are making to install more interesting designs and finishes for their spec homes….considering they are making those decisions in between football games.
Jean: Hear that, Rhonda? All you have to do is move into a new house! But seriously, even in your current home, consider lighting an important element in your statement of style.