Lighten Up
Don’t get too trendy, but refresh lighting fixtures every once in a while

By Monica Young
Special Sections Writer

Make a dramatic statement with a lighting fixture like this that has detailed ironwork. S&W Lighting on Stratford Road has this piece and other contemporary and traditional lighting.

On a recent weekend, HGTV showed a bathroom renovation. Though the sleek transformation into a spa-like Zen setting was gorgeous, the biggest difference to the small room was made with lighting. A drop ceiling with rectangular Plexiglas, bug-catching panels was replaced with a light fixture made from golden hand-blown glass with multicolored swirls artistically circling the globe. Talk about a major wow factor.

Look around. Are your fixtures beginning to look a bit passé?
The shiny brass fixtures that were so popular a decade or two ago now date a house rather than enhance it.

Dan Gnass, the owner of S&W Lighting on Stratford Road, recommends updating light fixtures every five or 10 years.

“When updating, try not to go too trendy. Otherwise, you will need to update sooner. However, right now bronze fixtures are popular. This is a good thing for updating because they are so neutral,” Gnass said.

Lighting is often taken for granted, and fixtures should be considered like another accessory when evaluating a room. For example, a mammoth great room with a tiny white-and-brass ceiling fan looks incredibly out of scale. For a more up-to-date look, try replacing the fan with one with warmer tones and bronze accents. And adding lamps creates ambience.

Recently the American Lighting Association (ALA) released a report explaining that lighting has taken three tracks — casual elegance, soft contemporary and simplified traditional. However, Joe Rey-Barreau, a University of Kentucky associate professor of interior design, who is an architect, lighting designer and ALA consultant, says that pluralism is what is really setting the tone in lighting fashion.

“The main trend is pluralism, which means a little bit of everything,” he said. “It has exploded in the last five years, so a person who hasn’t updated will find the extreme in design styles.”

Different combinations of bronzed metals with elegant shades and crystal accents can create an upscale look. Homeowners who update their lighting are finding that adding a fixture in a neutral aged bronze doesn’t require changing everything else in the room that may have coordinated with brass before.

“If you have a house that is 10 years old or more, you can get tired of looking at the lighting. It is like redoing flooring or paint colors. People look at these things, especially if you are trying to sell your house,” Gnass said.

The nice part of the new chandelier styling is that it brings together formal elegance with more casual finishes. Darker rust browns to blacks to bronzed hues de-formalize designs that still drip with crystals or are formidable in shape and size.

Plus, the newer chandelier designs reduce glare and direct light more efficiently downward, Rey-Barreau said. In years past, chandeliers were more for show. Although they looked pretty, they would illuminate an entire room without the benefit of positioned lighting. The effect diminished the chandelier’s role. Now, however, new chandeliers are decorative and functional, especially with fabric shades and different types of glass being used to reduce glare.

Another trend is the heightened use of pendant lighting. A single hanging fixture with a small shade can create a strong statement, or a grouping of pendant lights can accomplish the same goal.

“If you put pendant lighting over a kitchen island, you have the light right where you need it as well as a focal point,” Rey-Barreau said.

Another trend Rey-Barreau pointed out is the MonoRail system, where a single fixture can be used to light an entire room. The low-voltage Tech Lighting MonoRail system allows cool lighting in small spaces and is perfect for older home updates. Plus, the rail can be shaped by hand to create a curving, flowing ceiling base for ultra-cool looks.

Rey-Barreau is seeing modern and contemporary fixtures making a strong return and being mixed with more traditional styles with hipper finishes.

“There are so many variables. From the point-of-view of design, we’re seeing everything but polished brass being introduced. It’s mixing and matching. Pluralism is really eclecticism. People are daring and creative about what can and will work,” he said.