A Guide to Selecting Your Custom Home’s Light Fixtures
Unlike renovating an existing home, when you are building a custom home there’s no need to worry about maintaining the previous light fixture placement, or springing for expensive electrical rewiring to get the placement you actually want. A custom home allows you to design your lighting your way, from the start.
Choosing the right fixtures, though, can be challenging. Even the most beautiful fixture can look out of place in a room if it is not correct in its size, scale, finish, or style. To help ease the selection process, and to avoid the hassle of a return or fixture swap in the future, we have a step-by-step guide that will simplify your experience and let you focus on enjoying the end result.
Step 1: Narrow Your Search by Knowing Your Style
Before you begin to source your light fixtures, it will save you a substantial amount of time to first solidify your style. This is an absolute necessity because there are an endless number of light fixtures available on the market. The goal when selecting your fixtures is to make the process as straightforward as possible, and that starts with narrowing down your search.
Are you drawn to traditional silhouettes? Do you prefer streamlined and clean, modern lines? What style is your custom home built around? Whatever direction you’ve gone with the rest of your home’s aesthetic is the direction you’ll want to follow when choosing your lighting. It’s easy to get distracted by a gorgeous wedding cake chandelier that would look luxurious in your foyer. But if you have an ultra-contemporary approach to your home design in every other space, it will undoubtedly feel jarring style-wise. Stick to your existing aesthetic and keep your design style top of mind, and we guarantee the selection process will be far easier for you.
Step 2: Take Note of Placement & Type
The beauty of choosing light fixtures in a custom home is that you know exactly where your fixtures need to be placed. Based on your home’s design, you should have a clear list of exactly how many lights you need, and which types of fixtures you need. Your builder can work with you to lay out a checklist of vanity light type, kitchen island pendants, flush mounts, semi-flush mounts, can lighting, or chandeliers, depending on each space’s needs. Armed with a detailed amount of information will help you to know precisely what you should be looking for during your search.
Step 3: Measure Your Space for Scale
To narrow down your selections further, you need to know the size and scale of each space. This is where measurements come into play – once you have the right sizes narrowed down, you can customize your search from there. A basic rule of thumb is to choose a light fixture that fits the size of each room (and when in doubt, go larger than you think is necessary). For example, a miniscule flush-mount light in a wide-open living room with cathedral ceilings will look far too tiny, and functionally, it won’t provide enough light for the entire space. In this case, you’d want to opt for either an oversized chandelier that adequately fits the scale of the room, or multiple smaller lights throughout the ceiling space to provide scale and enough light. Conversely, a smaller mudroom or laundry room needs a smaller-scale fixture to match its size. Options appropriate for such a smaller space could include simple flush mount or semi-flush mount fixtures, or even wall sconces, for a simple and fit-to-size look.
Step 4: Stick to Your Finishes
Just as you want to stay consistent with your light fixture style throughout your custom home, you also want to pay attention to your fixture finishes. And while a mix-and-match approach can look quite beautiful, and there certainly isn’t a hard and fast rule about mixing fixture finishes, you want to ensure that you’re being intentional about your finish selections. Overall, you want to stick to similar finishes in each room, and opt for no more than two different metals in any given space. Brushed brass and matte black, for instance, go quite well together and make for a stunning contemporary aesthetic. Likewise, a brushed nickel or an antique bronze finish will add a warm and traditional vibe to a room. Chrome tends to brighten things up, and matte black will make the best pairing with fixtures in this finish.
Light fixtures don’t have to be complicated, and with our quick checklist the process should be quite approachable. So, if you’ve been scrolling through endless pages of fixtures, feeling like the selection process will never end, don’t stress. With key search criteria firmly in place, narrowing down your choices will be much more manageable, and you’ll have a beautiful light-filled home in no time.
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