Accent lighting can create beauty within your living space.

Increasingly outdoor lanterns have made their way into the home as wall sconces. They fill the need of providing surround lighting that can be used in every room of your home. Consider them in your entrance way on either side of your front door, the hallway, the stairwell, or the loft. The size of your indoor lanterns will tend to be smaller in size compared to your outdoor lanterns and will offer you a rustic compliment to your home.

Pendants offer direct task lighting to all the details of your home without overhead glare. Any room in the home that needs focused lighting without a potentially harsh overhead fixture is a good place to consider a pendant. With the many varieties of pendants on the market, it is a consideration every home owner should make while designing.

A great place to use the features of a pendant is over a kitchen island or the sink. When placing pendants over an island, measure 12″ from the edge of the counter space that you want to focus on. This way when you turn your pendants on you are not lighting the floor. You can even use a series of smaller pendants over the same counter space. For example, you can use three 8″ pendants over the island or two 12″ (or even 16″) pendants. Over the sink, use either the 12″ pendant or 8″ pendant. You want to place the pendants low enough so that you do not have the glare from the fixture.

In addition to the kitchen, pendants will provide lighting in a variety of other rooms. In the family area, place a single 12″ or 16″ pendant over a game table. The lighting will not interfere with others watching TV or a movie nearby. In the bathroom, small (8″) pendants can be used over the vanity to highlight the bathroom sink area. In the office, pendant lighting will illuminate your work area while freeing your desk space from a desk lamp without creating overhead glare.

When decorating the exterior of your home, a solid cedar wooden lamp post can soften the surroundings in a way that other lamp posts cannot offer. You can paint or stain them to compliment stone walkways, driveways, and your home. They are available in country, Victorian, and contemporary designs. Often the best choice for a lamp post will depend on a variety of factors, including placement, the size of the home itself, and your specific lighting needs. Our cedar lamp posts are 8 feet (6 feet above ground) or 10 feet (7.6 feet above ground). We offer them in 4×4, 5×5, and 6×6 sizes. We find that the lamp itself, or what we call the presence of the lamp, can dictate the type of post you want to choose. Often the eight footers are more than adequate. The ten footer is generally used in large open areas or if the home itself is large. There are no strict rules. With many design decisions, it comes down to what feels right for your home.

We recently worked with a home with a long winding driveway with beautiful flowers. They chose cedar wood lamp posts to compliment their surroundings which were heavily wooded with rocks and trees. The choice was made to bring the posts close and put them on both sides of the driveway. We also chose top mounted, in addition to side mounted lanterns, rather than using the same fixture for each post. The difference brought everything together. We weren’t trying to create a thoroughfare, but rather a beautiful path through the woods. It truly made the setting unique. In the end, the home owner (and the neighbors!) loved the lighting choices.

Chandeliers today can compliment every room in your home. Here are six places where a chandelier can express your personal style:

1. The Dining Room. The most standard size of a dining chandelier is 24″ wide. A smaller size chandelier would accommodate a dining nook or a smaller table accommodating dining for two. If the room is open concept or has strong architectural features (such as a wood ceiling or large beams or many windows), then a 24″ chandelier would appear small. In that case, a 26″ or even 27″ would look great in the dining area.

2. The Stairwell. The stairwell is the perfect place for a chandelier. For the stairwell, the style of the chandelier will be tall and narrow. The stairwell chandelier can be very different from other nearby lighting fixtures, creating a beautiful focal point to a space that is normally not as decorated as other places in the home.

3. The Cathedral Ceiling. Add a beautiful accent to your ceiling that can be enjoyed from every level in the house. Placed the chandelier on a dimmer and your ceiling can be highlighted to maximize the light throughout the room or dimmed to provide a candle light atmosphere.

4. The Bedroom. A chandelier is a beautiful way to compliment a bedroom. It can provide a warm, yet striking accent to the room. Often a shorter and wider style of chandelier looks best.

5. The Hallway. Small chandeliers for hallways are an excellent choice for complimenting your home decor. Hallway chandeliers are much smaller than any other chandelier seen in the home. These fixtures in your hallway will be 13″ to 17″ wide and 10″ to 13″ in height. Bring complimentary charm to your hallway bench (or artwork!) with these mini-chandeliers.

6. The Bathroom. Today’s bathroom is another excellent choice for a chandelier. I would suggest the smaller mini-chandeliers for highlighting the smaller space while adding a touch of soft light and elegance.

We offer a great variety of chandeliers for the home. They are available in all sizes and styles.

We are excited to introduce another way Barnhouse Lighting can help you with your lighting design project. Check back often for design tips straight from our full service lighting showroom. We’ll also give you the latest from fine manufacturers of American colonial reproduction lighting fixtures and furniture. In the future, we aim to produce helpful videos, informative slide shows, and much more.