Real Life Design Lessons: Creative Ways to Use Lighting

Light fixtures are great in the home for illuminating things, of course, but they can also be used successfully to inject drama and boldness in a room, too. Consider these novel ways to use lighting in your home to make a bold design statement.

You can use lighting in your home to illuminate areas that you need to see better and to highlight interesting design elements. Nothing quite catches the eye in a space like something that’s lit up. In Scott and Jerre’s Chicago home, I spy a disco ball in a vignette made more eye-catching by back lighting it. The great thing about this idea is that it is very flexible and can be very affordable; you could use an inexpensive string of lights behind a design element (or even a battery-operated string light if there isn’t a nearby electrical outlet).

Who says pendant lights have to hang over a kitchen island or dining room table? Sure, they look great in those locations, but used in unusual spots like over living room seating, a simple hanging pendant can become a bold design statement. In fact, so bold and unexpected is this design idea that you can use it to save money: Affordable and budget light fixtures used in unusual spaces can make just as big of a visual impact as an expensive pendant hanging over a dining room table.

I loved the way that Scott and Jerre used these swing-arm wall-mounted lights in the kitchen. Attached high on a wall so that they hang over the kitchen island, they’re an unusual way to use wall-mounted lights in a room and a great solution for folks with high ceilings or who don’t want to hang anything from the ceiling.