One of the best ways to create a statement with the interior design of a room is by using antique lighting, second only to antique furniture in its ability to create remarkable effect and influence mood and style. I am frequently astonished that not everybody places enough emphasis on the importance of beautiful, carefully chosen lighting ~ no matter which style you choose. Of course, my focus on lighting comes from years of working in the lighting design field, initially as an electrical engineer designing hotels, hospitals, homes and offices. During the past two decades, my focus continued with the interior design work throughout our showrooms, plus helping friends and clients achieve one of a kind effects using lighting in both new construction or remodeling.
We have created lighting layouts for projects from small cottages to historic mansions, and I am always inspired by the remarkable difference antique lighting creates in a room. It is an irresistible and seductive component of style and design. Antique lighting goes beyond the task of mere illumination, bringing a design into focus. The authenticity of antique lighting also adds dignity and grace to each particular style in a home. Uniqueness, charm and character always come with abundance, evoking luxury as well as essence of sophistication and endurance of character.
In a provincial style interior, Country French iron chandeliers add the elemental texture of hand-forged ironwork. Such timeless antiques bring rustic country charm and help express a true reflection of the style. The understated elegance and light visual weight of the design of most Country French chandeliers fills the room with an airy and comfortable atmosphere. The addition of crystals to a provincial chandelier can give additional sparkle and lightness to an otherwise heavier texture as you can see in the photo above.
One of the things we love to do at Inessa Stewart’s Antiques and Interiors is to take antique found objects such as architectural remnants, and create unusual lighting and lamps from such one-of-a-kind pieces (I wired my first lamp 30 years ago and it still sits proudly in my home office). Sometimes old and almost discarded items such as oil lamps (notice the floor lamp above) or antique architectural finds (note the 17th century architectural fragment featured below) can be re-purposed to create exceptional focal accents ~ and sometimes a little whimsy.
The beauty of such well-chosen designs is that the lighting can be created to fit a particular vignette or display. Many times we have designed a custom lamp to achieve special requirements of dimension and style. Below is a lamp that was created from antique andirons to work with the other accessories in the bookcase.
I hope in this blog we have piqued your curiosity and perhaps have inspired you to use antique and vintage lighting to bring an uncommon approach to your future design ventures.
What an amazing and bustling January it has been. We received three enormous “45 high cube” shipments of antique furniture and antique accessories in Dallas and Baton Rouge! Therefore our staff has been setting up, waxing, delivering and shipping sold items. Since we pre-sell many items before they arrive, it has been hectic, to say the least. In addition, January is market time in Dallas ~ a national market for dealers, designers and storeowners. Many of our design industry clients come to that market and make a point to visit our showrooms in the Dallas Design District and Plano during this time. We love visiting with designers and storeowners to learn how they intend to use our antiques in their future projects and installations. I always love to hear about upcoming design trends, too. It is great to visit with some of the top designers in the field about the direction of the design industry and developments of interior fashion we’ll see in the near future. In upcoming posts we will cover some of the latest trends in interior design. Stay tuned!
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