Lighting with Style: Traditional, Transitional, or Contemporary?

Whether you’ve just moved into your first home or the house of your dreams, it’s not complete until you have chosen the right fixtures to fill it full of light.

To accomplish this, it helps greatly to consult a good lighting professional. Some homeowners believe that they will save money at a large chain- or bargain-store. You may be surprised to learn that a good lighting center staffed with knowledgeable professionals offers competitive prices, combined with the excellent advice that only experienced staff can give.

Because of the dazzling variety of lighting options available, it also helps to become familiar with the three basic styles of lighting fixtures and the effects they will produce.
Being able to describe your goals as “traditional,” “transitional,” or “contemporary” will move you quickly to making decisions that suit your home best.

Almost anyone can guess at least a few elements of “traditional” lighting: chandeliers, ceiling fixtures, wall sconces. There are two main questions to be answered when choosing “traditional” lighting—“what tradition?” and “how traditional?”

Perhaps you wish to follow the architectural style of your house closely: Colonial lighting will lead you in one direction, while Victorian leads in another. Pulling a strict “traditional” look together may well involve some research into the period and visits to antique stores as well as the lighting center.

“Traditional” lighting is usually produced by companies that have researched materials and manufacturing methods of the period. Some fixtures are copied directly from historic originals. Lines and details definitely hark back to earlier times, and there is a stylistic coherence from piece to piece.

“How traditional” is a question that only you can answer. You may prefer strong suggestions of a particular period or culture without strict line-for-line adherence to style. Rather than your home “being of” a specific period, you would like it to “feel like” it. Your large enclosed porch reminds you of your grandmother’s house, and you want the porch to “feel” as comfortable and welcoming as hers did. For other rooms, you may want another look entirely.

The mahogany dining room furniture insists on something crystal to keep it from darkening the room excessively. Again, “traditional” lighting may be just what you need to bring the room together, and you finally have the perfect reason to look at historically-accurate crystal chandeliers.

Then again, some houses and decors suggest that all rooms need a uniting factor. In a situation like this, “transitional” lighting is worth exploring. “Transitional” pieces gently suggest certain styles or periods without insisting on them. This is the style equally deserving of the names “classic” or “eclectic.”

Those two words may seem to contradict each other—how can something be a “classic” and yet the “eclectic” product of many styles? “Transitional” lighting accomplishes that by taking the best from a variety of styles and uniting them in a single piece. A good “transitional” lighting fixture reminds you of many things, yet stands on its own, never so assertively that it cannot be combined with other styles of lighting.

“Contemporary” lighting styles suit many situations—the perfect choice for a high-tech kitchen or the definition needed in a room that possesses little of its own. Its reinterpretations of “lamp,” “ceiling fixture,” and “wall-fixture” are best approached with an open mind and a sense of humor. A huge three-armed floor-lamp swoops across a substantial space and yet provides excellent reading-light.

Color becomes an integral part of lighting, not just the choice of a shade. The best “contemporary” lighting makes a strong statement and, like a toddler, can take over the room if allowed. Allowed a strong role in décor, however, it brings strength and coherence to a room, along with a hip, edgy feel of “fun.”

Crystal Chandelier Buying Tips

Nothing in the home-decoration vocabulary signals elegance as much as the word “chandelier.” Even those extolling the clean lines of Mission furniture and declaring “drapes” a pretentious word for curtains cannot find a better word to describe the pendulous sparkle of this lighting fixture. A chandelier, especially crystal, firmly asserts its alluring character and quietly demands elegance in all elements of its surroundings.

Choosing a crystal chandelier is not strictly the province of the wealthy. Although prices can run into the thousands, handsome and charming chandeliers are available at a wide range of affordable prices.

Because the sparkle and shine of the fixture is affected by the quality of light-catching crystals, professionals often say that choosing a chandelier resembles choosing a diamond. Some of the C’s of diamond-selection apply to a crystal chandelier: clarity, cut, caret-weight (crystal-size and number) and color, adding up to the biggest C, cost.

There are also chandelier-specific C’s to keep in mind:

• Consistency: when the chandelier is lit, do you like the sparkle? And unlit?
• Circumference and height: chandeliers occupy a lot of space, both physically and visually. Too small, and the sparkle seems skimpy. Too large, and guests squint in the glare.
• Cumulative weight: large chandeliers can weigh up to 50 lb. Weight, more than any other factor, determines where you can hang the chandelier. Check on “hanging weight.”
• “Congruence” is shorthand for “how well does this distinctive lighting fixture fit into its surroundings?” This does not mean that a chandelier reminiscent of Versailles demands Louis-XVI furniture. (Friends inheriting a small crystal family treasure glazed the walls of their guest bathroom dark red, added a tiny polished mahogany dresser, bought champagne-colored towels, and quit right there.)

How, then, do you address the chandelier C’s successfully? Here are some ways to make an informed and happy decision about a crystal chandelier.

Cut, clarity, and cost all relate to the quality of crystals used. Fine chandeliers are composed of fine crystals:

• Strass: Manufactured and machine-polished by Swarovski in Austria. Crystal of the finest quality.
• Swarovski: Also used in jewelry and other ornamentation. Machine-cut for brilliance.
• Wood Polished: Hand-cut and polished. Finished with a wooden polishing wheel and marble dust. Craftsmen’s crystal.
• Venetian: Molded, not cut. Lower brilliance offset by a distinctive glow.
• Murano: Also Italian, hand-blown. Sometimes colored and fancifully-shaped.

Other types of crystals are also used. Some fixtures contain a mixture of kinds; some fixtures can be ordered in the kind of crystal you like best.

Circumference and height considerations make one wish that floor-samples could be taken home for a day. Your lighting professional can provide height- and circumference-guidelines for dining-room or foyer fixtures, but you will need to make the final decision about what is right for your home.

Congruence is also the area in which you make the final decisions. If the chandelier is part of an overall room redecoration, remember that a crystal chandelier always tends to dominate and define its surroundings. It makes sense, therefore, to choose the chandelier very early in the redecorating process. Knowing the fixture you want lets you think about paint, wall-, floor- and window-coverings and furniture in terms of light-reflection and texture as well as color. The resulting room will have a coherence lacking if the chandelier is chosen to “go with” the other elements.

Add a couple of little c’s and you’re done:

• control (a dimmer-switch varies your lighting-effects)
• cleaning (new products make maintaining sparkle and shine easy)

There’s nothing that says “elegance” quite like a crystal chandelier, call us today for expert advice on the perfect chandelier for your home.

Five Things You Probably Don't Know About CFLs

1. CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs) save energy two ways: The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Star program estimates that Energy-Star-qualified CFLs use up to 75% less home energy than their incandescent counterparts. They can last as long as 10 times longer than conventional light bulbs and often come with partial-time warranties (you are guaranteed, for example, that the bulb will last at least 2 years or longer).

Since lighting can amount to between 15 and 20% of the average electric bill, using bulbs that require much less energy will show up on your utility bill. To see real savings, the Energy Star program suggests that you replace your 5 “busiest” light bulbs with CFLs.

This might include lighting fixtures in the bathroom, kitchen, family room, your porch light or security lights (if you burn them all night). Watch for the “busy” use patterns in your house and replace the light bulbs that always seem to be turned on—or left on.

Energy Star points out that the real savings in terms of the environment happen outside your home. Using just one CFL in every home in the U.S., Energy Star asserts, saves greenhouse-gas emissions equivalent to the emissions of 800,000 cars. Recapturing cleaner air, plus your own personal savings, are excellent reasons to use CFLs.

2. CFLs can do the things conventional incandescent light bulbs can do: CFLs are relatively new technology, meeting challenges one at a time, so you may still have a brief wait before you see CFLs that respond to all you needs and wants. Rest assured, however, that technology is moving quickly to answer consumer concerns.

How about an outdoor-quality CFL? Coming along nicely, thank you—including yellow bug-lights. What about three-way CFLs—already on the shelf. Manufacturers of CFLs are well aware that consumers want keep their favorite fixtures and need as wide a variety of choices as they have in incandescent bulbs. If you don’t see what you want, ask your retailer—probably your CFLs are already on order.

3. You don’t have to hide funny-looking bulbs under shades any more: One of the strongest objections to CFLs has been aesthetic—the light’s okay, but the bulbs look so techy. Picture a flame-tipped, soft-white bulb that fits the small receptacles of your chandelier—and reach out to take it off the store shelf! Use it with a dimmer switch? You bet! The variety of covered CFLs is expanding rapidly in response to consumer demand.

4. It’s easy to get the same amount of light from a CFL as an incandescent: After years of counting 60-75-100-150, consumers find the new wattage numbers confusing: how much light can you expect from a “13-watt” CFL? (Even the most penny-pinching of landlords used 25-watt bulbs in the hall.) Surprisingly, a 13-watt CFL produces the same light as a 60-watt incandescent bulb.

To determine the amount of light from incandescent bulbs and CFLs, you need only change the number you read. The amount of light you see, as opposed to the energy used, is expressed in “lumens,” from the Latin word for “light.” You can find the lumens generated by both kinds of lights printed on the packages—quick and easy.

5. CFL light looks just like . . . light! The old put-down of fluorescent lights—see great, look awful—is definitely a things of the past. CFLs have been engineered to produce warm light, soft, diffused light, and enhanced-spectrum light that resembles daylight. Put an enhanced-spectrum incandescent bulb into one lamp, and put a comparable CFL into another—you will find it very difficult to tell which is which without peeking under the shades.

Long-lasting, energy-saving CFLs are a great way to save money and energy while enhancing the look of your home. It’s time to get acquainted with CFLs.

Genuine Alabaster Lighting

Q. What is alabaster?
A. Alabaster, in its pure form, is a mineral: a crystalline form of gypsum. The alabaster quarried is actually a rock frequently mixed with traces of other elements like iron—the dark veining—or quartz. There are three main types of alabaster: an opaque, chalky variety that is ground up and used in gypsum or plaster, a semi-transparent type called escaglione and the translucent kind used for the alabaster shades and fixtures that are imported today. The rocks, which are white with random amounts of translucent and mostly gray-brown veining when used for lighting, are taken from centuries-old quarries in Spain.

Q. Why is alabaster expensive?
A. The short answer: Quarrying alabaster is costly, and there is a huge amount of waste. Alabaster is a relatively delicate stone, and deposits near the surface have often been damaged by the weather. Therefore, huge steam shovels are used to scoop up usable chunks of alabaster from deeper underground. Next, artisans working with the "corazon," or heart, of the raw rock, turn alabaster pieces on a lathe to create the desired shape and then carefully finish and polish the soft stone. The waste averages about 75 percent but can be much more. The larger the finished bowl, the larger the stone it came from and the greater the waste.

Q. How can I tell the difference between genuine alabaster and an imitation?
A. When you see the real thing in person, you'll know it. Nothing glows like genuine alabaster. Just in case you're still not sure, some other things to look for are the thick¬ness, weight and veining. Genuine alabaster is a minimum of 3/8-inch thick and weighs at least twice as much as imitations. Veins are both translucent and dark and are completely random. If you see two pieces that have the same veining pattern in the same location, they are not genuine. It's easier to be fooled by a photo in a magazine or catalog and especially on the Internet than by looking at the actual product. In either case, an accurate product description is the responsibility of the manufacturer and retailer. Try doing a search for alabaster on eBay. The results include everything from Kate Spade "alabaster bone china" to an "alabaster pendant light" from a major manufacturer offered by a major U.S. lighting retailer. It's only after you click on the item and read the description that it turns out to be "alabaster glass." While the intent may not be to mislead, it's just not fair to the consumer.

Q. Should I even be concerned that it’s genuine Alabaster?
A. Great question. Though there are more and more imitations (China stone, cultured alabaster, faux alabaster acrylic), none of them replicate the real thing. An imitation is just that: an imitation. owning genuine alabaster lighting is just like owning Strass® crystal—it's not for everyone, but for those who can appreciate its value, imitation just won't do. Remember, knowledge is power: The more you know about it, the easier it is to discern.

Q. How do I clean genuine alabaster?
A. Alabaster is a soft stone, so treat it gently. Never use detergents or abrasives. Alabaster is porous, and both will damage it. Instead, wipe the stone with a slightly damp (not wet), soft cloth. If you take care of it, it will someday be a treasured antique that you can pass along to future generations.