How To Pick The Right Light Fixture For Your Home

Interior Designer, Jill Cordner has joined one of my favorite blogs, Dot & Bo as one of their Style Mavens. She has a very informative post and several tips on how to select the perfect light fixture for space and make sure you have stylish, well lit room. One of the most important features of

Shop Dot & Bo to save up to 60% off!

How To Pick The Right Light Fixture For Your Home

1. Don’t forget about wattage

When shopping for light fixtures, it can be easy to get swept up in the style of the piece rather than the actual function. If you have tons of recessed lighting the decorative fixtures can be purely that. But, if these fixtures are the main source of illumination in the room you need to pay attention to wattage.

A beautiful low wattage Edison bulb will look great with your industrial modern interior, but be sure that you have other light sources to do the heavy lifting.

Photo Credit: via Jill Cordner

Photo Credit: via Dot & Bo

Jill recommends at least 120 watts around your vanity in your bathroom, 120 watts for a small bedroom (10’x10’), and 150-200 watts for a larger room (20’x20’). Installing a dimmer switch gives you options and saves energy. She loves adding dimmers even in entries, hallways and bathrooms. Who doesn’t love mood lighting?

2. Think about your ceiling height

We absolutely adore the look of a hanging pendant light or chandelier, but it’s important to be realistic about how they’ll function in your space. If you have an 8’ ceiling you will probably only want to use a hanging fixture if it is over a bed or table, otherwise you run the risk of hitting your head on it.

Photo Credit: via Dot & Bo

A typical doorway sits about 6’8” in height, so you don’t want a fixture that goes past that level. So, if you have an eight-foot ceiling, this gives you only a little over a foot of suspension for your lighting. For situations like these, Jill recommends a Semi Flush light fixture.

Photo Credit: via Jill Cordner

Terms to Know:

Surface Mount Light Fixture – a fixture that sits on the ceiling
Pendant or Chandelier – lighting that is suspended from the ceiling
Semi Flush – An in-between lighting that sits about a foot or so away from the ceiling

3. Pay attention to direction

If you’re anything like us, you’re obsessed with farmhouse-style light fixtures. These industrial pieces sport exposed bulbs below beautiful patina’d shades and give us that country charm we love. Unfortunately, these beautiful designs may not always be practical for our homes.

Photo Credit: via Jill Cordner

Jill advises that you pay attention to the direction of your fixture. These farmhouse-style pendant lights shed light straight down and can be a bit harsh when not used correctly. They’re perfect when hung low over an island, but not so much when shining down from a high ceiling onto a living room.

Calculations:

Jill not only knows what to look for when it comes to wattage, direction, and ceiling height, but she also has specific calculations that you can use to pick a light fixture for your home.

General Room Ratio

Add the width of your room to the length of your room. Then, take the total and use that as the diameter of your light fixture. For example, say you have a 10’x10’ room. You’d add the dimension together to get 20 feet. Changing the feet to inches, your result is a diameter of 20 inches. A light fixture with this dimension will work well within this space.

Photo Credit: via Dot & Bo

Dining Room

When there’s a dining table involved, you’ll want to take that into account as well. All you have to do is take ½ or ¾ of the table’s width and use that as the diameter for your light fixture. Of course, if you choose a more rectangular fixture, the length can be a lot longer than just ½ the width of your table.

Photo Credit: via Dot & Bo

Picking a light fixture that is both stylish and functional can be a challenge, but with these designer secrets you’ll be able to find the perfect illumination for your home.

Let us know what styles light up your life in the comments below or by visiting our Facebook page.

xo Jennifer