ROUND UP: VERSATILE OVERHEAD LIGHTING

I look at a lot of lighting and recently I've really been into the West Elm Arc Mid-Century chandelier. It's a stylish fixture that is at an incredible price point. Here it is on it's own.

It reminds me of another overhead fixture I've recommended for several clients; the Bryant chandelier from Circa Lighting shown below. It comes in a few different colours/finishes and 2 different sizes. It has a classic look that can fit work with many different styles.

I've always liked it in this room from Domino magazine, this looks like it is in the bronze finish.

Here is the fixture in the hand rubbed antique brass finish.

And now Circa has this version, called Farlane, which also has a similar look but is a higher price point.

DIY: lamp for $9.99

This lamp underwent a dramatic transformation and cost less than $10. Back when I was doing a segment on CBC TV called, "Deb on a Dime", I was always looking for affordable and stylish DIY ideas. You can create some great looking lighting if you think outside the box and are willing to get your hands dirty. I picked up a pair of these lamps at a second hand store for $4.99 each. I liked them right away because of the shape and size. I used white primer spray paint to cover the colour and pattern, this gave them a perfect matte white finish. Here I am getting ready to spray:

Then I was able to pick up two shades in an 'as is' section of a big box store; each shade was $5.00, for a grand total of $9.99 for each lamp. I think they look pretty good considering the price tag.

Here's how the second lamp looked on the other end of the room.

Flush mount lights

It's always tricky to find half decent looking flush mount ceiling lights. I used the white one shown above in my own home – here it is in my entry. I liked that the white colour blends with the ceiling and this one had a simple shape. These were affordable, attractive and unfortunately were discontinued. So when I went to buy a couple more for some upper level bedrooms, I went looking for a similar style. I found these ones from CB2 and Schoolhouseelectric, both styles that I really like. But I'm leaning towards the CB2 because the price is right and I love the touch of gold!

Glass pendants

Recently I've been noticing a lot of glass pendant fixtures.  They often work well over an island, like the image above, since they don't impede the view.  The ones above are the stamen pendants (from dwr.com), they come in a few colours of glass.  

Here are a few more styles I like from Crate & Barrel: