Like the accessories on an outfit can change an entire look, lighting can change the tone and style of any room. If you’re searching for a relatively easy way to create a more contemporary feel to your décor, you should consider trying some new lighting or updating the fixtures you have with some contemporary touches. Here are a few ideas.
Making Your Place More Contemporary with Indoor Lighting
Indoor lighting serves four specific purposes; task lighting, ambient lighting, accent lighting and decorative lighting. To create a more contemporary feeling, you can change or enhance any or all of these types of lighting.
Task and ambient lighting includes table and floor lamps. By using those with shiny or brushed metallic finishes, you can quickly take a room from last year to next generation. Lamps in a minimal or geometric design or with clean, modern lines can go a long way in helping you achieve a contemporary look. Black, white, and silver, and big, bold colors are on-trend for modern lamps. By adding patterned print fabric to the popular drum lamp shade style, you can easily transform the lamp into something more up-to-date with little effort. Especially popular in contemporary furnishings are honeycomb and chevron prints. Industrial and apothecary-inspired floor lamps in steel and brass are also very trendy now in modern interior design.
Accent and decorative lighting can include sconces, pendant lights and chandeliers. Sconces are a good source of light when there is little space or only a small amount of light is needed, such as a foyer. One of the most contemporary designs in sconces is the bow front sconce. The curved shades come in many different contemporary finishes from sanded, to frosted to textured.
Hanging indoor lights come in a wide range of artful and urbane designs. One of the most popular fixtures right now is the bubble light, which can be made of fabric or paper and hangs from a single cord before expanding into a single round, oblong, or ovoid shape. Usually in white, these unconventional fixtures add a fresh focal point to a dining or living room. Pendants in geometric shapes or with metal embellishments are also great for changing the feeling of a room.
Ceiling Fans in Contemporary Decorating
Whether you’re talking about keeping your traditional ceiling fans or are ready to purchase one of the new contemporary ceiling fans, there’s no doubt that the ceiling fan is a great way to contemporize a room. To instantly update a traditional ceiling fan, remove the light’s shades and replace existing bulbs with kitschy new Edison bulbs. The vintage, industrial-style of the bulbs will immediately give the room a more modern and cool vibe. Other ways to give traditional ceiling fans a modern makeover include changing cloth shades to glass or changing the old frosted tulip-shade, with ones with cleaner lines or ones of clear glass.
If you’re purchasing one of the new contemporary ceiling fans, the choices are endless. The most popular are constructed of polished nickel, brushed aluminum or gloss white. The designs range from propeller style to the European look of a sleek, white windmill. Blades come in a variety of shapes, the most contemporary being those with square ends. Even the number of blades on a ceiling fan can contribute to its contemporary feel. Choose the three-blade fan for the most architectural look.
Contemporary design uses a minimum of materials to give a maximum impact. If you keep to clean lines, metallic finishes, and innovative designs, it’s easy to choose lighting that will give your rooms that contemporary feeling you’re looking for.
Spencer Frandsen is a writer and DIY enthusiast writing on behalf of Farreys Lighting and Bath
