The era of the big light is officially over. It's not that chandeliers and vast central hanging lights aren't beautiful, or show-stopping, or can add a fabulous final flourish to a room, but when was the last time you actually turned one on, except perhaps when you were looking for something? And then turned it off the moment you found that thing? Using big lights for , you see, is now decorative rather than functional. Of course, I put big lights into every room in my home, vastly arresting pieces like the large, round chandelier, hanging for my (as seen at the top of this page.
) I don't regret it for an instant – it's a piece of artistry that I love and that never fails to draw gasps when anyone new enters the room. But realistically, I rarely turn it on, favoring instead the glow of the sconces around the edge of the room, and the serene, orb-like glow of the table lamp seen on the fireplace. And now I'm wondering, if I were to advise someone who was just starting out on a reno and was looking into how they could save costs, would I suggest they don't include any big lights at all? 'I love the ambiance of wall lights,' says Molly Kidd, chief creative and principal designer at the Oregon-based studio .
She recently completed a project in the woods outside Portland, an English-cottage-like home with almost no big lights. 'The ceilings were very low, only 8 feet tall, so it was important that wall lights were the main feature,' she says. And that ambiance she refers to is w.
