Lighting is often the last thing people think about when decorating a room, but the right lighting fixture can really make or break your space. Decorating with vintage lighting can bring character and personality to your home unlike any other. Whether you’re looking to update an old fixture or find a new one, these tips will help you choose the right vintage light fixture for your space.
For this amazing space, our customer hung a row of wooden-handled vintage inspection lamps over the dining table, and drew the eye with one of our stunning large vintage brass and steel nautical tripod floor lamps, as a statement light.
1. Define Your Personal Style and the Room’s Design Aesthetic
The first step in finding the right vintage lighting for you is to define your personal style. Are you a minimalist? Do you enjoy bright colours and bold patterns? Are you drawn to natural materials like wood and stone, or do you prefer more playful elements like flowers, butterflies and animals?
After defining your personal style, it’s time to consider how any particular piece will work in your home. Think about its size: Is it too big or small for the space that needs filling? Will it fit between the windows without blocking them out entirely? Will it match other fixtures in the room—or clash with them?
Once these questions have been answered, the next topic to think about is colour. What colour scheme are you using in this room—or maybe even throughout the entire house? The last thing anyone wants is an eye-catching piece of vintage lighting that clashes with everything else they own!
2. Consider Your Ceiling Height
When choosing a vintage light fixture, you’ll want to consider the ceiling height. A tall room with a high ceiling is going to require a larger-sized light fixture than a small room with standard height ceilings. This is because you want your vintage lighting to be proportional for the room and not look out of place.
If you have a large lighting fixture with lots of bulbs and intricate details, this design may be too overwhelming for your small space. On the other hand, if your vintage lights are too small, they won’t make an impact on the overall look of the room (even though they may be beautiful). Therefore it’s important that you find something in between these two extremes so that it looks nice when viewed from all angles.
3. Consider the Space You Have and the Type of Fixture That Will Suit It Best
When you’re choosing the vintage lighting fixtures for your home, you’ll want to consider a few factors. The first one is the size of the room. If it’s small, you won’t need as much light. If it’s large and open, then you’ll want more options for where to put your lights.
Another factor that comes into play when choosing vintage lights is where they’re going to be placed in your home. In some cases, if they’re high up on a wall or ceiling, they can hang lower than their normal height because of how far away they are from people who are looking at them—but this isn’t always true. It all depends on what kind of shape those particular items have been made in (like whether there are any curves along with straight lines).
The best way to figure out what type of vintage lighting will work best for each area within your house is by taking measurements and thinking about how many bulbs go into each fixture type (such as two-bulb versus three-bulb).
4. Choose the Right Size
Choosing the right fixture size is essential to making your vintage lighting look its best. Your decision will depend on the room, fixture, space and style of your home. For example: If you have a large living space with high ceilings, it would be appropriate to choose larger fixtures that will fill up the space with light as opposed to smaller ones that could end up looking dwarfed by their surroundings.
5. Think About Colour
Colour is a great way to tie together the vintage style. You can mix and match your lights with modern lighting, or use it as a focal point or accent piece in your home.
Go bold with colour and shape to create contrast. Vintage light fixtures often come with wear and tear, but adding some colour will make it stand out even more.
6. Embrace Imperfections
Vintage lighting is necessarily imperfect: it’s old, manufactured often by hand as well as machine, and it’s been used before. Vintage lighting may have cracks or chips, discolouration or bubbles in the glass. These imperfections can be a good thing—they are a sign of history and character that you don’t get with a new light fixture.
All our vintage lighting, reclaimed from ocean-going vessels, factories, theatres and offices, will have some form of imperfection. We embrace this as genuine back-story. If it’s not for you, then go down the Retro route with one of our Revivals light fittings, their designs based on vintage pieces, but newly cast.
7. Get Creative with Placement
Now that you have an idea of what type of lighting works best, you can get creative with placement. The key is to use your lights to highlight certain elements in the room and create a mood. To do this, think about where the light will fall on the wall or floor and how it will affect the room as a whole.
For example, if you’re trying to create drama in your dining room, consider using two different types of pendants—one high up at ceiling level and one low down near eye level—to create a focal point for your table setting (and keep things interesting). Or perhaps you want to make a statement with your living room? Try using bold vintage pendant lights over each end table rather than just one over the centre console table for added drama (and visual impact).
8. Decide on a Lighting Temperature
First, you’ll want to determine what kind of lighting temperature you love. Is it warm or cool? Soft and cosy or bright and bold? Dimly lit or bathed in bright light? The answers to these questions will help you narrow down your options when it comes time to buy vintage lights for your home.
There are many types of lighting temperatures available today, including natural daylight and incandescent bulbs; fluorescent tubes; halogen lights; LEDs with various colour temperatures; low-voltage outdoor string lights; candleholders that put out an ambient glow at night—the list goes on. Be sure the style fits with your chosen ambiance before proceeding. It’s all in the light bulbs you choose.
9. Check the Wiring and Ensure It Works
All our vintage lighting is fully electrically refurbished before we send it out. This regularly involves the removal of the original bulb fitting, which we replace with CE-rated, high quality brass or steel fittings, usually E27 standard Edison (screw-in) bulb pattern.
You should always use a qualified electrician to install lighting in your home, and they will be able to advise on any issues with your domestic wiring. If you have any queries about using one of our lights in a certain area of your home, do consult with them.
10. Keep in Mind that Lighting is an Investment
It’s important to keep in mind that lighting fixtures are an investment. While they may be expensive, they can also be a good investment if you keep your lights for a long time. A lot of vintage lighting is made from brass and aluminium, materials that will hold up well over time, where cheap, new lighting tends to involve plastic elements prone to breakage.
If you know you plan on keeping a piece for a long time, or even if you just want to know what kind of style fits best with your home decorating aesthetic, choosing vintage lighting is always going to be better than buying new fixtures every few years.
11. Be Mindful when Mixing and Matching Vintage and Modern Lighting
Another thing to consider when choosing vintage lighting is the style of your home. If you have a classic design or traditional decor, vintage lighting is the way to go. If you’re into modern design, then modern lights will be just as effective.
In addition, you may want to mix and match vintage pieces with contemporary fixtures. You can also match them with minimalist designs like pendant lamps or ceiling spots because these are not only functional but also eye-catching when paired with antique lighting fixtures.
Using vintage lighting fixtures in your home is a great way to add character and personality. It’s also a good way to update your home without having to do any major renovations or spend too much money. Keep these tips in mind when choosing the right vintage light fixtures for your home so that you can create a space full of charm and beauty!
