At first glance, you might not think there’s anything amiss with the rooms you see here. And you’re not wrong. They are perfectly fine. But who wants to live with fine? Not me! These pics show how I originally missed an opportunity to make my bedroom and master bath next level. I consider this their 1.0 version.
Thankfully, there’s an easy way to upgrade a space without having to start from scratch. Lighting is one of the easiest ways to change a room and make a major statement, but there are a few tricks of the lighting trade – tricks I’ve had to learn the hard way over my nearly five years of renovating This Old Victorian.
To begin, I missed an opportunity to create eye-catching contrast. You could call both my bedroom pendant and bathroom sconces “classic,” but you could also probably use the b-word too. They’re boring! They just blend into the background. Yawn. Lighting is the jewelry of your room so you want it to be eye-catching.
I also made an error with my use of scale. That’s often one of the most difficult parts of picking lighting. You don’t want pieces that are too small. It’s a mistake you can’t ignore. It’s certainly the first thing I thought about every single time I stepped into both rooms.
To fix these issues I turned to one of my go-to lighting resources – YLighting – to do a major upgrade and create the wow moments these rooms really deserved. I have actually found the vast majority of fixtures for our house at YLighting. They have an amazing inventory of modern pieces and carry some of my favorite brands, both big time designers and smaller up and coming lines.
When selecting our new fixtures, I certainly solved my contrast and scale issues. The Roll & Hill sconces I picked for the master bath have a lovely elongated shape that compliments our house’s epic ceiling height. The Marset Ginger pendant I chose for the master bedroom has a longer drop and a much larger diameter, making it the statement piece the room really needed.
I also wanted to inject more interesting materials and finishes into these rooms. Pro tip: when you pick lighting for different rooms, the fixtures don’t need to be twins – in fact you don’t want them to be, but the lights should at least be cousins. Think somewhat related. My new sconces and pendant both feature a light oak wood which helps connect them, while the Ginger pendant has black accents that relate to lighting I have in other rooms. The sconces feature marble and brass as do fixtures I’ve used in the house’s other bathrooms. It feels cohesive without being matchy-matchy.
I’m so excited to finally have lighting that draws your eye in a good way. My biggest lesson here? Don’t play it too safe. Your lighting is your opportunity to really express your personality, have fun and play.
To save you from repeating my lighting faux pas, I put together a video summarizing all of my best lighting tips. Bonus – it includes major sneak peeks of my bedroom and bathroom makeovers!
I hope you find it helpful as you upgrade your spaces this fall. Now is THE perfect time because YLighting is having their fall sale right now! Click HERE to shop. I’ve also included some of my top picks below because I just can’t help myself. Someday I’ll have another project to do, right??
SHOP MY YLIGHTING FAVES
This post is a paid partnership with YLighting. Thanks for supporting collaborating that have kept apartment 34’s doors open.
photography by andrea creative, aubrie pick
I want to say congrats on a really outstanding video. Informative for me too – always learning. Look forward to seeing the new lighting.
Everything looks great.
It felt very good how you have used white color and the end color combination in its interiors is very good with wood.- Team Glassbox Plus Architects https://www.glassboxplus.com/