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Light Up
Your Life

The lowdown on using

lighting with style.

Pam Houghton | Special to the Jewish News

T

ired of your decor and
wondering if buckets of
paint, brand-new counter-
tops and fancy appliances are the
only answer? Think again.
“Our eye sees light before any-
thing else,” says interior designer
and South Lyon resident Faith
McMillen, who has owned design
firm WinWay Ltd. for more than
20 years. That’s why she tells clients
to evaluate their bulbs before mak-
ing any other design decision.
“I’ve had people who had fluo-
rescent and LED lighting all in the
same room,” she says. That combo
can throw off the paint color, or
worse, cause homeowners to avoid
the room altogether. “All you have
to do is consider the bulbs if you
are unhappy with the color of your
walls.”
That means rooms with warmer
colors — gold, cream, red and
terra cotta, for instance — require
warmer bulbs, while rooms with
cooler colors such as blue, gray and
green require cooler lights. The
challenge is that, like technology,
the lighting available to consumers
is changing rapidly, especially as
we move away from incandescent
bulbs toward LED lighting.
The good news: LED lighting
— known for its energy-efficient
qualities — has come down in
price and is available in a range
of tones, not just the “blue/white
eery light” tone that was common
when it first came out, says Kasey
Pierson, who works in the Lighting
Resource Studio at Michigan
Design Center in Troy. “Today, you
can control the color of the light.
It’s more natural, like daylight.”
This is good, she says, because
we are accustomed to the warmer

48 May 12 • 2016

tones of incandescent bulbs.
LED lighting also provides great-
er design flexibility “because of the
lack of heat and the minimal size
of the light source itself. You now
have this light that can be incorpo-
rated into the actual design of the
fixture,” Pierson adds.
That means more design options
for fixtures, ranging from tradi-
tional gold and crystal chandeliers
to industrial-like pieces such as
open bulbs of varying shapes and
sizes hanging from a strip of wood.
“Chandeliers are huge right
now,” says Susan Cocke, Novi
resident and interior designer who
runs her own design business. “You
see them in the bedrooms, over
bathtubs, kitchen islands or just
about anywhere you will have a
conversation. You’ll even see them
in great rooms and living rooms.
They bring a real warmth to any
room.”
So do glass-based lamps, says
McMillen, which are “light and
airy and really add bling to a space
that perhaps other fixtures don’t.”
While some may be accented
with mirrored glass, “mercury
glass is the hottest thing going
now,” McMillen continues, refer-
ring to glass that has “little par-
ticles of metal in it” and can be
found in table lamps, floor lamps
and chandeliers.
Pierson, the lighting expert
from Michigan Design Center,
notes that while fixtures with gold
finishes are “back,” so, too, are sil-
ver, bronze and especially copper.
Homeowners needn’t fear mixing
styles together, either. “You can
take industrial and mix it with
mid-century or contemporary, and
it’s fine.”
Interior designer Cocke says,
“Lighting will see bulbs more

exposed, more of an urban-type
look,” often constructed with fix-
tures made of oil-rubbed bronze
or iron. In the spirit of combining
simplicity with elegance, Cocke
suggests “charming the [industrial]
fixtures up with [hanging] crystal”
so that the lighting becomes “a
piece of art in the room.”
Candles and light dimmers
throughout the home can supple-
ment regular lighting. Cocke
prefers battery-operated candles
“which are a little pricier than
regular candles but much safer.”
Their low-key ambience is great
for entertaining guests. Dimmers
can also set the tone in a room and
“economically are [a good choice]
because you can regulate how
much energy you use.”
Another trend is replacing
recessed lighting cans with light
fixtures, which interior designer
McMillen says can be done with
a “$30 do-it-yourself ” recessed
fixture converter kit. “I have had
clients who have done this [suc-
cessfully] who are not at all handy.”
Under cabinet lighting is another
low-budget, do-it-yourself and
energy-efficient lighting trend,
which subtly distributes light
throughout a kitchen, where it
is frequently installed. Though
there are multiple forms, including
battery-operated puck lights and
LED rope or tape lights, McMillen
suggests homeowners install fluo-
rescent or LED lighting strips that
provide “tremendous, even lighting
all the way across” countertops.
On the other hand, pendant
lighting, which has been a popular
choice for kitchens, “is really in and
out,” says McMillen. “Do it if you
really like it, although I’m taking
more pendants down than putting
them up.”

She says their usage really
depends on the space. “If the ceil-
ing isn’t tall enough, [pendant
lighting] can pull the ceiling down,”
and suggests renovators consider
alternatives such as a contempo-
rary or urban-inspired chandelier.
With all the possibilities in
design and technology, lighting has
become a focal point in the home,
“especially in the last three years,”
Cocke says.
At the very least, consider this
advice from McMillen: “Light
bulbs are an easy way to update a
house.”

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