Friday, September 7, 2012

Pretty, Practical Lighting

In the US, most newer homes (and many remodeled homes) have recessed lights. I suppose they're practical, but I've never thought they were particularly attractive. They are basically glowing holes in the ceiling.
source

In my opinion, it's hard to successfully integrate recessed lights into rooms that have a dressier or more traditional style of decor -- gothic, dark romantic, Victorian, old world, Tuscan, etc.  Someone else must agree, because the multi-bazillion-dollar home improvement industry now offers decorative trim for the ubiquitous "can" lights.
from Improvements

from Home Depot
Another practical feature making decorative headway is the bathroom fan.  Leaving behind its boring plastic grate, the bath fan is now joining forces with the bath light to create the decorative fan/light combo.
from Amazon
from Amazon

You can even buy chandelier fans!
from Amazon

from Amazon
Proof that practical doesn't have to be plain!  Anyone else excited to see practical items made pretty?

13 comments:

  1. Oh!! They look perfect! Our house have low ceilings. Well it's normal new house height but it's not able to hang big chandeliers in the roofs. The bathroom fans are amazing. I hope the seller ship to sweden :)

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    1. I would love a chandelier in the dining room but the ceilings are too low (8 feet). I suppose it would be a bit too grand for my little house anyway. ;) But I can have a pretty fan/light in the bathroom! :)

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  2. They are beautiful, especially if you don't want to distract the interior with heavy chandaleers or ugly blank light bulbs.

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    1. Yeah, it's a nice "happy medium" between grand chandelier and bare bulb.

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  3. Nice! I haven't lived in a place yet that has these kind of lights, but it is cool to know I can get such pretty covers! Especially that fan light! Oooh, I want one! I can't wait until I have my own house to pretty up!

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    1. The bath fan/light combos are great! I love that I can replace my ugly bath fan with a prettier model that will also add light. It will make a big difference! :)

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  4. OMG that second bathroom fan is the answer to my wildest dreams! (Yeah, wild homeowner dreams!). I've been desperate to replace our typical tacky plastic boxes with something beautiful. But ooh, the price... We have three bathrooms! :/

    We actually replaced some of our can lights with traditional lighting because can lights are so horrifically modern. I've seen those lovely decorative rings and hope to use those in our kitchen, but again cost becomes an issue when you have 12 can lights to deal with. Little things we didn't consider when we invested in such a big house... We bought 3 years ago when the housing market was incredible low, so we got a killer deal! But it makes upgrades expensive.

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    1. Okay, I just bought the two bronze bathrooms fans that Amazon had in stock. When Mr. Kitty asks me about the $200+ impulse buy, I'll tell him GIY made me do it! ;)

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    2. Ha ha ha! I have similar homeowner dreams! :) Can lights make me think of bland McMansions. :P I much prefer traditional lighting.

      I suppose it would add up fast to upgrade multiple lights, multiple bathrooms, etc. My house is a shoebox, but the plus side is that it only has one of everything. (Well, usually it's a plus - sometimes it's hard to choose just one when there are so many pretty choices!)

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    3. Forget the Joneses; you can tell him you're just trying to keep up with the Bane. ;) Bwahahaha! The very idea makes me laugh. :D

      The bronze fan is classy and elegant... a must for every VictorianKitty bathroom!

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  5. I nominated you for a lovely blogger award.

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  6. The can light chandeliers are a riot.

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    1. I can't decide if I love them or if I think they're ridiculous. :P

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