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The living room could be where your relatives spend the majority of their time, but it’s about more than comfy seating and the right-sized flat-screen TV. Appropriate lighting accentuates the area’s design scheme and creates a sophisticated feel that’s characteristic of standard design.

Selecting and placing the chandelier, sconces, lamps and can lights can transform your traditional space. Below are seven tips that could help.

Howard Bankston & Post

Consider the best way to use the room. For rooms used mostly for entertaining, late-afternoon cocktails or after-dinner java, general lighting may be all you need. In a room like this, a center light provides the key general lighting, with sconces and smaller lights filling in the areas that the decorations miss. Can there be anything more traditional than a crystal chandelier?

Colleen Price

Don’t forget the dimmers. Particularly for general lighting centered in the center of the room, dimmer switches are crucial. This way, you can achieve any type of mood you desire. For vivid lighting, turn the lights up full blast. For nighttime events, turn down the lights to make a traditional scheme, like in this French country room, even more romantic — and looks even more flattering.

Spinnaker Development

Use task lighting to specify zones. Living rooms are to get a lot more than simply relaxing. For rooms for a good deal of use, consider job lights to brighten work areas. Task lighting includes built-in can lights that direct a stream of glowing light onto a reading or working area. An orb chandelier adds an updated twist on heritage in this room.

J.Banks Design Group

Task lighting also includes desk and side table lamps that illuminate areas utilized for paying bills or composing thank-you notes. Design that is traditional is, defined by the symmetry in this area, right down to the fitting pairs of lamps.

Rinfret, Ltd..

Play with accent lights for style. Don’t forget about accent lighting if planning your living room. Sconces are a fabulous touch that can show a painting, a focal point or a distinctive accessory by directing attention to a specific spot.

Anna Lattimore Interior Design

Pay attention to size. Fixtures should be proportional to the room. A fantastic rule of thumb would be to choose the dimensions of your area in feet and add them together. The amount of feet at the sum is the way many inches your chandelier should be.

Long pendants and tall table lamps can help balance rooms with very substantial ceilings. Hang chandeliers 78 to 84 inches high; place sconces at least 60 inches.

DKOR Interiors Inc.- Interior Designers Miami, FL

Add to a home’s ambience with your lighting. Lighting can be among the most aesthetically pleasing parts of a design scheme. This single big turquoise chandelier certainly makes a statement, repeating the color on the pillows and rug and creating a sophisticated neutral palette pop.

Ken Levenson Architect P.C.

Let it leak. Using exactly the very same fittings in adjoining rooms can create continuity. Matching fixtures — especially if they are as fabulous as those — create a design scheme feel well intended. These crystal ribbons are a classic fixture for a traditional home.

Next, two of the favorite traditional lighting fittings.

Restoration Hardware

Foucault’s Iron Orb Chandelier, Large – $1,195

The feminine lines and manly materials of the fixture juxtapose beautifully for use in a variety of living rooms.

Circa Lighting

Timeless Ring Chandelier – $1,050

If you are torn between a glamorous chandelier, a lovely focal point or a gorgeous centerpiece, a classic ring chandelier like this is a great thing to do. Its color coordinates with any decor, while multiple bulbs cast a glow — instead of a piercing, unflattering line of light.

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After 10 decades of living in their home, by that time the kids had flown the coop, Jeff and Cindy von Hagel’s tastes had shifted. They loved their custom-built location in Plano, Texas, but their inside was overdue for an update.

To update their home out of traditional French state to be more contemporary, they refreshed their furniture with new upholstery, removed wall-to-wall cream carpet and replaced all the light fixtures. After repainting every wall and reassessing their tchotchkes, Cindy and Jeff were able to focus on design elements that matter to them: art by their two daughters and pieces collected in their travels.

at a Glance
Who lives here: Cindy and Jeff von Hagel
Location: Plano, Texas
Size: 3,100 square feet; four bedrooms; three and a half bathrooms
That’s interesting: The homeowners did all the painting, tiling, trimwork and demolition.

Lindsay von Hagel

Strong geometric shapes dominate the household space, but the graceful lines of this sofa and occasional chairs soften the appearance. A round lamp sits on a metal pyramid dining table, and a sharp, contemporary coffee table plays off of a angular paint treatment Cindy created.

Cindy additionally added wall-mounted votive holders, which she uses to flaunt her betta fish. “It is one of those things which each and every visitor opinions on,” she says.

Vase: Glashaus in Wertheim, Germany; java table: Cantoni; shag rug: West Elm; Reserve dining table: habit from copper artist

Lindsay von Hagel

After demolishing the intrusive brick hearth and fireplace surround, Cindy and Jeff chosen for the clean appearance of a metallic-finish ceramic tile.

Custom closets put an embarrassing corner nook to great use. Large gears shape the shelf brackets and are repeated in the side table, including industrial accents to the space.

Art: bought at art auction to a cruise boat; side table: My Habit; leather recliner: La-Z-Boy; red spectacle: Cantoni

Lindsay von Hagel

Although painting the rooms in a variety of shades of warm gray helped to modernize the couple’s traditional house, the biggest impact came from replacing the wall-to-wall carpeting with abundant hand-scraped wood flooring. “I won’t ever buy carpet again!” says Cindy. The set also installed easy stained wooden baseboards to replace the traditional white beveled style original to the house.

Flooring: Home Depot; shag rug: Macy’s

Lindsay von Hagel

The von Hagels reupholstered pieces of furniture. This classic wing seat got an update with a contemporary blanket and pillow and a contemporary floor lamp. The area remains soft and private with a collection of items from consignment shops.

Blanket: Z Gallerie; floor lamp: Lamps Plus; drapes: JCPenney

Lindsay von Hagel

The dark, traditional sofa was reupholstered in an unexpected snakeskin- print velvet, kicking off a new vibe at the formal living area.

Cindy retains collections of beach books and cubes as reminders of her coastal upbringing in St. Simons Island, Georgia.

Pillows: My Habit

Lindsay von Hagel

Cindy fell in love with an octopus triptych at a style series. Recognizing that the price of the original was beyond what she was ready to spend, she asked her daughter to create a similar series in pastels. It is shown proudly in her entryway above a contemporary console table and updated light fixture.

Lindsay von Hagel

Red accents at the kitchen stand out from the soft tones of this ceramic floor tiles and the glass and stone mosaic backsplash. Cindy added touches of crimson to her bubble glass-front cabinets via handkerchiefs.

Red leather bar stool: Crate and Barrel; fruit bowl: Z Gallerie; light fixture: Lamps Plus

Lindsay von Hagel

The red accents in the kitchen carry over to the breakfast and research area, outfitted with a red leather desk chair. Cindy mounted picture drapes at ceiling height to draw the eye upward. An old birdcage displays her cactus and succulent collection.

Red leather table chair: Crate and Barrel; breakfast area dining table: Macy’s; drapes: JCPenney

Lindsay von Hagel

Although their tastes have developed beyond this 1970s bamboo dining place, Cindy and Jeff weren’t inclined to associate with it, as it was the first big purchase they made after becoming married over 38 decades ago. Instead, Cindy reupholstered the seat cushions and added a new area rug. She exchanged out the thick velvet draperies for these customized window treatments.

Cabinets: JCPenney; area rug: Lowes

Lindsay von Hagel

A family friend made this 7-foot-tall metal sculpture hanging in front of Cindy and Jeff’s staircase. They use magnets to display and rotate photos of the two daughters.

Lindsay von Hagel

The sunny yellow guest bedroom “just makes me more happy,” Cindy says. Accurate to her Southern roots, she often sits in this area that has a good book and a glass of sweet ices tea.

The couple’s kid painted the flower mural and forced the drapes.

Lindsay von Hagel

In the game area, a handcrafted pool table sits below classic Tiffany bar lights. Cindy and Jeff display framed collages of those dozens of Broadway plays they have attended over time. Glass floater frames connected together with string and S-hooks showcase their daughters’ artwork, beautifully backlit from the windows.

Lindsay von Hagel

Advice from Cindy and Jeff: Do not worry too much over decorating, and just find things that make you happy. First and foremost, don’t make purchases merely to complete a job. It is much better to leave a hole at the decorating to get a bit while looking for that ideal piece instead of wasting money on a placeholder.

telephone: Can you have a creative home? Discuss it with us!

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