French Chandeliers & Sconces

• Since the French are expert in the art of sensual living, it is hardly surprising that room lighting is well considered, always enhancing the beauty of its occupants and objects. We love the look of using - sparingly and with some thought - antique chandeliers and sconces, which can be appropriate for almost any décor. For example, the clean, spare lines of rooms filled with American antiques or contemporary pieces might be softened and lightened by a fanciful, curvy wrought iron chandelier.

• A crystal chandelier - perhaps with some softly-colored drops - can present a great design solution with light is needed from above, as over a dining room table. Too much harsh light coming from above eye level can destroy even the most beautifully furnished room.

• Other places in the home, which benefit from use of chandeliers, include powder rooms, bathrooms, kitchens (think wrought iron here), boudoirs, dressing rooms and bedrooms.

• The primary consideration to remember is the scale and style must be a good fit. Nothing is sadder than a chandelier too puny for the room, or one, which does not make some statement relative to the room décor. Placing a bright, polished brass chandelier within the soft confines of an otherwise understated dining room is probably not a good choice, for example.

• Remembering the concept of "enfilade" - seeing through the passageways of one room into another, is useful when placing particularly wonderful chandeliers. A crystal chandelier placed in the middle of a master bath, for example, but also viewed through the center of the adjoining dressing room door, maximizes its effect.

• Sconces, whether crystal, plaster, wrought iron or carved wood, offer wonderful possibilities for soft room light and wall decoration. While these are not lighting fixtures to read or sew by, they offer great hall and foyer lighting. We love using sconces on stairwell walls, and in living rooms, dining rooms, bathrooms and bedrooms.

• While there are certainly areas of a home requiring strong overhead lighting, like laundry rooms, storerooms and garages, we think the softness and beauty of antique lighting fixtures can add to the decorative appeal of almost every other area of the house.

Happy hunting!

Jane Pierce Losson
Interior Design Consulting