Mixing Modern Lighting with Traditional?

14 years ago

Have you mixed modern lighting with the traditional? Can you share your photos with me please?!

I'm really struggling with choosing the lighting in our new old 1917 home. We completed a major renovation this past year and have chosen many traditional materials.

We're in the process of ordering new dining room furniture and we've decided on the Mission Style table and chairs. They are beautiful to us and beautifully constructed.

My DB and I agree on sooo many design decisions....except when it comes to lighting. I love whimsical, blingy, sparkly, modern lighting fixtures. He doesn't and thinks we need to go traditional with our table.

Do we??? I really want to try modern.

thank you;)

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Comments (15)

rmkitchen
14 years ago
I am a total sucker for modern, funky lighting in my more traditional (moulding-heavy) home. I think it keeps everything fresh.

Here's our dining room:

(this is a better picture of the fixture itself)

And this is the fixture in our entry:
clax66
Original Author
14 years ago
YES!! I feel the same way as you!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your lighting. It is like art to me. That snowflake dangling from the high ceiling, what a statement upon entering your home! It tells me that the person(s) who lives here is not conventionally tied down, but can think creatively, outside of the box...

The juxtaposition of that chandelier over your traditional dining table..WOW, it offers such a different perception to that room. I love it!

I love traditional things...but I also need an "out", an escape..and brilliant lighting can provide me with that.

Thank you for sharing your photos with me, and showing me that I can do it:)
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ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
14 years ago
I've come to think that any one style used exclusively in a home is stale and boring, not to mention utterly predictable. I love modern paintings in traditional rooms and some antiques in modern rooms. I think your idea of interesting, different lighting falls along the same lines and will add much excitement to your decor. Go for it!

Ingrid
charleney
14 years ago
I like your husband's ideas. The house seems to have great strength and character. Let it find the peace of a bygone era.
loribee
14 years ago
I think it's great fun to mix things up! Traditional furniture with modern lighting...

Here is a link that might be useful:
sarschlos_remodeler
14 years ago
Our dining room light fixture is more vintage modern than MODERN, but we've mixed it with a transitional table and a 1940s buffet (fixture is hung a tad too high right now, but it took me a year to get DH to hang it, so I expect it'll be a while before I get him to lower it, lol):
moremoremore
14 years ago
I too find myself traditional (maybe more transitional) and never go as modern as I intend to...what can I say, your style is your style...Anyhoo...here is as modern as I wanted to go...maybe no modern enough for you...

Mirror not hung yet and I haven't really worked on accessories yet I'm dying to get these white leather and chrome chairs I saw online to replace those gross ones...

Breakfast table....again, not too modern, but I feel it fits there...oh, yeah, yeah, I need blinds or somethere there..those were valances I made in an hour to prepare for an inlaw visit lol...
awm03
14 years ago
I love a mix of modern and traditional. It keeps the decor from becoming a visual cliche. Mission style plays well with modern, IMO. Both rely on strong lines and simple shapes.
Ideefixe
14 years ago
I have an Ikea floor lamp that I turned into a chandelier hanging over my Shaker table and chairs.
budge1
14 years ago
moremoremore, I am so glad you posted that pic of the chandy over your breakfast table. I had lusted over that one for our dining room, but just couldn't afford it (with shipping it would have hit over $700). I ended up with a similar one from RH, but always kind of thought it wasnt quite as perfect. Seeing it over your breakfast table I realize it would have been way too small for over our dining table (but is perfect in your space).

Ideefix, your space is gorgeous! I know you've been around awhile - why haven't I seen pics before? More please.

Enough hijacking. Just wanted to say that I have a good friend who just redid her home in sort of a traditional/transitional mode, but went really modern with her fixtures. And that is what really stuck with me about the reno - those lights just made such an impact.
moremoremore
14 years ago
Aww, thanks Bud..I'm sure you made the right choice...but did want to add that I think it was about $250? .. I got it from Ballard Design and think it was made by Robert Abby so it would have been cheaper from them direct...no way I'm spending $700 on a breakfast table light either! :)
budge1
14 years ago
moremoremore, yup same Robert Abbey fixture. I didn't see it at ballard's but did see it on a few other sites for 3 something, but by the time I factored in shipping and import taxes (Canadian), it was right up there. The $700 was what I was quoted by a local design store. I always try to buy local first, but if I feel I'm being gouged, I look elsewhere.
sarahnc
14 years ago
I say go for it! It's your home so pick things *you* love. I bet it will look great!

Found you MoreMoreMore ;)
redroze
14 years ago
Yes, I like a touch of something whimsical and unique in every room. It adds a nice touch.

Here's our dining room light - somewhat modern and definiticaly whimsical, while everything else (damask curtains, wood table, parsons chairs) is traditional.
clax66
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you for all of your responses!
Your photos are all great, I appreciate that you've posted them. Most of the time the juxtaposition works, I think, because you've all managed to find some common element in the modern and traditional, whether it be colour or lines.

Yet there are others who've managed to marry completely different looks and the feelings the rooms evoke are completely different. There is something very special and personal about that. One poster admires modern art in traditional rooms, and I find myself in that camp as well. Upon entering such a room, it takes me completely by surprise - but then, a new synthesis is reached.

I understand one poster's comment about respecting the house's period. We've always been conscious about doing that, while at the same time making it work for us.

Thanks again!