Adding Antique Lighting to Your Home
Antique lighting can add a significant amount of ambience and value to your home if you know what to look for. The first thing you want to do is have a plan on how you want to set up your lighting in your home. For each room pick a particular style or time period so that the antique lighting you put in the room will look classy and not mismatched.
One thing people sometimes do when setting up antique lighting in their home is they go out and buy whatever looks nice. This is not a good idea because anyone who knows about antiques will recognize it as mismatched, and the people that will truly pay top dollar for a matched set of antiques are the experts. So it is in your best interest to plan and have your research done up front before adding any antique lighting.
As part of your research you should also try to figure out what antiques dealers and websites specialize in antique lighting as they not only will have the best selection but they can also help you in your planning. You do not need to plan your entire house all at once, but at the very least should do one entire room at a time. It is ok to have different era's of antique lighting in different rooms but you do not want to mix and match in the same room.
Classic Examples of Good Antique Lighting:
Perhaps the most famous and most sought after era and style in antique lighting is the Tiffany Style. This style of lamps and lighting is very traditional and offers you the safest return on your investment, however true Tiffany style antiques are not cheap. Most genuine lamps run into the thousands of dollars to start, so be very careful in your purchase. In addition only buy from a reputable dealer and make sure that the item you are purchasing is the genuine article as there are many replications out there that are not nearly as valuable as the genuine article.
Tiffany style lamps may not be suitable for every room in your house so make sure that you have a proper place to put the lamps after purchase. The den, family room, or even bathroom, are all good places for Tiffany lamps but your kitchen probably is not a good spot. Also, perhaps putting one in a child's room may not be a great idea as the lamps are very valuable and should not be in a place where they can easily be damaged. Changing your homes lighting to antique lighting is a fun long term project that requires careful planning to be done correctly. However, if you take the proper steps, you can truly enjoy your new antique lighting.
