Lighting to Accent and Define Arts & Crafts Interiors
Bungalows, Tudors, and Foursquares date to the electric era, after all, so lighting is integral to the Arts & Crafts interior. Craftsman lighting adds immeasurably to the mood.
Indirect and ambient lighting are as important in Craftsman homes as anywhere—perhaps more so, because quiet illumination (with sources on dimmers) contributes to the soft-glowing mood of Arts & Crafts interiors. Plan for hidden light sources such as cornice lighting and under-cabinet lighting.
More visible light sources—pendants and chandeliers, wall brackets (sconces), and floor and table lamps—provide room lighting and task lighting, of course. Just as important, these lamps and fixtures contribute immeasurably to the overall look, defining style and character. Try to imagine a Greene & Greene dining room without its boxlike, wood and art-glass chandelier . . . or a 1930s movie palace without its Art Deco slipper sconces.
Like the mantelpiece and furniture, light fixtures go a long way toward defining a house, bringing a consistent voice. Lighting is also suggestive of the era of the house; fixtures may reveal the transition from gaslight, or embrace the utilitarian styling of the early electric era, or show the pervasive effect of the Colonial Revival.
With a reliance on art glass, wood and copper or bronze, and mica, Arts & Crafts fixtures match the autumnal colors of the Craftsman palette. Soft lighting illuminates warm, subtle highlights in oak trim. The era’s green pottery glows in the pool of light beneath a table lamp’s amber mica shade.
The fixture itself and the light it casts help define a space, even creating rooms within rooms. The trick is evident when you think of a double or triple pendant over a kitchen island or, more traditionally, a generous ceiling fixture hanging low over the dining-room table.
Never have so many Arts & Crafts lighting choices been available. Choose among various sub-styles (Pasadena, Asian-influenced, Spanish, neo-Gothic, Prairie, Shingle and Cottage) in a full complement of sizes, metals and finishes, shades—and pricing.
Many people splurge on just one or two special fixtures or lamps—perhaps a unique vintage piece or a handcrafted art lamp by one of today’s revival artisans. Then, they fill the rest of their lighting needs with period-style reproductions and simple fixtures. (Then again, we know collectors who’ve spent 30 years amassing antique lighting!)
Patricia Poore is Editor-in-chief of Old House Journal and Arts & Crafts Homes, as well as editorial director at Active Interest Media’s Home Group, overseeing New Old House, Traditional Building, and special-interest publications.
Poore joined Old House Journal when it was a Brooklyn-brownstoner newsletter in the late 1970s. She became owner and publisher and, except for the years 2002–2013, has been its editor. Poore founded the magazines Old-House Interiors (1995–2013) and Early Homes (2004–2017); their content is now available online and folded into Old-House Journal’s wider coverage. Poore also created GARBAGE magazine (1989–1994), the first unaffiliated environmental consumer magazine.
Poore has participated, hands-on, in several restorations, including her own homes: a 1911 brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and a 1904 Tudor–Shingle Style house in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where she brought up her boys and their wonderful dogs.
