21 Bright Home Lighting Ideas Across Décor Styles

Choosing the right lighting fixtures starts with understanding your design style, and then discovering lights you love within that style—or that mix and match with ease. We’ve rounded up lighting ideas across décor styles, from Craftsman to coastal to modern. Let these ideas spark your lighting design creativity, and guide you to the perfect fixtures for your style.

Craftsman Lighting Ideas

Craftsman style prioritizes purposeful design, clean lines, and—as the name suggests—exceptional craftsmanship. Common elements include dark-stained solid wood, smoked glass, and burnished metals. Joins and rivets are often visible and incorporated into the design.

1. Metal, wood, and seeded glass vanity lights - Choose fixtures with squared edges, contrasting metals, and seeded glass. Or a three-light vanity fixture with a wood backplate and iron details.

2. Tiffany-inspired foyer lights - Simple Tiffany-style shades in earth tones complement Craftsman décor nicely. Choose foyer lighting with glass bowl shades in warm eggshell, peach, or amber tones, accented with metal elements in a dark finish.

3. Wood-blade ceiling fans with lights - In a great room or a covered patio, a Craftsman-style ceiling fan light delivers simple beauty. Choose a fan with dark wood blades with a squared silhouette and iron accents.

Farmhouse Lighting Ideas

Farmhouse décor is welcoming and cozy, but never kitschy, with qualities that overlap with country chic. The color palette is typically neutral, with pops of color for contrast. Look for materials like wood, galvanized tin, and metal mesh reminiscent of chicken wire.

4. Fabric drum shade pendants - A stitched textile drum shade brings a down-home beauty to a four-light pendant. A linen shade conveys a laid-back elegance and diffuses the light perfectly. Textile pendants are a perfect fit for an open floor plan living room or a kitchen nook.

5. Galvanized tin island chandeliers - Galvanized tin has a weathered patina that evokes farmhouse living. Formed into an elongated drum shade for an island chandelier, galvanized tin resembles an upturned watering trough.

6. Schoolhouse pendants - These fixtures capture the beauty of simple design with a schoolhouse shade in opal glass and straightforward bronze accents. They offer vintage elegance over a kitchen island, in a mudroom, or a den.

Rustic Lighting Ideas

Rustic and farmhouse styles overlap, but rustic prioritizes bringing natural elements indoors. Think solid wood, jute, stone, and rugged metals. In light fixtures, look for seeded glass, wood, burnished metal, and mesh.

7. Nature-inspired table lamps - Stones. Tree branches. Antlers. The bases of these table lamps showcase outdoor elements, authentically or through realistic casts. When stacked or bundled, these natural elements offer a rugged sophistication.

8. Wood and wire globe chandeliers - Add a touch of glamour to rustic lighting by combining rough-hewn elements with crystals. Look for globe chandeliers formed by weathered wood and mesh wire surrounding a traditional crystal candelabra.

9. Seeded glass semi-flush mount lights - For a rustic look, choose semi-flush mount lights with thick glass, and dark wood and metal accents. The bubbles and uneven surface of the seeded glass cover give the fixture an organic beauty.

Coastal Lighting Ideas

Among the more popular styles, coastal décor is all about relaxation. The elements are breezy, light, weathered, and elegant but unfussy. Look for natural materials and colors you’d find near the seaside.

10. White capiz shell island chandeliers - Nothing says coastal living more than a light shade crafted with shells. Capiz shells, which come from windowpane oysters, are flat and translucent, with a slight iridescence. They are typically cut into disks or rectangles for use in jewelry and décor, such as light fixtures.

11. Geometric pendants in coastal hues - Look for pendants with metal and enamel shades in sea blue or oceanic greens. This provides a refreshing dash of coastal color in any room.

12. Nautical wall sconces - Bring a bit of the high seas home with light fixtures showcasing nautical elements. A wall sconce with a mirror resembling ship portals is an elegant and whimsical option.

Traditional Lighting Ideas

Traditional décor is elegant and understated, featuring design elements that have stood the test of time. The look is refined, balanced, finely crafted, and slightly formal. Traditional lighting often has a vintage feel, with design features that call to mind 18th- and 19th-century interiors.

13. Colorful glass pendants - Pendants with colorful bulb covers often feature traditional shapes while delivering a pop of vibrancy. They are a good way to extend an accent color (such as turquoise, sunflower yellow, or red) in a room with a neutral palette. Look for pendants showcasing art glass with swirls of color, bright hammered glass, or Tiffany-style stained glass.

14. Classic crystal candelabra chandeliers - These glimmering light fixtures add sophistication to any room. Though traditionally placed above the dining room table, crystal chandeliers are a luxurious accent in the bathroom, bedroom, or living room.

15. Two-light wall sconces - Another candelabra-style fixture, this type of sconce has candle bulbs you can leave exposed, or you can add small fabric shades to them. Antique white fabric or linen are classic hues for these shades, or you can opt for a distinctive jacquard fabric or colorful shade. Choose a backplate in bronze or brass for an elegant colonial look.

Industrial Lighting and Ideas

Industrial interior design has a rough-and-ready quality. Exposed brick walls and pipes, visible rivets, and mixed metals are all welcome elements of industrial décor. For industrial lighting, seek out steel cage bulb covers, wood, inset iron bands, and seeded and smoked glass.

16. Edison-style bulb table lamps - These bulbs have an industrial elegance in their own right. Choose table lamps that showcase single hanging bulbs or small clusters of upward-facing bulbs.

17. Caged-bulb vanity lights - You’ll love the warehouse-chic style of vanity lights with bulbs or glass shades covered in metal cages. Choose a finish that matches your bathroom style, whether that’s matte black, nickel, chrome, brass, or bronze.

18. Dome-shade island chandelier - The bold outline of dome-shade chandeliers looks striking over a kitchen island or reclaimed-wood dining table.

Modern Lighting and Ideas

Streamlined silhouettes, clean lines, and an uncluttered quality are all hallmarks of modern design. The color palette is usually simple, featuring black, white, or metallics. When choosing modern light fixtures, look for materials such as chrome, brushed steel, brass, and clear or smoked glass bulb covers.

19. Abstract art chandeliers - Add a striking centerpiece to any room with a chandelier that resembles a piece of abstract art. Choose a linear or pendant-style chandelier with sculptural, curved, or angular elements. As with all home art pieces, choose an evocative design you’ll love looking at day after day.

20. Angled or curving floor lamps - Embrace the unexpected with a floor lamp that has a distinctive silhouette. Consider a floor lamp with a curved pole that situates the lighting element over the center of the couch. Or, you can look for a floor lamp with an angled swing arm for a distinctly contemporary style.

21. Cut-out metal sconces - Metal sconces with artful cutouts are stylish contemporary additions over the mantle, the entry hall, or in the bathroom. Whether the cutouts are abstract, geometric, or botanical, the light shines through to cast a warm glow.

A single décor style may exist throughout your home, different styles by room, or a charmingly eclectic mix within each room. We hope this quick guide inspires you to add light fixtures to match your favorite style, or even experiment with a new style of lighting.