Glow With the Flow

If you ask me, nothing transforms a room faster—or more subtly—than good lighting. It’s the difference between a space feeling like a showroom or feeling like you live there.

When I was younger, I thought “mood lighting” just meant dimming everything until you couldn’t find your wine glass. These days, I’ve learned it’s more about layering—giving a room options for how it wants to feel depending on the hour or the season.

Here’s my not-so-secret trick: mix your eras. A little brass swing-arm lamp on a bookshelf here, a deco glass sconce above a kitchen sink there. I recently rewired a milk glass fixture I found at a tag sale in New Jersey (the man selling it said it used to hang in a dentist’s office). Now it floats in my hallway like a small, glowing moon.

And for the record: I never say no to a lamp with a little drama. A fringed shade, a strange base, or anything that looks like it might’ve once lit up a speakeasy? Yes please.

But most important: keep it soft. I swear by warm bulbs—2700K or bust—and avoid overheads unless I’m looking for my cat under the sofa.

Lighting, done right, doesn’t shout. It hums. It makes everything—your space, your things, you—look just a little better.