Choosing The Right Lighting Features For Your Modern Farmhouse

One of the more exciting parts of building or remodeling a house is getting to pick out your lighting fixtures. Choosing the right features for your house sets the tone in both style and mood. Today I’m sharing my experiences and advice for choosing the right lighting for your home.

Our family recently built a Modern Farmhouse in Hood River, Oregon. Thanks to Chip and Joanna Gaines, the Modern Farmhouse (also referred to as the American Farmhouse Style) has become an incredibly popular home style. You can incorporate farmhouse touches to both the interior and exterior of your home. While building, we had the opportunity to work with Destination Lighting to pick out our new lights and fixtures. 

I began our search for lighting fixtures by creating inspiration boards (pictures that I printed out and pinned on Pinterest). From there, I went online to Destination Lighting where I was able to search for specific types of lights. I was able to search by type of bulbs, number of bulbs, color, style, budget, and placement (ceiling, wall, bathroom, etc.). This was super helpful and allowed me to quickly narrow down my search. I saved all my favorite lighting fixtures to my online “Wish List.”

After searching online, I scheduled an in-person meeting at Globe Lighting (one of the store fronts of Destination Lighting). At my in-person meeting I brought my online “Wish List” with me. During the meeting, I received a great education about different things to consider when picking out lights. Below I will discuss some of these items that you may want to take into consideration.

Canned Lighting

When you first see the low price of recessed can lights in comparison to decorative fixtures it can be tempting to put them everywhere. However, in order to properly light your home you will need to use quite a few and the cost can add up – especially if you’re using LED. To stay on budget and get adequate lighting, I would suggest using sparse but strategically placed can lights along with pendants, chandeliers, or lamps depending on the room. If you have a lighting allowance through your builder, you will likely need to factor in the cost of canned lights into your electrical budget.

Under Cabinet Lighting

One item that makes a huge difference in a kitchen is under cabinet lighting. I am a fan of adding under cabinet lighting. These lights attach underneath your kitchen cabinets and illuminate your kitchen countertops. I love having these lights on in the evening as they add a nice warm glow to the kitchen. Under cabinet lights also make it easier to see what you are preparing on the countertops in a space that is normally shadowed over by the overhead cabinets.

Dimmable Lights

Another thing to consider is to add dimmable lights. While not necessary, having the ability to dim your lights in specific areas of your house can really enhance or improve the lighting in a space. I personally love using dimmers in the early morning hours and in the evening when I don’t need nor want as bright of lighting. For me, I like to place dimmers in the living room, dining room, kitchen island, master bedroom, and sometimes even above the soaking tub in the master bathroom. Dimmers can be added during construction or even later down the road. Just make sure that if you have LED lights, you will need to purchase a dimmer that is compatible with your lights.

Kitchen Island Pendants

Next, you will find that there are many options to choose from when it comes to finding the right pendants above your kitchen island. For our kitchen island, we went with 3 Seeded Glass Black Pendant Lights. I loved the matte black finish on the pendant. The seeded glass is great at hiding dust.

Initially we were torn between having two or three pendants above our island. We settled on three pendants due the length of our island and the size of the pendants. Make sure that your lights fit the space properly. Then to finalize my decision, I actually cut out a piece of graph paper to represent our kitchen island.  Next I cut out 3 circles that were proportional in size to see how the pendants would fit on my island. By doing this, I visually could see how many pendants were needed.

Exterior Lighting

When choosing exterior lights, it’s important to consider your surroundings. For example, if you’re in a neighborhood, then you should choose lights that cast downwards vs. casting outwards. Your neighbors will appreciate not having a light that shines into their house. Also, keep in mind that you want to try to create a cohesive look on the exterior. In keeping with the Modern Farmhouse elements, we choose gooseneck barn lights for our exterior. We used 12-inch Barn Lights on our garage and identical 8.5-inch Barn Lights next to our front door.

Here are a few of my favorite Farmhouse Style Lights available through Destination Lighting:

Kitchen Farmhouse Lighting:

• Seeded Glass Black Pendant Light
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• Farmhouse Pendant Light Bronze Brass Placuna
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• Industrial Black Farmhouse Mini-Pendant 7.38-Inch Wide
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Farmhouse Chandeliers:

• Quoizel Lighting Fusion Rustic Black Pendant
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• Farmhouse Industrial Island Chandelier Grey Ash Brockton
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• Feiss Lighting Allier Weathered Oak Wood / Antique Forged Iron Pendant Light
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Bathroom Farmhouse Lighting:

• Capital Lighting Ravenwood Black Iron Bathroom Light
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• Farmhouse Bathroom Light Olde Bronze Clyde by Kichler Lighting
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Exterior Farmhouse Lighting:

• Barn Light Gooseneck Arm Black 12-Inch Wide
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•  Barn Light Gooseneck Arm Black 8.5 Inch Wide
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I hope that this information has been helpful for you and that it has hopefully provided some inspiration as you look for the right lights features for your home.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post by Destination Lighting. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based upon my personal view. -Jennifer Gulizia