Years ago I determined that lighting is the unsung hero of every design — residential, commercial, doesn't even matter. Lighting is the jewelry of the room, from pendants to floor lamps to sconces and everything in between. Needless to say, when we bought our house, I knew we'd be upgrading all of he lighting to designs that were more "us".

This meant I would need a lighting design plan. 

When it comes to lighting resources, there are a lot of options out there but I remember my second visit to High Point Market in Fall 2018... one of my tours was visiting the Hudson Valley Lighting Group showroom. I wish I still had the footage because after nearly an hour of touring their lighting... lemme just say I was blown away by the collections & started to imagine one day having my dream home with my dream lighting.

I'd be lying if I said that, when we moved into this house, I didn't notice that the lighting was likely as old as my husband and I. Even if the lighting wasn't original — which I know most of em aren't — they're still of an older style that isn't us.

First things first — what lighting is there through the house?

There are only a handful of exterior lights but throughout the house there are a combination of flush mounts in places like the entryway and hallways, ceiling fans in the bedrooms, and sconces in bathrooms... just to name a few. I decided to put my daydreaming to a mood board...

From plug in picture lighting in the "must be nice" rooms — you can take the girl out the renter-friendly but you can't the renter-friendly out the girl — to abstract design pendants in the kitchen & dining rooms, the Hudson Valley Lighting Group was able to meet all my lighting design needs & wants.

After reworking and pivoting and tweaking — and scrolling hundreds, if not thousands, of lights — I found myself drooling over lighting from all of the Hudson Valley Lighting Group's marquee collections.

Ultimately, we decided to do our lighting in phases —

Phase 1: the "must be nice" rooms — laundry room flush mount, half bath wall sconce, and plug in picture lighting for the study & media room

Phase 2: the main living areas — kitchen, dining, and living will feature a combination of flush mounts, pendants, and even a floor lamp makes an appearance.

Phase 3: the egress ways, or in layman's terms, the passage hallways, including the foyer, all of which are overhead lighting

Phase 4: the exterior, which is simply 2 porch lights & a driveway torch

Phase 5: the bedrooms, which are all overhead lights, although I have been thinking about some portables (table and/or floor lamps) to layer the lighting and create hyggebelysning, aka hygge-lighting.

Having the option to mix and match, and consider differing lighting types — not to mention finishes, from metals to wovens — was only made possible because of the Hudson Valley Lighting Group's robust assortment. Even though many of their styles are available at some of my favorite retailers, I prefer to window shop directly from the Hudson Valley Lighting Group's site, especially now that going to the showroom is certainly not in the cards. For the hygge ranch, I was able to curate my lighting design and ultimately, my lighting experience. Here are the final picks so far:

These are the lighting fixtures that I've not only drooled over but also committed to and have begun installing. It's amazing — not surprisingly tho — how drastically the lighting can level up a space. The dining room and laundry room both almost immediately changed before even completing the design... y'all gonna have to wait for the reveals tho.