The current design related thing that is irking me

[Caged Great]

Lighting.

In the past two weeks, I have looked at over 50 000 different lighting fixtures, and that's only chandeliers and wall sconces.

The quality of how items are manufactured is significantly poorer than it was even 5 or 6 years ago. Out of the light fixtures under $1000, the only ones I liked was a $20 sconce from Ikea, and a $20 flushmount from home depot. Some lighting stores are significantly overpriced for what the item is. One small sconce I saw looked like it would cost about $25 or so. It was over $350.

After all was said and done I ended up ordering the chandeliers that I wanted from England because Calgary didn't quite have what I/my client wanted.

What I would recommend to do for people in need of a new lighting fixture is to find something that you like. When you've done that, stand as physically close to it as possible and examine it. If you still really like it from close up you'll like it from further away. Also if possible with something like a sconce is pick it up, if it doesn't feel right then find something else (Namely if it looks like a metal piece but doesn't weigh enough to be a metal piece, usually in that case it's a coating that will peel off)

There was a group of chandeliers (Schonbek's the brand) that look absolutely fantastic from 25 feet away, but when you actually get close to them they look like a plastic piece of crap because the finishes the use are horrible.

Also, when purchasing a chandelier, don't go for something too too out there. Edgy can be good, but it's a fine line between that and being garish. A vast vast majority of the fixtures I've seen in the past two weeks fall into the "what the hell were you thinking when you designed this" category.

As an aside, if I've been a little bit frustrated as of late, this is the major reason why.

[Caged Great]

This was the sconce from Ikea that I was talking about. I'll try to find the other one. It's just simple. No excess things on it.



The glass on this one makes it good. It's actually good looking for what type of glass it is.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

The glass on this one makes it good. It's actually good looking for what type of glass it is.

My wife and I aren't designers (sounds like you are) but we recently purchased an older house and among other things, we replaced all of the fixtures. I found the same thing at almost everything we looked at. It is either cheap and crappy or expensive and crappy.

We weren't too concerned about budget - we just wanted some nice fixtures to update the place. We did spend a bit on some, but after looking at hundreds we decided on the ones pictured above for hallways, etc. I know it's basically the base-model fixture used in all new builds, but damnit it looks a lot nicer than things costing literally 20x as much. I bought half a dozen of these for hallways, closets and even our front entrance (would have spend a ton more on the front entrance if I could've found something I liked) and we are really happy with them. The ones I bought were two for $20 at Rona and they look great.

[Sliver]

Oh and for my kids' rooms we found some funky lights at IKEA that don't look "IKEAish" that we are really happy with for a fraction of the price for similar things at Cartwright Lighting and some other big place (off Blackfoot I think?).

[Caged Great]

I have both of those fixtures, one in my bathroom and two in the closets and the sconce in my room.

It's really strange because there are plenty of nice looking things at various price points with everything else, but with lighting, it mostly blows.

[Cheese]

Cheaper because most Interior Designers/Architects hack away at the Electrical design before they change the floor coverings or paint colors. One way to get a better "looking" fixture is to make it look half decent, with significantly worse materials, and install in showhomes etc with the facade that most people havent got a clue what they are looking at or buying.
My issue has always been, without good lighting it doesnt matter what an Architect/Designer does...noone will see it properly.
If it was me looking I might go to the lighting manufacturers websites and try to find something applicable there, then buy them direct or through friends in the biz.
Try putting together a Lighting schedule that includes 100's of fixtures for a new building. Sometimes its an operation in futility.
The fixtures you chose are very basic...Bra Cups.

[Flashpoint]

[alltherage]

Originally Posted by Flashpoint

That picture turns me on! It's simply electric!

[You Need a Thneed]

When I was looking for fixtures for our basement suite, one frustration was like you said, not many good designs. The other frustration was, places like Rona and Home Depot had a completely different selection on the racks below, vs what what was installed and on display above.

Oh, that one's ok - let me find it on the shelf below - nope not there - Repeat.