Why Traditional Lighting Doesn’t Have to Be Antique

If you’re looking for traditional lighting you won’t be alone in thinking that the best place to look is antiques dealers both on the internet and on the high street. After all antique shops will work hard to source the finest examples of old fashioned and traditional chandeliers, wall lights and even lamp shades.

However, there are a few obvious problems to buying traditional lighting from antiques dealers. After all, antique shops are limited to selling only the pieces that they have been able to source. This could mean that they are unable to offer you exactly what you’re looking for, or are able to offer only half a set, for example a chandelier without matching wall lights or vice versa. Another potential problem is that because the traditional lighting sold by antiques dealers is likely to be quite old, there is a good chance that it could be damaged or slightly chipped, or if it is very old it may not be compatible with modern, energy saving light bulbs, rendering them totally useless for anything other than ornamental purposes.

An alternative is to approach specialist lighting dealers. These may not be places that you would automatically assume would sell traditional lighting, because they will probably stock a huge range of indoor, outdoor, modern and old fashioned lighting options, but they are a great place to try. Because such shops are very often dedicated solely to lighting, unlike antiques stores where you can find many different products, their staff are usually in a position to advise on traditional lighting from different eras and in different styles.

Generally the lighting you find in dedicated lighting shops will be in traditional style rather than being decades old antiques, but there are advantages to this. They are often reproduction pieces made using the same materials or manufacturing processes that would have been used in the past, giving you that authentic feel. But you get the advantage of being able to buy your lighting in sets of chandeliers with wall lights and table lamps, without the difficulty of sourcing missing parts of sets and without the risk that there will be minor damage such as scratches or chips on the pieces you buy.

Another major advantage to buying from dedicated specialist stores is that the cost will almost always be cheaper, which allows you more freedom to choose exactly what you want and perhaps frees up a little more money for other furniture in your home or workplace.