No. 109: A Complete Curation of My Favorite Interior Design Resources | Lighting

Lighting picks at all price points

Initially, this was going to be a comprehensive list of all resources but I quickly realized it needed to be broken up by category to remain from unintentionally morphing into an internet novel. We’re starting with lighting, arguably my favorite piece of the puzzle.

I grew up in a home where design was a detail paid attention to. My mom worked with interior designers who created fabric schemes for rooms, upholstering and reupholstering furniture. Veranda magazines were prized possessions and I’d slip my fingers on the glossy pages before my mom noticed I had grabbed them from the mailbox. I’d always flip to the back to acquaint myself with the resources page, seeing the names of designers, architects, photographers, retailers. Schumacher, William Morris, Jeffery Dungan, Bunny Williams, Bennison.

When we bought our home in Virginia I was 21 years old. There was more square footage than I knew what to do with and despite having a strong sense of personal style, I was heavily swayed by what was popular in the blogs I was reading and the new phenomenon of regularly seeing celebrity homes on reality TV I of course had tearsheets from House & Garden, Veranda, House Beautiful and Traditional Home plus copies from library books and scan from my favorite design coffee table books. I categorized them down into rooms and thumbed through that inspiration gathered over the years often, but the greatest influence ended up being what I considered trendy at the time: lots of gallery walls, lots of mirrored surfaces, a hint of glam and a heavy wash of grey.

Now, 14 years later, the access to design images has increased one million fold. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube alone could keep you scrolling until the end of time with conflicting, often confusing takes on what’s ‘In’ and ‘Out’ along with scathing criticism if your style is currently the opposite of the trend. I’ve had so many conversations with people who are just genuinely scared to make a decision in their home, and I get it. We’re being a bit brain washed into thinking our homes are for the consumption and approval of the general public rather than safe spaces to care for and comfort our familes as well as to bring joy.

Firstly, I’m going to share a few spaces that may or may not fall into the realm of my own personal style but absolutely serve as inspiration to create a space that feels like us in my home in hopes that it would do the same for you. Sometimes we just need to see the freedom others have in their own space to remember that same freedom is ours, too.

So now, with a collective sigh and vow to be committed to finding and implementing our own true style, we can move forward. I’ve spent years finding sources I trust when it comes to design and after three years of designing our home, I had to get really creative to find the look I was going for without getting something that would fall apart from Amazon and something that belonged in a museum and cost a mortgage. There’s a range here, but these are the resources I go to most often and also the resources I aspire to use in the future.

The moodboard will feature current favorites in the category followed by a more comprehensive list.

Lighting: