Ideas for Installing Industrial Lighting In a Home or Retail Space

The Granary Tavern,

170 Milk Street, Boston, MA

One of the latest decorating styles incorporates industrial items as key elements in the room; old trolley carts refurbished into coffee tables and rusted iron gears or wooden cogs adorning a wall. Industrial lighting design is a cutting edge design trend that is showing up frequently in homes, office spaces, restaurants and retail spaces. Many lighting manufacturers are now offering reproduction industrial lighting, providing the look of old lighting but created for today’s electrical needs. If you do not want your room looking quite like an old warehouse, you can choose light fixtures that combine the industrial feel with a modern twist.  Of course you can always go treasure hunting to flea markets in search of old fixtures, but proceed with caution because chances are they might need to rewired.  Have your electrician check any old fixtures to be sure that it is viable and safe to use.

 It is best to have a licensed electrician check out any used fixture before having it installed, and always have your wiring and fixtures installed by a professional.  Too many times homeowners take it upon themselves to install their light fixtures only to find that they installed it incorrectly, and they risk getting an electrical shock, or creating a possible fire hazard. 

I love the look of industrial light fixtures and they never fail to capture my attention.  On a recent visit to Boston, MA I saw several great applications of industrial lighting but by far my favorite was the incredible lighting fixtures at the Granary Tavern at 170 Milk Street.  This is a great example of how the history and architecture of the building made industrial lighting a great choice and this application was exquisitely done. It is nice that such beautiful lighting can be both fashionable and functional. 

Industrial type light fixtures look as great in a bar or a restaurant as they do in a restored loft in New York City, a Boston Brownstone, an old farmhouse, or in a cottage on the coast in New Hampshire.

When decorating your home with lighting, experiment and find what pleases your eye and works for you.  A log home looks just as appealing with an antler chandelier as it does with a wrought iron chandelier or a few industrial pendants.