I have a very open concept, but not huge home. I love dangly crystal chandeliers, but don't want my entire house to be prissy. So I have a large crystal chandy in my dining room and a smaller one in my master bedroom. I also like oil-rubbed bronze, black, white, and shiny metals - gold and silver. How do I coordinate lighting but still find something different for each room? Since they are all open to each other, the foyer, kitchen, dining room, breakfast room and living room all need to somehow relate to each other, but I really don't like matching sets.
Many lighting manufacturers offer collections that are related styles, but not matching if that is what you want. If your home is open concept choose one kind of metal or a combination of no more than two metals and do variations within the styles. Keep the feeling either formal or casual. It's fine to mix transitional, modern or traditional as long as the level of formality or informality are similar.
I would narrow down what would be the best looks for your home in terms of the architectural style of the home. Then I would concentrate on one common element. For instance, you might choose fixtures that have different forms, but all have the same finish(oil rubbed bronze or whatever). As long as you have some sort of common thread in the finishes you should be OK. One thing to remember too, is that even though you may love many different looks, it doesn't mean that you have to have all of that at once, in one house.
