Growing up, I was one of those teenagers who loved reading, drawing, and painting in the dark. My dad would always turn on the light in the room and say, ‘A home is not a home unless there is light.’ This fell on deaf ears back when I was living alone in my dark studio apartment in Los Angeles. It was not until Mr. Dixon and I were married that good lighting mattered to me.

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I was always used to natural light, working late hours past midnight, and not caring about getting sun or having bulbs in the house until Mr. Dixon showed me an article about South Korean young adults needing glasses earlier and earlier. It turned out that these Asian students were studying so hard through all sorts of hours that strained their eyesight. The necessary solution was getting actual sunlight and lighting their homes properly.

It is dangerous to not have proper lighting in a dark room, especially from one blue light source. You need a secondary light that is soft to expand your eye muscles in multiple areas. 

As an avid reader, Mr. Dixon wanted lighting that was also elegant in addition to functional. Open curtains on cloudy days are not enough as it is common for the sky to turn black here in Kentucky. I do my best to use lighting doubling as decoration to make our sanctuary livable, our study inviting, and dark corridors brilliant. 

My favourites as of late have been Ming Dynasty-inspired ceramics, Chinoiserie florals, and any type of bucolic scenery. I also love the shapes of Italian glass-bowl masters infused with delicate toile de jouy and ginkgo leaves. All the delicate themes in nature are permitted in a house where the harsh nature of the outdoors is consistently narrated right past my walls. 

These soft and mellow touches are like jewellery all throughout the house on tables and shelves. My particular favourites are the ones that have dark hues and lightly gilded with pastel colours. They make more of a statement than a vase with flowers would at times. They are more permanent fixtures. The best part of all this is you can move them around the house when you want to mix up the ambience of a room.

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