Why are light fixtures so awful? It’s astonishing how much horrific lighting is out there. Tons and tons and tons of ersatz crapola, laughably grotesque and cheap imitations of the inane concepts from yesteryear, often marketed as “traditional.” Well, hawking crappy, awful products are indeed a tradition.

Here’s today’s problem: a flush-mount ceiling fixture in a highly trafficked but utilitarian hallway. I probably pass through this spot twenty times a day. The current fixture was garbage when it installed by our predecessors, slightly cracked when we moved in eleven years ago, now corroding a bit, and suddenly dangerously broken and need of imminent replacement before chunks of the glass bowl come crashing down.

There are some amazing web sites for lighting. Yet, while they give the opportunity to browse thousands of options, one seems more horrible than the next. I’ve been through LightingUniverse, PeriodLighting, Hammerworks, Vintage Lighting and Hardware, HouseOfAntiqueHardware, Rejuvenation, Appleton, Scofield Lighting, Neenahs, Wolfers… probably more, by the time you read this. Nada. Bupkis. Junk. (“Bupkis,” by the way, translates to “goat droppings,” which are good fertilizer and thus superior in worth to nearly all of these horrendous lighting fixtures.)

We’ve found one exceptional source for historically sensitive lighting over the years: Period Lighting. We’ve bought a couple things from them, and they are just right. But alas, they don’t make the right design for this spot, curse them.

We need something simple, utilitarian, and elegant. No shiny plastic/chrome crap. No cheap attempts at being fancy, to “creatively” gussy up this informal space. Just good, solid, design, to serve as a minor, functional detail, giving the sense that everything here is being addressed thoughtfully and appropriately—to come down where it ought to be. Is that so much to ask?