Renovating your house? Black Friday is a surprisingly good time to buy light fixtures

Last fall I was in the thick of a home renovation project, doom scrolling thousands of light fixtures in search of clean, modern designs I didn’t hate. While I would normally consult my Verge colleagues for the best Black Friday TV and laptop deals, it did not initially occur to me to check for seasonal deals on the more contractor-oriented category of hardwired LED light fixtures. In fact, a lot of big lighting companies run meaningful Black Friday sales. 

Fortunately, I happened to finalize our lighting selections just before Black Friday 2023 – and then saved hundreds of dollars by ordering pretty much every pendant, flush mount, outdoor sconce, and track light we needed by the end of Cyber Monday. If you are embarking on a home renovation, let this be your PSA to save a few dollars by placing your lighting order this weekend!

Lighting is a very subjective interior design decision, so this is not an ultimate guide to the very best light fixtures in the world. But these are all fixtures I have actually installed in my house, used for several months, and like. Generally, I was looking for hardwired LED fixtures with modern design, dimmer compatibility, and 2700K color temperature (the warmer and more flattering end of the spectrum; please don’t make your house feel like an operating room with 3000K or higher!). I also generally prefer fixtures that emit softer and more diffused light over harsh directional spotlights. 

These are all generally in the $100-$500 range; you can get cheaper fixtures at your hardware store, but I plan to live in my house until I die. I have also included a few of West Elm’s contract-grade fixtures on this list, which are not on sale this weekend but I think still deliver good value for the price. If you are mid-renovation, you should already be getting used to the sticker shock on all materials, including lighting. Hopefully, shopping this weekend can help you get beautiful fixtures while staying on budget. 

If you have a reasonably high ceiling or need fixtures to use over a dining table or kitchen island, a hanging pendant is a good choice for ambient light that is softer and nicer than overhead recessed lighting.

If you are not planning a larger renovation, you can still make a big improvement to existing rooms by upgrading the main light fixture. In our son’s nursery, we used this conversion kit to DIY swap an old 1990s can light in the ceiling for a hanging, dimmable LED pendant light with much softer and nicer light. Just make sure you have a very stable ladder, and do a dry run of your assembly on the ground first.

For ceilings that are too low to hang a pendant, a flush mount fixture is the next best way to avoid harsh recessed lights. Arguably the most famous flush mount fixture is the boob light, but you can do a lot better without breaking the bank.

If you have beams or a more industrial open ceiling, you might be looking for track lights. These are generally not my favorite way to light a space as they can feel harsh and industrial, but when combined with other layers of light – ideally floor lamps and some up-lighting – they can provide good task lighting in a kitchen, office, or workshop.

When choosing outdoor lighting, you want something rated for damp spaces. Sustainability and dark sky best practices recommend that any outdoor pathway fixtures emit targeted, downward light from a recessed bulb.

Our biggest splurge was the Tom Dixon Melt collection. These are wild acrylic blobs that when turned off make a perfect metallic mirror, and when turned on become transparent with a warm and interesting glow. They also come as pendants, chandeliers, and small rechargeable tabletop lights.