There's a particular moment, usually around seven in the evening when the overhead light goes on and everyone in the room looks slightly ill, where I think about how much a decent fixture actually does for a house. Switch on something with a bit of design thought behind it instead, and the whole room changes temperature without anyone touching the thermostat. That's the moment contemporary lighting earns its keep, not when it's off and looking nice on a shelf.
The metal finishes hold up better than I expected, assuming you're not hanging a fixture directly over a stove or in a bathroom with no fan. Brushed brass and matte black both shrug off dust and fingerprints for years, you just wipe them with a dry cloth now and then. Glass shades need a bit more attention, especially if you're the kind of household with a toddler who treats every surface as a drum, but a soft cloth and some glass cleaner handles that. What actually fails first is almost never the fixture itself, it's the cheap dimmer switch someone paired it with, or a bulb that was the wrong temperature from day one. Get a warm white LED, something around 2700 to 3000 kelvin, and the fixture will look better a year in than it did on day one.
Sizing is where most people get it wrong, myself included, the first time I hung a pendant over a dining table and it ended up at exactly forehead height for anyone over six feet. For pendants, the bottom of the shade should land about 30 to 36 inches above the table surface. For a floor lamp next to a reading chair, the shade should sit roughly at eye level when you're seated, not standing. Measure the room before you fall for a shape, a sculptural fixture that looks right in a showroom can swallow a small bedroom whole.
On finish, I'd steer toward matte black, warm brass, or a simple white or cream shade before anything glossy or heavily patterned. Those three age the best and don't fight with furniture you buy later, which matters more than it sounds like it should when you're furnishing a place over several years instead of all at once.
Where contemporary lighting falls short is in a house full of traditional, ornate furniture, a stark geometric fixture there just looks like it wandered in from a different house. And if you're renting somewhere with low ceilings, skip the dramatic pendant and look at wall sconces or a well chosen table lamp instead.
I'd put one of these next to a chair with a good throw blanket and an actual side table, something sturdy enough to hold a mug without wobbling.