How to choose the perfect pendant lighting for your home

Home owners who wish to make a style statement with their home decor should consider installing pendant lights.

Pendant lights also called jewellery lights are hanging from the ceiling and make the atmosphere warm, comfortable. These lights are available in different sizes, shapes and colours. ceiling lights, wall lights, lamps are some of the different types of pendant lights.

The lights can be used for decoration or lighting the interiors of the living room, kitchen or any other room. Before choosing a pendant light, it is important to decide the purpose of fixing the light, whether it provides ambient or task lighting. This can help the home owner find the most suitable light for different purposes, like accent lighting in foyer or direct lighting in kitchen island to showcase each dish making it appear like a masterpiece.

Dining table

It is recommended that the pendants should be located 70 to 82 cm about the top of the dining table or 1.7 meters above the floor. This ensures that people seated at the table can converse with each other comfortably without letting the light affect their visibility.

Clustering is one of the most popular trends in lighting and it is extremely effective at the dining table. An odd number of pendants, at least three, can be suspended close to each other at different heights to create a dramatic look. The classic look involves hanging the pendants at the same level spacing them out evenly.

Other options involve using pendants of different shapes, or grouping the same pendant with different colours and sizes. Dimmers may be used to control the light intensity for the pendants. For example, for dining tables, people usually prefer bright light when having meals and switch to ambient light while having drinks after dinner to help them relax.     

Kitchen bench or island

For a kitchen bench or kitchen island, the pendants should be suspended approximately 55 to 70 cm above the top of the bench. The pendant location should be chosen so that it will illuminate the workspace properly. However, the light should obstruct the view of the person working in the kitchen or hit his or her head when they are working in the kitchen.

It is advisable to consider the lighting already available in the kitchen, while choosing a suitable pendant. In some cases, there may be sufficient natural lighting in the day, and ceiling lights provide adequate illumination at night. In these cases, the pendant lights should only make the kitchen look beautiful providing ambient lighting. However, if the kitchen pendants will be the main source of lighting for the various kitchen tasks, the pendants chosen should provide sufficient light for the kitchen surface. These kitchen pendants should be spaced evenly for uniform distribution of light.

The homeowner should also consider the size of the kitchen and ceiling height before purchasing the pendant. If the pendant is too small it will not be visible, and a larger pendant may make the place look cluttered. Hence, it is advisable to use cardboard cutouts of the preferred pendants in the kitchen space to determine the most suitable size of the pendant.

Bedside table

Since people are less likely to bump their head into the pendant, in the bedroom, the pendant is suspended at a lower height for creating a cozy look. The pendant height should be similar to the bedside lamp, which is between 40 to 55 cm above the bedside table. The light projection depends on the height where the pendant is hung. If only ambient light is required, the pendant should be suspended at a low height and less light will be provided. If the person will be reading in the bed, the pendant should be hung at a greater height. The amount of light also depends on the pendant opening size, for a larger opening, more light will be emitted. 

While hanging pendants, it is advisable to get someone else to hold the pendants so that the homeowner can review the illumination provided. The person holding the light will find it difficult to estimate the position, effect and height of the light produced. Hence, the homeowner should check the illumination provided at different positions and inform the electrician to fix the pendant lights accordingly. 

At Best Buy Lighting we stock a large range of high quality pendant lights, classic pendant, industrial pendant lights.

You are also welcome to visit our retail store to find out more about pendant lighting for your home.