My new kitchen will be light grey cabinets, white and grey stone bench tops. My current dining table is a clear glass top, black leather chairs with chrome legs/framing. I love these gold polished glass pendants for over my island bench but will they look okay with my dining suite or is it too different? I can go for the grey glass lights but they are quite opaque during the day.

The number you need for adequate lighting is dependant on the light fitting, its brightness and the angle the light will cover. The physical size of the fittings will also affect the number that looks best. Two very small fittings may give adequate light but look lost, while three larger ones could seem crowded. You may even find some very small fittings that work well as a group of six. Take into account the width of the surface as well as the length so you can ensure it is all well lit. You may be able to change the brightness of the lamp in the fittings to give a good work light in the number of fittings that look best. Avoid creating strong bright/dark contrast areas on a work surface. More overlapping less-bright light is better than few brighter ones that leave dark patches between them. Also consider whether there are other elements in the space that the group of light fittings could relate to, whether window mullions, cupboard doors, seating etc. If something else is creating a strong rhythm, decide whether you want to echo, or offset that or have the lighting as a background element that doesn't have a strong relationship to it.

Thanks so much for your comment Phoebe. It was a simple but elegant solution to a rather dismal backyard.

Hello! I want to buy a navy velvet sofa for my lounge, but confused on how to decorate around it. The space is open plan, will it be over doing if I get (navy) velvet dining chairs and bar stools for kitchen? I want to include pink or yellow with gray and white as part of the theme along with some metallic - like gold/copper/rose gold. Also kitchen will be white with granite benchtop and mirror glass splashback. Where can I try to bring some colour here, maybe the pendant light? Any suggestions please ?