Decorating
11 Pendant Lighting Tricks to Write Home About
Add character and punctuation to your home with carefully chosen and positioned pendants
I enjoy likening design elements to punctuation: doors are like long dashes, welcoming you into the room; windows are like quotation marks, marking the flow of light and air from one side of a home to the other; and pendants are like full stops, exclamation points even, representing a joyous finishing flourish in a room.
Learning how to punctuate your interior can help you avoid design pitfalls – a little like the discord created when ending your sentence in a comma, when you really meant to type a full stop. Read on for some tips and tricks in choosing and hanging pendant lights that will add character to your interiors.
Learning how to punctuate your interior can help you avoid design pitfalls – a little like the discord created when ending your sentence in a comma, when you really meant to type a full stop. Read on for some tips and tricks in choosing and hanging pendant lights that will add character to your interiors.
2. Focus light on fine dining fare
Forgo a cluster of pendants and make a big statement with one large light shade over a dining table, such as this spectacular pendant, Dome, from Dutch design group Moooi. When positioned over a table, large pendants can be hung lower than in places elsewhere – you don’t have to worry about people walking past and bumping their heads!
Forgo a cluster of pendants and make a big statement with one large light shade over a dining table, such as this spectacular pendant, Dome, from Dutch design group Moooi. When positioned over a table, large pendants can be hung lower than in places elsewhere – you don’t have to worry about people walking past and bumping their heads!
3. Contrast with colour
Playing with brightly coloured pendants is a simple way to provide a welcome contrast to a monochromatic backdrop. If you’re wanting to create a strong contrast, stick with a monochromatic backdrop and vibrant pendants. For a softer look, search for pendants in mid-tone colours or pastels.
Unfold pendant by Muuto: Lightly
Playing with brightly coloured pendants is a simple way to provide a welcome contrast to a monochromatic backdrop. If you’re wanting to create a strong contrast, stick with a monochromatic backdrop and vibrant pendants. For a softer look, search for pendants in mid-tone colours or pastels.
Unfold pendant by Muuto: Lightly
4. Choose a fun shape to divert eyesight up
If you really want visitors to enjoy your decor, encourage them to scan the entire space by providing them with a point of interest up high. Take design cues from this plywood dining setting and use an unusually shaped pendant to complement your furniture – and still stand out. Here, the organic nature of the pendant provides a contrast to the hard lines of the furniture. However, as the materials of both elements are similar, stylistically they work well together.
Orion pendant by Villa: Plyroom
If you really want visitors to enjoy your decor, encourage them to scan the entire space by providing them with a point of interest up high. Take design cues from this plywood dining setting and use an unusually shaped pendant to complement your furniture – and still stand out. Here, the organic nature of the pendant provides a contrast to the hard lines of the furniture. However, as the materials of both elements are similar, stylistically they work well together.
Orion pendant by Villa: Plyroom
5. Add extra sparkle to shiny surfaces
It’s important to consider the surface of your walls and how they will be affected by a pendant’s light when it is turned on. Shiny surfaces create a dramatic atmosphere in double-height spaces over entrances and voids, and can offer a striking decorative display. In the ceiling space of this entryway corridor, there is double the drama as light from exposed light bulbs passes through open web shades to bounce and reflect off lustrous walls.
Web pendant by Tom Dixon: GoLights
It’s important to consider the surface of your walls and how they will be affected by a pendant’s light when it is turned on. Shiny surfaces create a dramatic atmosphere in double-height spaces over entrances and voids, and can offer a striking decorative display. In the ceiling space of this entryway corridor, there is double the drama as light from exposed light bulbs passes through open web shades to bounce and reflect off lustrous walls.
Web pendant by Tom Dixon: GoLights
6. Double up two pendants for symmetry
For those of you who love symmetry, line up pendants in a row over a dining table. Two to four large drums are ideally suited to this, but to determine the amount of fittings that will create harmony in your dining space, consider the height and size of your table. These two large drum pendants, for instance, perfectly balance the length of this table.
Boon pendant: Moooi
For those of you who love symmetry, line up pendants in a row over a dining table. Two to four large drums are ideally suited to this, but to determine the amount of fittings that will create harmony in your dining space, consider the height and size of your table. These two large drum pendants, for instance, perfectly balance the length of this table.
Boon pendant: Moooi
7. Hang a low row over a long table
Small fittings can work well over a dining table, too, and can also complement dining chairs, especially where there are many. But beware, a row of lights in the same size may overwhelm the setting if there are too many – so know where to draw the line. As great as it would be to have a rule of thumb or guide to finding that perfect shade, it’s not so simple with lighting, as the parameters for your space vary – so trust your instincts.
Small fittings can work well over a dining table, too, and can also complement dining chairs, especially where there are many. But beware, a row of lights in the same size may overwhelm the setting if there are too many – so know where to draw the line. As great as it would be to have a rule of thumb or guide to finding that perfect shade, it’s not so simple with lighting, as the parameters for your space vary – so trust your instincts.
8. Work three of a kind
If you’re more inclined to a non-symmetrical arrangement, find a pendant that comes in a range of sizes and play with volume, scale and the location over the table that you want to directly light. Three pendants work well. Choose one of each size, i.e big, medium and small. Or, if there is only one size, hang them at varying heights. This can be a great solution if you have a difficult ceiling from which to hang your lights, like the raked ceiling pictured here.
Non Random large and small pendants by Moooi: Space Furniture
If you’re more inclined to a non-symmetrical arrangement, find a pendant that comes in a range of sizes and play with volume, scale and the location over the table that you want to directly light. Three pendants work well. Choose one of each size, i.e big, medium and small. Or, if there is only one size, hang them at varying heights. This can be a great solution if you have a difficult ceiling from which to hang your lights, like the raked ceiling pictured here.
Non Random large and small pendants by Moooi: Space Furniture
9. Create intimacy with a cluster
In open spaces or voids, low-hanging pendant lights can be a great way to create intimacy. Lower the pendants over an armchair in a corner instead of opting for a floor or wall lamp. A low-hung pendant next to a comfy armchair makes a great space to curl up with a cup of tea and a good book on a lazy Saturday.
In open spaces or voids, low-hanging pendant lights can be a great way to create intimacy. Lower the pendants over an armchair in a corner instead of opting for a floor or wall lamp. A low-hung pendant next to a comfy armchair makes a great space to curl up with a cup of tea and a good book on a lazy Saturday.
10. Mix and match with other decorative elements
If you have large-scale artworks hung in living or dining rooms in which there are also pendants, ensure that the two elements don’t compete for visual appreciation. Choose pendants in a colour that will complement, or is already featured in, the artwork. For example, the pendants above would have also worked if they were in a blue, green or purple.
If you have large-scale artworks hung in living or dining rooms in which there are also pendants, ensure that the two elements don’t compete for visual appreciation. Choose pendants in a colour that will complement, or is already featured in, the artwork. For example, the pendants above would have also worked if they were in a blue, green or purple.
11. Set the stage for a big show
Open spaces lend themselves well to creating a glamorous scene. If you have an open space, add some pendants to create a focal point. Think about sight lines and views from elsewhere in the room and hang the pendants so that they look striking from any angle.
Open spaces lend themselves well to creating a glamorous scene. If you have an open space, add some pendants to create a focal point. Think about sight lines and views from elsewhere in the room and hang the pendants so that they look striking from any angle.
When you’ve chosen a pendant, ordered it and waited anxiously for its delivery, it’s ready to hang! Before you instruct anyone as to where it should go, be sure to play around with heights and locations to determine the best composition possible for your space.
You’ll need a helper or two if you are doing it yourself, and quite possibly their opinions, too: ‘Try a little lower … no higher … okay, just a smidge to the left … wait, yes! That’s the right spot!’
It may take a little time but it’s all good fun, and once you’re done, you can contentedly sit down and bask in the light cast by your new pendant.
Cumulus pendant: Enoki
TELL US
How have you ‘punctuated’ your home with pendant lighting? Share your thoughts in the Comments.
MORE
When to Bring in Statement Pendant Lighting
10 Kitchen Pendant Lighting Ideas From the Experts
12 Ways Perfect Illumination Can Make a Dining Room Light Up
You’ll need a helper or two if you are doing it yourself, and quite possibly their opinions, too: ‘Try a little lower … no higher … okay, just a smidge to the left … wait, yes! That’s the right spot!’
It may take a little time but it’s all good fun, and once you’re done, you can contentedly sit down and bask in the light cast by your new pendant.
Cumulus pendant: Enoki
TELL US
How have you ‘punctuated’ your home with pendant lighting? Share your thoughts in the Comments.
MORE
When to Bring in Statement Pendant Lighting
10 Kitchen Pendant Lighting Ideas From the Experts
12 Ways Perfect Illumination Can Make a Dining Room Light Up
Many pendants cast light down, but there are others designed to do the opposite. This David Trubridge pendant, made from interlocking floral-shaped bamboo ply pieces formed into a sphere, includes cut-out spaces from which light is emitted. If hung in an enclosed space, such as a corridor, the light bounces off the walls giving the narrow hall the appearance that it has extra volume and space. On darker coloured walls, the contrasting light patterns will be even more dramatic.
Floral pendant by David Trubridge: Designer Lights