When it comes to decorating your home, one of the most important steps is figuring out how you want to brighten up your rooms and provide light. Even if your home has ample window space and can easily be lit up during the day, it will still need lighting throughout the night and day to really be a fully equipped living space. Maybe you were considering can lights but don’t want to have to create holes in your ceiling for them, or maybe you’re looking for a variety of light types to install that cover a range of needs, which has brought you to pendant lights: what are they, should you use them and how can you use them to brighten up each of your rooms?
What Are Pendant Lights?
Generally speaking, a pendant light is a hanging light. There are two unique types of hanging lights – pendant lights and chandeliers. While chandeliers generally have multiple light bulbs incorporated in a single fixture, pendant lights usually only have one. A chandelier may be used to light up an entire room, while you may need several pendant lights to light up a room effectively. Pendant lights are also more affordable and can generally be purchased for a couple hundred dollars as opposed to a chandelier’s heftier price tag, as you’ll need to install multiple pendant lights to light up your room effectively.
There are also many different types of pendant lights, including pendant lights that do in fact have multiple bulbs but aren’t chandeliers. Most pendant lights will face downwards, making them great at lighting up specific areas and casting light in a way that brightens up some spots of your rooms more than others. Typically, a pendant light will feature three core elements: a cord or stem, bulb housing and a shade. Pendant lights will usually be either cord-hung or stem-hung, so asking yourself how rigid you prefer your pendant lights to be during installation will help you determine your needs. You can also find LED pendant lights and mini pendant lights, both of which have a more affordable price tag.
What Styles of Pendant Lights Are There?
Pendant lights come in all shapes and sizes, which makes them an easy addition to any home. You’ll find pendant lights that come in traditional, contemporary and transitional styles, and themes can range from wrought iron to farmhouse rustic. Even the finish can vary greatly, with options like polished chrome and black iron. Pendant light shades will come in many styles as well, so you’ll be able to use glass shades as well as fabric shades – but pendant light shades are generally less exchangeable than traditional lampshades which should be an important consideration when installing pendant lights.
Where Should I Install Pendant Lights?
Pendant lights can go anywhere in your home due to their diverse styles and versatility. These types of lamps can have many unique lengths, making them perfect for both low and high ceilings, and often come customizable meaning that you can adjust them to your preferred height. Pendant lights are very commonly used in kitchens due to their ability to spot-light your countertops, but pendant lights also make a great addition to bathrooms, hallways, foyers, bedrooms and dens. Really, anywhere you would put a light fixture, you could install a pendant light there instead – it’s really that easy.
One thing to keep in mind when installing pendant lights or pursuing them as an option for lighting your home is that they tend to diffuse less light than some of their other light fixture counterparts, so if you really want to light up a room, you’ll either need to find a particularly effective pendant light or pursue another options. Pendant lights excel at spot lighting and illuminating specific areas of rooms, so they’re a worthwhile option when it comes to living rooms and dining rooms as well where you may only desire to light up a small portion of the room for the right ambiance.
One effective way to use pendant lights outside of the kitchen is for relaxation areas – areas with lounge chairs or similar seating where less light may be desired. There’s nothing quite like reading a book under a few pendant lights without needing the entire room to be illuminated! As such, when pendant lights are installed, they’ll often be installed alongside other light fixtures with separate switches so you can change between one style of lighting to another. Always be sure to investigate your options to see what you prefer when it comes to installation.
So You’ve Opted to Use Pendant Lights – Now What?
If you’ve decided that you want to use pendent lights in your home, you’ll need to take some time to figure out specifics. First, ask yourself how many pendant lights you plan to use per room – as pendant lights will generally match in duplicates, this will help you determine how many pendant lights you want to buy. Secondly, think of how large of a pendant light you’ll need. How much light do you need to illuminate your room? Are you attempting to light up a small area of a room, or do you want to use pendant lighting to light up the entire room?
Pendant lights will usually be at least 18 inches or more apart from each other, and 30-36 inches above any surface. If you’re looking to install pendant lighting over a countertop or kitchen island, this might differ depending on the height of the countertop or your own personal preferences, but three feet is a good rule of thumb to abide by. Consider how centered the pendant light needs to be as well. Is this going directly above a dining room table? Will it meet your lighting needs when placed off-center?
Ultimately, pendant lighting is usually used to accent your home rather than light it up completely, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t frequently used as a main light source. Discover the lighting that works for your own needs as well as your stylistic preferences and remember to check out Chairish to find vintage pendant lights available at great prices.
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Lead photo courtesy of Megan Grehl
