What Is Pendant Lighting?

These days, homeowners are turning towards indoor light options that strike the perfect balance between style and functionality,  and pendant lighting ticks both boxes. Boasting genuine aesthetic appeal and incomparable practicality, the perfect pendant light can make a welcome addition to any home. 

But you might still be asking how pendant lighting differs from other forms of indoor home lighting. Let’s explore the benefits of installing pendant lights, and what they bring to your home.

Pendant Lighting Explained

In a nutshell, a pendant light is basically a light fixture you suspend from the ceiling – typically from a chain or metal rod. Think of it in much the same way as a pendant hanging from a necklace or bracelet. Pendant light fixtures can come in many different styles, shapes and colour schemes, and can be made from a vast range of materials. Those material options can include:

• Glass
• Metal
• Paper 
• Plastic

The use of the shade feature fashioned from one of these materials helps to reduce any glare from the bulb. They can also aid in determining the nature of the light that illuminates the room, and enhance the aesthetic appeal with a variety of classic, contemporary and retro styles available. Among the many different pendant light options available, you’re sure to find one that suits your tastes.

 

Six Reasons To Install Pendant Lights

Using different pendant lights throughout your home brings a wealth of benefits to your primary living spaces. Among the benefits you can bring to your kitchen, dining room or living room are:

• Ease of customisation – you have the capability to modify the suspension, or the length from which it hangs from the ceiling, and can also change the light bulb to adjust the ambience in the room.
• Ease of installation – pendant fixtures offer easy installation that almost anyone can do themselves. They don’t require any damage to the ceiling, making them the perfect lighting option for renters who want to make changes to the interior of their home without them being major lasting changes.
• Concentration of light where you need it – in addition to providing ambient lighting to an entire room, pendant lights can also act as a spotlight when they’re set up correctly for that purpose. Whether it’s to provide added illumination above the kitchen island bench, or to draw attention to a focal point or statement piece of artwork in your living room, pendant lighting provides the ideal focused light source in your home. 
• Minimises eye strain and glare – whereas other forms of indoor lighting are designed to provide broad illumination throughout the home, pendant lighting is typically intended for illuminating a specific area. This difference in purpose means that they reduce glare which in turn reduces the potential for eye strain. 
• Improved energy efficiency – most pendant light designs use LED light bulbs and incorporate additional features that help to improve their overall energy efficiency. LED lights can last up to 50000 hours, making them both a cost effective and energy efficient option. It’s no surprise that they’re fast becoming the light bulb of choice in many homes.
• Saves valuable floor or desk space – in years gone by, if you needed concentrated illumination in a dedicated study area, dining table or work space in your home, you’d often need a desk lamp or floor lamp that would often take up valuable space. With pendant lighting however, that concentrated lighting comes from above, giving that valuable work space back to you. 

Pendant lights are generally the perfect solution for any indoor work space or living space. With a plethora of elegant and stylish pendant fixture designs available, and the ability to enhance the ambience of any room, the benefits of pendant lighting are absolutely worthy of your consideration. 

How To Choose The Right Light Fixture For Your Home

If you’re looking for the ideal pendant light for your home, there are four questions worth considering. 

1. What purpose will your pendant lights serve? General lighting, task lighting, accent lighting or area lighting? It might determine whether you need just a single fixture or a multi light pendant.
2. What is the sizing of the area that will feature your pendant lighting? If the room is large with high ceilings, a light that is too small will appear inconsequential and ineffective. If the space is relatively small and the light too big, it will overpower the space.
3. What is your intended positioning for your lights within the particular living space? If you’re looking to enhance the general lighting of the room, you need to space out your pendant lights evenly. However to illuminate a specific area, grouping the multi light pendants into a cluster can be the best option. 
4. Do your lights need to be installed at a certain height? – To get the best performance from your pendant lighting, it’s often crucial that you install it at the right height. The general rule is to hang large pendant lights at a higher height while smaller lights are hung lower. 

Once you’ve selected the right pendant lighting design, you can either install yourself or get an electrician in.

You can’t go wrong with a pendant light fixture in your home. Whether you’re gravitating towards globe pendants, linear pendants, drum shade pendants or one of the myriad other design options, discover the benefits for yourself.