Lighting Choices & Helpful Hints to Hang Pendants

Do you scroll for hours through Insta and Pinterest trying to decide on lighting?

Renovating or building a new home means you have so many choices to make and sometimes it can get really overwhelming!  Spending hours and hours on the selection of tiles, wall colours, benchtops and more and then throw in lighting fixtures...ARGH it can get a little too much!

So I thought I would share with you the current trends I have seen and what our customers are buying for their homes.  I have also done some research and found a common rule of thumb for the heights when hanging pendants which is hopefully helpful!

PENDANT LIGHTING TRENDS

So firstly, over sided rattan is still super popular.  Woven and natural fibres. Whether over kitchen benches or dining tables.  The HK Living Round Wicker Pendants and also the Lolesa by Uniqwa Furniture (pictured below) have been the top of our order list.  The Large Rattan pendant has been popular in both the white and natural. The black one has also been really popular as a statement piece in the dining room!

Lolesa Pendant by Uniqwa Furniture supplied for Studio Cult display home $749

HK Living Rattan Pendants | Large $699 Medium $599

A row of pendants across the kitchen bench is still an interior designers favourite, with a few designers going for the off the centre look, or rather than round pendants the triangle shape is making an appearance.  Also bunching pendants together over the dining room table to create a feature and just having down lights in the kitchen is another option to create a feature in the dining room, perfect if you have an open plan living and dining space.

HK Living Triangle Metal Pendant  from $299 | Uniqwa Furniture Bindu Pendant $319 | Linen Pendant from HK Living | Large HK Living Metal Triangle Pendant $599

Clear bulb drops or geometrical shaped pendants are popping up in the contemporary and Hampton designed homes as well.  

Pic: ColourCube Interiors - WA           Pic: The Light Choice Australia

Another popular place for pendants is by the bedside. Finding the perfect drop pendant can make such a great statement in your bedroom.  You do have to be happy that you wont ever change the position of your bed however as by having drop pendants it does make them permanent in that spot, unless you are happy to patch plaster in the future.  Here are some lovely examples of beside pendants. 

Pic (left): Studio Cult WA  - Black & Copper pendant by Emac Lawton                Pic (right): Capalla Constructions - Hunter Pendant by Milk and Sugar

Bedroom wall sconses are also very popular and you can find many traditional ones, but if you love rattan, check these out! New by Indigo Love Collectors and soon to be available in our lighting collection ... exciting!  They have either a brass or matt black base!

Fringed pendants are also becoming a popular choice, whether it is a natural textile like linen or natural fibre like raffia. 

Pic (left): Celebrations Homes WA - Mykonos Pendant (supplied by Cranmore Home & Co) | Middle: The Paper Mill Studios - Sorrento Fringed pendant | End: Natural The Paper Mill Studios collection.

HOW TO HANG YOUR PENDANTS

One question I get asked a lot is what height do you hang pendant lights. 

Hanging pendant lights all depends on what’s below them, what room they’re in, and how the space functions day-to-day. So I have done some research into the popular common rule of thumb.  I have provided guidence for hanging based on the height from the object it is going over, to the bottom of the pendant, rather than from the ceiling. This means you may need to ensure you have enough pendant cord if you have high ceilings.

Bedside Pendants.

Allow about 70cm from the top of the bedside table to the bottom of the pendant light. This allows for ample reading light but also space to put things on your beside table.  Size of pendants again depends on the size of your bedside table, bedhead and space between wall and bed. 

Dining Room Pendant Light

Allow at least 80cm between the top of the table and the bottom of the pendant.  The size of the pendant depends on the size of your table.  If you are in open living always go big! If you rely on this light for more than good looks ensure it is an open bottom pendant.

Kitchen Benchtop

Allow approx. 90cm of space between the benchtop and the pendant. Ensure the pendant is not in the way of your eyeline (esp if TV is in front of your bench) or close to head height as this will just be frustrating.  Also the type of pendant depends on whether it is for lighting up the kitchen or decorative, again ensure open pendant if for extra lighting in the kitchen.

Another great tip!

For pendant lighting, cut out a piece of cupboard of the diameter of your preferred pendant/s, then place this on the surface you are placing the pendant over. This provides a bit of a spacial layout as some times diameters can be deceiving.

TABLE LAMPS

Metal table lamps with a triangle or mushroom shape shade, are the popular purchase at the moment.  HK Living are producing some great metal colours including peach and cobalt blue (similar to classic blue) which are just stunning.  Also brass and gold are still being very popular.   The mushroom shaped table lamp I think is one that will continue to grow in popularity as people start to see more tables lamps in this design.  The best thing about table lamps is that you can actually have so much fun with them as there is so much choice and they provide an opportunity to add some colour and shape to your room! One of my favourites is the brass palm table lamp by HK Living, if only my husband liked it!

HK Living Metal Table Lamp from $349  |  HK Living Palm Table Lamp $999 | HK Living Hexagon Black Marble $350

FLOOR LAMPS

Ambience is key. A statement floor lamp can add natural ambience to any room.  A floor lamp next to your favourite occasional chair in the living room or bedroom creates a relaxing environment but also looks great.  There are several gorgeous designs, many either black matt or brass and gold that seem to be popular with our customers. 

Attila Floor Lamp by MRD $349 | Augie Floor Lamp by MRD $379 |  HK Living Triangle Metal Nude Floor Lamp $499

Floor lamps are also a great addition to open plan living as they can create warmth to a larger space that normally relies on spot lighting or pendants from the ceiling. Turn off all your room lights and leave your pendant on, now that’s cosy!

OUR RECENT LIGHTING JOURNEY

We changed out our old lighting this year.  We have an old Californian Bungalow and I wanted to give our lighting a facelift so decided to bring in some modern touches via the lighting initially, but the choices started to create havoc as I would try to go to sleep deciding what pendants to use!

Our previous lighting were old chandeliers in our formal and dining room and we had a round white oversized ball over our dining table! Our dining room is full of natural light and has a very high raked ceiling.  We had a circular dining table so I knew I wanted a large dome pendant to go over this.  I have lots of tall window frames (timber) in this room with white walls so I knew I wanted something that would be a feature but also blend in with the surrounds.  

In the end I knew wanted to make the lighting a feature so decided on the Large HK Living Wicker Round Pendant. See Image below.  I am really happy with it as we also replaced a chandelier in our entry way with a medium one so when you walk into the house you can see both in your line of sight!  

For our formal lounge rooms we replaced the crystal chandilers with linen pendants.  I wanted to keep a soft material within these rooms and something that made the rooms feel less old fashioned but still created a soft ambience.  I do love them!

MRD Home Linen Pendants - Nendo Range From $89

So I do understand the craziness of choosing the right lighting for your home! Ideally as part of your renovation or build you are able to talk with a designer who can make this choice so much easier, but if the budget doesn’t stretch to that, just ensure you are keeping to the style of your overall house and take the time to measure our the spacing and heights.  A good electrician should help you do this too!