Pendant Lighting Fixtures-Versatile Functional Fashionable

Nothing sets a mood quite like lighting, and pendant lights are some of the most attractive and fun ways to express lighting solutions for your home.

Pendant lighting fixtures add exciting character to today’s décor. They are perfect for many places, and they come in an imagination-full of styles and colors. They are so appealing that you, like many homeowners, will be hard-pressed to choose just one or two. In fact, you may find pendant lights play a bigger part in your home’s illumination plan than you first expected.

Three kinds of lighting

Lighting should be stylish as well as functional, and understanding the basics of home lighting will help in selecting fixtures. A successful home lighting plan includes ambient, task and accent lighting. The main portions of your home should involve a combination of all three. The rest is up to your individual needs and tastes. Certainly, everyone can appreciate when a lighting plan works well. The complementary effects are dazzling.

Ambient lighting sets the stage by providing background illumination. It warms a room with an overall golden glow. Task lighting, such as under-counter lights in a kitchen or a desk light in an office, concentrates light in a specific area where work is done. Accent lighting focuses a beam on works of art, or other notable items where an occasional spot of brilliance is needed.

Pendant lights succeed for all three types of lighting. No matter where you place them, they suggest your personal style. Whether you purchase them from your local home supply store, or choose custom a crafted piece with a hand-blown glass shade, pendants never fail to catch the eye.

Pendants fit beautifully with existing décor, or they can make a statement all their own. As you create your lighting plan, consider where a pendant fixture works best.

Where to put a Pendant Lighting Fixture

• dining rooms and breakfast nooks
• kitchen islands and countertops
• bathrooms
• living rooms and sitting rooms
• libraries, home offices and dens
• foyers, stairwells and hallways
• bedrooms
• over sculpture and works of art
• over pool tables, game tables, hobby and craft tables
• playrooms
• home theatre rooms
• home gyms and exercise rooms

Pendant Lighting Fixtures in Unexpected places

Though pendant lighting in kitchens, breakfast nooks or game rooms is far from cliché, you may be surprised to see pendants turning up favorably elsewhere in the home. The variety of metal finishes give appeal to formal and informal décor. Shades come in a number of shapes and compositions including colored or textured, treated or stained glass; fabrics such as linen, silk or cotton; or special papers.

Bathrooms, which formerly seemed to receive the least attention for lighting, are now some of the best decorated rooms in the home. No longer is a single overhead fixture or a glaring bar of lights adequate.

10 Tips on choosing a Pendant

Prepare to have fun choosing a pendant light. Unique styles and sizes are sure to entice you. Plus you can frequently coordinate the pendants with matching wall sconces, table lamps or flush-mount ceiling fixtures for a unified and dramatic look. If you are upgrading fixtures and renovating your décor, matching fixtures may be the best option for you.

However, before you think about purchasing a pendant, consider these 10 factors:
1. Will the lighting be used as ambient, task or accent?
2. What is the size of the area to be lighted?
3. How many pendants will be required to accomplish efficient lighting?
4. Is the new lighting to coordinate with existing lighting?
5. Have you considered how furniture placement and reflective surfaces will affect your choice?
6. Have you taken into account natural lighting from windows or lighting from existing fixtures?
7. What is your budget?
8. What style of pendant meets your needs?
9. Is the lighting fixture returnable if it isn’t as expected?
10. Can you use compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs, dimmer switches, motion sensors or timing devices to help save energy?

Shop with paint swatches, wallpaper, fabric elements, or other items with which the new lighting will coordinate. If you are shopping online, make sure to check dimensions of the fixture including the length of the rod and the diameter of the shade.

Not sure about the appearance of color on your monitor versus how the color will look in your home? Send for a color swatch before you buy. It’s an easy step that insures you will be happier with your purchase.

Hanging a Pendant

Choosing the proper size and placement for fixtures tends to be confusing for many homeowners; however, the task need not be difficult if you follow these few simple recommendations suggested by the American Lighting Association.

• Pendant(s) should be hung over the center of the dining or breakfast table, which is preferably located in the center of the room.
• The total size of the pendant(s) should measure about 12 inches smaller than the width of your table. (For example, two pendant lights for a 3-foot counter would be suggested.)
• Hang the pendant(s) at a height of 30-to-35 inches above the table or item of furniture.
• If hanging in a foyer, stairwell or hallway, hang about 40-to-48 inches from the edges of the walls and at a height that fully illuminates the area.

It is the overall effect that counts

Remember that your eye perceives light much as a camera sees a snapshot. Harmonious and home lighting is worth taking time and effort to achieve. In choosing pendant lighting, as with all lighting, it is the effect that reigns. The lighting fixture is merely the stylish answer to great illumination.