1. General height rules for pendant lights: Keep them 30 to 40
inches above the surface they're hanging over (18 - 24 inches for mini
pendants). Any lower and they'll be right in your face, interrupting
your conversations and getting all up in your business. Any higher, and
you may as well just put them on the ceiling.
2. Hang a mini pendant over an end table or a night stand and throw out your old
table lamps. Then you'll have plenty of space for magazines, remote
controls, drink glasses, or whatever. Or, here's a novel idea: how
about a night stand or end table with nothing on it?
3.
The next time you're out to dinner, check out the pendant lights
hanging over the tables. You may find some great ideas to incorporate
into your home decor, from Asian to Victorian in style, with finish colors from bronze to gold. Of course, try not to get too carried away
looking for a cute little spot for that "Tuesday Night - $1 Draft Beer"
sign, too.
4. Always add a dimmer switch to your pendant
lights for the ultimate in versatility. Reading a book? Turn them up.
Presenting a birthday cake? Turn them down. Having dinner? Turn them
up. Romantic dinner? Turn them down. Dinner with as-yet undetermined
romantic intent? Just put them right in the middle.
5. Mix it up - pendant lights aren't like soldiers in a row -
they don't have to hang all at the same height. Vary the hanging
lengths to suit your sense of style, fun, and individuality. And while you're at it, try color combos such as black, white, and red. This isn't
an army barracks, you know (feel free to ignore this if you're an
interior designer for an army barracks).
6. Choose the right
size lighting for the job. Mini pendant lights are perfect for spots
where you don't have a lot of space, but could use some focused
lighting. Sometimes when you want to shine a little light, you need a
little light.
7. For subtle diffused ambient lighting, try
an inverted pendant light. It shines up onto the ceiling for glare-free
indirect illumination. For more direct task lighting, a downlight
pendant shines down, providing illumination for your table or
workspace. And for high-traffic areas, consider a traffic light, which
tells cars when to stop.
8. In the right spot, pendant
lighting can work miracles, giving your home a completely new room: a
nook. Try tropical or safari styles to give your nook a fun look, or rustic or lodge styles for a cozy nook. Find a little-used area of your home,
maybe a corner or other out-of-the-way area, and hang a pendant light
over a table. Hey look, a nook! And that's all it took.
9.
Before you decide on pendant lighting, plot out how it would look in
your home. Attach similarly-sized funnels to a string and hang them in
different spots in your home. Pin them up with pushpins, try sets of
two or three, and find out what configuration works the best. And if
you really love the way they look, and don't really need the light,
just leave up the funnels.
10. Shades and globes eliminate
glare and give lighting a soft, warm glow. Properly shaded pendant
lighting helps prevent you from squinting due to harsh lighting, which
in turn will make you calmer and happier. No need to bring on anxiety
about unnecessary crow's feet, right?
