Dining Room Pendants

Dining Room Pendants: Our apartment in Zurich is a rental, and has zero lighting in the dining room. Initially, I tried to make do with rechargeable table lamps and HAY light tubes, but it is still very dark during dinner hours in the winter.

Making Do without a Pendant Light:

I’ve decided to invest in a light fixture for the dining room because as it is, I do not think I can entertain properly. That being said, Zurich is surprisingly sunny for its geographic locale, so the floor to ceiling windows bring lots of natural light during the day. This also means you can see dust and grime very easily in the early morning light, or late afternoon, depending on the time of year. I need to factor this in when choosing a pendant for the dining area.

Choosing a Dining Room Pendant Light:

*The scale of the dining table and chairs vs the scale of the room

*How the fixture will look at different times of the day

*The amount of light it will give off on the darkest of nights

*The direction/ surface area the light will illuminate

*How the fixture looks from other rooms in the apartment

*How the fixture will look during daylight hours and unilluminated

*Whether the style is versatile for other homes I’ve lived in/ may live in in the future

*Can the fixture be mounted externally, without having to hardwire

Restrictions When Choosing

Next, I start searching online, without any restrictions, to see what I am drawn to. I don’t worry about scale, or price or color at this point. This is purely about inspiration. Here are some of the fixtures I was drawn to in my initial search.

As you can see, I didn’t limit myself to styles or finishes. Once I see what I like, I start looking at the dimensions of each fixture in relation to my table and the room. Some of these items won’t work with the ceiling height, table width, or room size.

Then I look at the budget to see if there are any outliers. I really like to print my favorite images so I can see them with my existing furniture. Sometimes I print images of my furniture too, so you can make a collage of sorts. I guess if you are tech savvy, you could do this in Photoshop or Indesign, but these are skills I lack!

I think the Flos Skygarden light in glossy white will go well in my dining room. It has clean lines, important since our open floor plan can get cluttered, and with my bookshelves providing a busy distraction, it has ample light, is unfussy but interesting, the scale is good for the table and room, and even on bright sunny days, you won’t notice if it is dusty.

I found this helpful guide on 1800-lighting for hanging fixtures:

Standard Pendant Height Recommendation

The first thing to figure out is how high a chandelier should be above the table. The general rule when you hang a chandelier for the dining room is that the lowest part of the light fixture should be 30-36 inches above the dining room table’s surface.

This standard is based on the assumption that your ceiling is 8-foot high. If your ceiling is higher, hang the chandelier three inches higher for every additional foot of height. For instance, if you have a 10-foot-high ceiling, your chandelier would be hung six inches higher than it would be in a room with a ceiling that is eight feet high.

This standard recommendation is an average, but here’s where it can get complicated. Before you hang your chandelier, consider the room size, table size, and how much light the fixture provides.

Adjust for Ceiling Height or Room Size

For some, adjusting how high you hang the chandelier to accommodate the size of the room is controversial. Some designers feel that is unnecessary. This makes sense if you think that the chandelier’s primary role is to shed light on the table.

However, there are valid reasons to adjust for room size or ceiling height. While a chandelier’s function is to illuminate the space, its role is to be a design feature. That means that you will want to take into consideration how the chandelier works with the room’s design.

To do this, evaluate how the chandelier looks from different vantage points:

• Start with how it looks when you are seated at the table
• Then consider how it looks when you enter the dining room
• And lastly, when you are seated somewhere else

This is especially important if the dining room is part of a great room or open-concept space. Be sure to visualize how the chandelier looks from every common area in the space.

I hope these ideas help if you are looking to replace your Dining Room light fixture.