Choose the best small pendant lights with these tips

Pendant lights can come in many sizes and shapes, and finding the right one for your space or house can be tricky. This article aims to shed light on your questions about pendant lights. Read on!

Pendant Light Types

Pendant lights come in many forms and decorative styles. They can also achieve different effects that can give your home a wonderful aesthetic. That’s why they’re one of the most important home lighting fixtures around. Before you start choosing small pendant lights, it’s wise to know the types of pendant lights you can buy:

Glass Pendants

A classic favorite, glass pendants feature a glass shade that can take different forms. The glass can be clear or finished with rippling designs.

Multi-Light Pendants

These pendant lights come in two distinct forms. The first form consists of multiple arms with light sources that extend from the core. The second form consists of multiple pendant suspension cords attached to a ceiling rose. These pendant types can come with or without shades. There are usually three, five, or nine light drops.

Globe Pendants

These pendants have classic spherical shades attached to the light fixture. They’re perfect if you want to distribute light in a space or to achieve that classic lighting look.

Drum Shade Pendant

These pendants have cylindrical drum shared shades. They offer a natural and softly diffused vibe to your space.

Linear Pendants

Simple and classy, linear pendants have one long tube bulb that’s perfect for kitchen island benches, restaurant kitchens, or above a bar.

Cord Pendants

Cord pendants are made up of a ceiling rose, suspension cord, and a bare light bulb. These are amazing when it comes to showcasing designer bulbs in a clustered or singular formation.

Lantern Pendants

If you want vintage-style pendants, then lantern pendants are your go-to choice. They’re modeled after vintage street lanterns, usually rectangular and sporting an encased lamp holder.

Lighting Impact

Whichever small pendant light types you choose, you must consider the lighting impact you’re trying to achieve. Generally, you can achieve four effects in terms of lighting, and they are:

• Task Lights: this lighting illuminates a targeted area where you’re working. For example, you might want task lights in the kitchen for when you’re chopping or looking at a recipe book.
• Ambient: this lighting illuminates the whole space, usually to brighten the entire room. Using multiple lights spread across the area usually helps achieve this lighting.
• Accent: this lighting highlights a design feature in your space, such as an art piece or a beautiful interior material.
• Decorative: as the name suggests, this lighting is used as a decorative feature in itself either through the fixture itself, its sparkle, its shadow, or a combination of those.

It’s possible for a piece of pendant light to achieve a combination of these four lighting effects, and that’s good to remember when deciding on the lighting types that are best for your spaces.

The Right Height

Before installing pendant lights, consider the height of your ceiling. Allow a 2.1-meter clearance if you want to install the lights in an open space. This way, your family and visitors can walk underneath it. Apart from that, here are some rules of thumb you should follow:

• For bedrooms, living rooms, and open foyers, keep 7 feet of clearance from the lights to the floor. If you have an 8-foot ceiling, you can use a low-profile flush mount.
• Hang pendant lights in an open foyer or hallway at least 6 feet higher than the door.
• Maintain a clearance of 8-feet between the pendant light to the top of the tub if you’re using them in a bathroom. If your bathroom is smaller, use a small pendant light or hang the fixture 3 feet away from the tub.