The dining room is an important part of any home. It’s a place we gather with loved ones to enjoy good food and conversation, while unplugged from the busyness of the outside world. Whether it’s catching up on the days activities over dinner, family game night, or entertaining friends, it’s truly the heartbeat of every home. While lighting has the unique ability to add warmth and coziness to this space, it’s often overlooked, so today, I’m breaking down all things dining room light fixtures! Helping you create a beautiful dining ambiance memories are made of!
Selecting Your Dining Room Light Fixtures
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Selecting the right light fixture is an important step to creating a well-designed dining space. Not only is the light fixture a central feature of your dining room but provides an opportunity to create mood and set the overall tone. This is also the perfect place to consider a bold statement piece, which allows for slightly more adventurous options.
Dining room light fixtures come in a variety of styles, shapes and sizes. With linear, round, tiered, architectural, and pendant designs, the options are seemingly endless. To help narrow your selection, start by determining the style of light fixture you need, before trying to figure out size and proportion.
Chandeliers
Chandeliers are timeless and tend to be the most common light fixture in dining rooms. With decorative and ornate appeal, they create a beautiful focal point that seamlessly floats above the table. Its shape allows lighting to effortlessly branch off, creating dimension; while evenly distributing soft glowing light.
Contemporary designs like THIS Brass Five-Light Chandelier, offer a clean and simple look. While glass globe chandeliers, add a chic, modern flair, dispersing light at every angle. To elevate your space try incorporating architectural pieces like adjustable height tiered chandeliers. Offering visual appeal with its varied shape, it can be placed separately or combined to form a beautiful arc.
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Pendant Lights
In general, pendant lighting is more sleek and simplistic. While it’s typically one light suspended by a cord, pendants can also be hung in rows or grouped in multiples, creating an artistic flare. Pendant lighting is versatile, easily adapts to any space, and adds ambient light throughout your dining area. Adding a dimmer to your dining room light fixtures will create attractive lighting, helping to set the overall tone and mood of the room.
A sleek pendant, like THIS modern antique bronze fixture from Amazon, adds a sophisticated touch to any dining room space. Shapes and styles vary from simple globes to colored drums and woven cages. They also come in a variety of materials, adding just the right amount of contrast and style.
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Sizing Your Dining Room Light Fixtures
Choose a light fixture that correlates to the dining room table, not the room itself in terms of size, shape, and style. Round fixtures like chandeliers are an easy match for oval tables, and a linear fixture goes well over a rectangular table. Another option is to have multiple pendants arranged to complement the shape of the table, in a row or grouped together.
How to Size Your Fixture
When selecting the size of your dining room fixture, the general rule is one-third of the length of a rectangular or oval table. While it’s not recommended to go smaller, the larger the light fixture, the better! Just make sure to choose a fixture that is wider than the table itself.
- Add the length and width of your room together and convert them into inches (a 10×14 room would require at least a 24-inch-wide light fixture).
- You can also determine the right size by measuring the width of the dining table.
How to Hang Your Fixture
When hanging chandeliers and pendants over the middle of the dining table, keep the bottom of the light fixture between 30 to 36 inches from the surface of the table. It’s also important to get your light as centered as possible over your table.
- If using pendants in a row, the length of the table will help in determining where to hang them. Space the lamps according to how long the table is.
- Suspension lights should be anywhere from 1/3 to 2/3 of the length of the table.
- Keep in mind suspension length when choosing a fixture.
I hope these eye-catching chandeliers and dreamy pendants inspire you to find dining room light fixtures that you absolutely love! Something that not only enhances your dining room but creates the perfect space for your family to gather around!
Which light fixtures are your favorite? Let me know in the comments below!
If kitchen pendants are next on your list, check out THIS post on kitchen island lighting!
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