We love sharing feature light ideas here at TLC Interiors, but today we want to go a step further. This post is going to talk you through what you should and shouldn’t be doing when it comes to choosing chandeliers or pendants for your home, and how installing them can make or break the entire look.
Do you choose one or two chandeliers for a space? What size and shape is best? What style of chandelier or pendant do you opt for?
All of this and more awaits, so scroll on as we inspire you to embrace feature lighting at home, and ensure you steer clear of some of the most-common design mistakes.
This post is produced in partnership with Designer Chandelier.
1. Feature Lighting Works Best as the Room’s Hero
A room contains a variety of design elements, but you want to make sure they don’t compete for your eye or feel overwhelming together. A good rule of thumb is for one element to be the ‘hero’. This is the piece that draws your eye to it first.
In many of our projects we let a crystal chandelier or pendant be that hero. It’s the more elaborate, visually stimulating moment, with other pieces like art, rugs and furniture being the more subdued supporting players.
Doing this ensures the room feels harmonious without being boring. You still have the main attraction (the lighting) but there’s no chaos present in the space.
2. For Voids and Entryways, Go Big or Go Home
You never want feature lighting to feel apologetic. In most cases it should command attention, and so if you’re ever in doubt about what size of chandelier is appropriate, I suggest always going bigger.
In an area like an entryway void or stairwell this is especially true. There’s so much space to play with that you want to ensure the light you install is of the right scale.
Tiered/wave chandeliers are a great idea here because they run vertically and fill up the negative space. In stairwells you just want to ensure there’s enough room to walk underneath it without hitting your head on any components.
3. One ‘Round’ Shape Over a Dining Table Works Well
Dining rooms can feel quite structured if you have a rectangle dining table, rectangular art, rectangle rug and rectangular sideboard. There’s a lot of hard lines at play. Chairs in a fluid or organic shape can help here, but a feature light in a ‘round’ shape can also work wonders.
When I say ‘round’ I mean that the overall shape is round or oval, like a ball. It can still be a chandelier with multiple arms and crystals, but if you drew a line around it, it’d still resemble a roughly circular shape.
One of these installed above the centre of a table is ideal. One larger piece over a dining table is always better than two smaller ones sitting side-by-side.
4. Or, Go for a Linear Chandelier that Runs the Direction of the Table
The other option when it comes to feature lights in dining rooms is to choose a pendant or chandelier that is more linear, running in the same direction as the table. The longer options from the Harmony Collection are a good example of this.
To ensure the space doesn’t feel too rigid, choose an elegant chandelier like the one above that features many crystals and bulbs. While the shape is more streamlined, the crystals and bulbs do a lot of the work in bringing depth and dimension to the dining room.
As a rule, you never want the chandelier in your dining room to be the same width as the table beneath it. The light should always step in a bit. If you keep the length of the light about two thirds the length of the table you’re onto a winning approach.
5. For a Bedroom, One Light the Centre of the Room Works
A chandelier or pendant light installed in the centre of your bedroom, above a bed, can work wonders in bringing a sense of grandeur to the space. This works especially well if you have high ceilings that support a rather large lighting moment.
If you’re in an older style home with a ceiling rose, installing a traditional chandelier or pendant light is a genius idea because it’ll make the focal point even greater and more in-keeping with the age of the home. There are even stunning flush-mount versions like these ones for those of you with lower ceiling heights.
Just ensure when it comes to the size of your light that the drop isn’t so low that it feels intrusive when you’re lying in bed. You may also want to ensure a dimmer option is available so you can control the intensity of light at night.
6. Or, Go For Two Smaller Ones Over Bedside Tables
It’s really a one-or-the-other situation when it comes to feature lights in your bedroom. You have one in the centre of the room, or have feature lighting over your bedside tables instead (pendant light or wall sconces). I’ve not seen many scenarios where both look good.
When choosing feature lights for over your bedside tables, ensure they’re no wider than the bedsides. You also want to ensure they are no deeper, and when it comes to height, you want the main part of the light proportionally smaller than the table beneath it.
Also think about what brightness level the chandelier or pendant omits. Ideally you won’t want to see exposed bulbs as it can interrupt the calming feel you want in a bedroom.
Some crystal pendants like these ones would look great over bedsides.
7. In a Living Room, You Have Two Options
Chandeliers in living rooms are an absolute winner in my eyes. Like with a bedroom, if your ceilings are high then you’re able to install one in the centre of the room and make a real feature out of it.
You may want to consider a dimmer on a chandelier in this location though, just so you can control the amount of light it emits (if you were watching TV and wanted it to be less intense on the light-front, for example).
If your ceilings are lower, a delicate chandelier in the corner of the room can also work. Have it on a dimmer and turn it half-way down to have it create just the right amount of mood lighting at night.
8. Over a Kitchen Island, Go For Three Smaller Feature Lights
Feature lights over a kitchen bench seem to stump people the most, but it needn’t be so stressful.
As a rule of thumb, you’re best to install three of the same lights over the island, with a gap between the lights, and leaving some gap between the outer lights and the end of your bench too. In this instance, a simpler light works best rather than three rather elaborate ones.
Three Bohemian Basket Pendants side by side would look perfect.
The other option is to install a more linear light that runs in the same directions as the bench, but isn’t as long as the total width of the bench.
9. In a Kitchen/Dining Room, Have One Light be the Star
If you have an open plan kitchen and dining room on your hands, where the two zones sit side-by-side, you want to choose just one zone to carry the more dramatic feature light.
I tend to have a simpler light over the kitchen bench in the projects I design, with a more dramatic focal-point light over the dining table. Whichever way you do it, you want one light to be the star of the show with the second light (or set of three lights) being the supporting player.
If you have both the kitchen and dining room decked out with dramatic feature lights, it can start to feel visually chaotic, and too stimulating for the eye.
10. Chandeliers Are Great for Bathrooms Too
We can’t forget about feature lights in bathrooms and powder rooms. These are two areas where you can be a little more daring and risk-taking if you want to be.
Because these are spaces where you spend less time throughout the day, the design of the room can be more experimental or boundary-pushing. Fortune favours the brave here.
Consider an eye-catching feature light over a vanity that you can take in while washing your hands. Lights from the Infinity Collection would work perfectly.
Or, why not install a chandelier in the centre of the room so you can take in the light it casts over the walls while you’re taking a bath? The Basket Chandeliers are stunners for a zone like this.
Both ideas will work, and you’re only limited by your imagination.
11. Wall Sconces Are Great for Entries, Hallways and Even Bathrooms
Chandeliers and pendants are often the first thing we think of when considering feature light ideas for our homes, but let’s not leave out wall sconces, which can truly elevate entries, hallways and bathrooms.
Installing sconces either side of artworks and mirrors can bring extra attention to these pieces, as can having them installed in smaller rooms like powder rooms if a pendant won’t work.
Empty hallway and stairwells can really come to live with wall sconces installed as well, so think outside the box and enjoy the elegance they can bring to their areas.
For more feature light ideas and inspiration for your home, visit the Designer Chandelier website at www.designerchandelier.com.au/
