Pendant Lighting

Pendant lighting have been used since Ancient Times where they only served their function of giving light: they were suspended, in the middle of the room and used to brighten it up thanks to candles. 

With time, suspended lighting have become popular in the privileged class: In France, Louis XIV used crystal chandeliers, which more than being functional, had a decorative aspect. 

Nowadays, suspension is a key element for interior decoration. Being a central component, they take pride of place hanging in the middle of the room. Useful, they light the room up during your daily tasks and produce a soft lighting with or without patterns.

How to give a mood to your room thanks to light? 

Lighting is an important element in your interior. Indeed, it influences ones state of mind. In fact, a too intense light or an artificial one can easily become uncomfortable or may cause headaches: it is called photophobia.

How to get a good lighting? In a first place, many colors of light exist. Some light bulbs produce a yellow light others a white color, some light bulbs even recreate “natural light”: we talk about a more or less warm shade of light. White lights correspond to the most powerful lightning and should be used in spaces dedicated to energetic tasks, in places such as the kitchen or an office for instance. This color of light encourages energy. 

However, if you wish to get a more zen, relaxing and restful atmosphere, yellow light is more adapted: it secretes the melatonin hormone, which is also called the “sleeping hormone”. It is thus better to choose yellow lighting bulbs in rooms such as the bedroom or the living room but also as a secondary lightning to create an interplay of light more welcoming and warm. 

Finally, lights of all colors exist it is then possible to create an unusual mood by diffusing a red light in a bedroom for example.

Furthermore, for an even stronger atmosphere, there are some pendant lightning that project patterns or interplay of light on the walls. Diffusing “shadow puppets” or even creating a colourful mosaic is possible thanks to pendant lightning such as oriental styled pendants. These are ideal to create a warm and friendly atmosphere. They can be positioned within a bedroom or a living room and be used as a unique source of light during the evening in order to get a more intimate result. 

Finally, the different types of suspended lighting design can also take part in creating warm living spaces. Indeed, many suspended lightning are equipped with directional lightning or can be adjusted in height. In this way, you can adjust the lightning depending on the moment and the atmosphere you would like to create.

How and where positioning your suspended light? 

Suspended lightning are ideal for many rooms. They can be installed in a bedroom above the bed, inside a kitchen to light up a centre island or even within a dining or living room. They can also be positioned above a desk in order to replace the more traditional table lamp. 

However, these last must be chosen depending on some criteria: In a first place, you must know how to adapt your suspended light depending on the size of the room. In fact, the bigger the room is, the more unobtrusive the lamp should be. On the flip side, if your room is big, a large and original suspended light will bring to the house its unique style. In a second hand, the ceiling height is also an important criteria: for a low ceiling, the suspended light should be adjusted so that it is high enough not to give an overcrowding impression. In the same way, if your ceiling is high you may opt for any king of suspension, even the most unusual ones. 

As a final step, it is better to adapt its placement in a room depending on certain measurements. Indeed, if you wish to position it above a dinner table, you should adapt its size according to the size of the table. Furthermore, it is necessary to leave at least a meter between the top of the table and the suspended light in order not to disturb and dazzle yourself and the people sitting around it. Concerning the kitchen, if you wish to hang a suspended light above a centre island, you must stick to a distance of a meter just as with the table. It is otherwise possible to hang on two suspended lightning, in which case it is recommended to also leave a space of a meter between the two of them. However, for a desk, the suspended light can be positioned lower since it is used for studying. Finally, within a room, the suspended light must be positioned 2,2 above the floor! 

Functionality, security and light bulbs types
Suspended lightning are more than convenient: being hanged on the ceiling, they don't take much space within your interior. Moreover they are not cumbersome, and can light up the whole space from above! 

They are also very handy when having kids around since they are out of reach. Finally, more than being functional, they also represent an element of decoration not to forget because they are a central element within the room! 

Suspended lightning are indeed much elegant but how can you maintain them? Concerning this task, it can be tedious. First, because we rarely think about looking up, but it is especially because of their design, often much complicated and composed of many materials and elements! However, some materials are easier to maintain. For instance, metal suspensions or some made of plastic are the easier to clean. Nevertheless, if you opt for a suspended light with a shade, you should know that cleaning it with a feather duster is already a good way to maintain it and fight against dust. Otherwise, some vacuums exist! 

Lastly, you should also think about choosing carefully your light bulbs and changing them regularly. There are many types of light bulbs, here are some of them:
- Incandescent bulb : they are used less and less in favour of more sustainable light bulbs. 

- LED bulb : which helps saving until 9 % of energy. These bulbs are characterized by low energy consumption and a spiral shape.

 -Halogen bulb: they contain a gas helping for a better lightning

Any type of bulb must however respect some norms: in France, they must respect the norm NFC 15-1 concerning the lightning type.