It is dinner party season. While the food, table setting, and music all plays an important role... lighting is an equally important factor to setting the scene for that perfect meal with friends and family.
Statement lighting is often the element that brings people to gather around the table. Hanging pendant lights above a dining room table can create both functional and aesthetic appeal, providing focused illumination while enhancing the room's overall atmosphere.
For optimal lighting, the pendants should be hung around 28 to 34 inches above the tabletop, ensuring they are low enough to provide adequate light but high enough to avoid obstructing sightlines. While I'm generally a fan of the 30" from table top to base of the lamp shade, the source of the light within the pendant is also important. For example the oversized Mia rattan basket lamps we have require a slightly higher base to ensure the light is cast so that the entire table top is illuminated and the reflective light off the tabletop produces a warm upward glow on the faces of your guests.
When installing, I like to raise and lower the lamps by hand before permanently installing them to ensure the light is cast over the entire table surface, but just so the shadow begins on the seats of the surrounding chairs. This will illuminate the place settings, but not shine in the eyes of guests.
NOTE: Clustering these basket lamps (having more than one of various sizes) is a popular trend we are seeing among many home decorators, particularly in larger dining rooms or kitchens with high ceilings.
The brightness should generally fall between 300 to 500 lumens per pendant during meal time, offering enough light for tasks like eating or conversation without being overpowering. But often the table has other functional uses: homework, board games, crafts, even folding laundry. For these you'll want to be up near 800 lumens. It pays to invest in high lumen LED lights with a quality dimmer switch that eliminates the flicker when dimmed to 10%.
When it comes to color temperature, a warm white light in the range of 2700K to 3000K is ideal for dining areas, as it creates a cozy, inviting ambiance that complements the warmth of food and encourages relaxed socializing. This kelvin color temperature tends to make the food look delicious too. LED Edison bulbs have become our personal favorite for ensuring you get that warm glow and aesthetic of a traditional filiment bulb.
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