Tag Archives: Art Deco

How to Decorate With Pendant Lighting

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Pendant lighting is not to be mistaken for chandelier lighting, which casts a softer more ambient light. Pendant lighting is usually hung from a single sconce on the ceiling from which sprouts a single chain or metal tube. The lamp shade itself is the “pendant” that dangles at the end.

Pendant lighting is considerably more practical than other types of lighting, which is why you often see them in kitchens, bathrooms, hallways and other places that need to be well lit. Usually the shade on a pendant style light fixture is completely enclosed and made out of a white, cream or opaque glass.

These pendant shades usually completely enclose the bulb although in the last decade, hat shaped or funnel shaped shades that are open at the end and that can be adjusted in height using adjustable wires are becoming quite common (especially as kitchen lighting fixtures in condominiums.) You often see them suspended in a row over a kitchen island in newly designed buildings or hanging high from a twenty-foot ceiling in a hallway.

Pendant style lampshades are almost as old as lighting itself with the earliest version being the bare naked light bulb hanging from a fabric cord from a ceiling. This style of pendant lighting is known as the Burnside.

Shades on pendant style lighting, which was first popularized in the forties in the form of gorgeous blown glass shells, have evolved to compromise all sorts of styles. Some of the most attractive styles of pendant lighting are inspired from this era which features glass globes that have been stepped or squared off with Art Deco touches. You can also find square or triangular open flute art deco shades that have wrought iron details and pastel colored glass panels.

Pendant style tiffany lampshades are also quite striking looking but one problem with them is that they are not quite in style as a pendent. Floor lamps and table lamps look more contemporary then the hanging tiffany lamps, which unfortunately can make your place, look too much like the interior of a chain restaurant.

Yet another style of pendant lighting that seems to never go out of style is the Colonial. This type of lighting features a shade that looks like a lantern with a candle inside. A similar style is the Storybook style, which is made of cast iron and hangs from a heavy chain. Both of these styles tend to look better out of doors but they were often found indoors in the seventies if you are going for that kind of “horse drawn carriage” reference in your décor.

Don’t forget too that to be beautiful the stem of a pendant lampshade does not have to be really long. Shorter styles with stubbier tubes are reminiscent of the Edwardian and Art Deco eras and look contemporary and timeless at the same time. This is especially true if you can find a style that is shaped like a child’s top, a trapezoid or deconstructed globe as these shapes are typical of this popular Mid-Century look in pendant lighting.

How to Decorate With Chandeliers

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When it comes to lighting effects, not all chandeliers are alike. Here is a rundown of the different types of chandeliers and the type of light they are likely to cast over your dining room table.

Late Victorian: The late Victorian style of chandelier lighting is very similar to the late seventies style of chandelier. This style consists of stacked circular glass blown globes that are stacked in brass wheels of usually eight and then four tiers. This type of chandelier casts a very soft pearly glow and look best in a dim wood paneled room. The more stark seventies versions with the pure white opaque glass look best hanging over a kitchen table and tend to cast a much brighter light.

Gas Electric: This style of chandelier consists of tulip shaped flutes and is usually made of heavy engraved glass. In Victorian times there would have been candles inside these frosted flutes but now a days there is candle shaped light bulbs or regular light bulbs. This style of chandelier which is usually mounted on a metallic wheel, whether it be brass, iron or metal, are usually very bright and sometimes look better somewhere like a bathroom where you need lots of light and not necessarily in a dining room where something more subtle is required.

Arts and Crafts: You know you are looking at an Arts and Crafts style of chandelier if the glass shades are dangling downwards from the wheel rather than sitting like cups on the rim of the wheel. This is characterized by balanced mobiles that consist of two to four to six lampshades on a rustic looking metal frame that hangs from the ceiling.

Mission Style: If the chandelier has black iron limbs or wheels then it is probably mission style. Mission style chandeliers usually also have square shades made of streaked white or pearly opaque glass. This type of chandelier usually casts a dimmer light then most.

Wagon Wheel: This eclectic chandelier was a common sight in the suburbs in the seventies and basically consisted of a wooden wheel that was topped with miniature lamps shades. It casts a nice, yellowish dim light for a dining room.

Atomic Age: Also known as a fifties revival style, these are the chandeliers that look like metal starbursts from which shoot multicolored Christmas bulbs. This unique style never seems that dated as it looks both modern and antique at the same time and the light that it can cast is often pretty because of the different colored bulbs. It does however cast a dimmer light than most.

Art Deco Chandeliers – These are getting rarer and rarer and cast beautiful soft lights the colored round pendant drops and flower shaped fluted shades that are characteristic of the style. The glass on an art deco chandelier is often green or pink and it can also be frosted or streaked with color.

There are hundreds of more styles of chandeliers, especially if you want to get into discussing crystal pendant chandeliers but the above represents the most common and affordable styles that you can find online or in stores.