How high should a pendant light hang?

A pendant light is set once, when it is installed, and then you live with it. So it is worth taking a few measurements before drilling. The right reference is almost never the ceiling: it is the furniture below.

Above a table

The usual guideline: leave about 70 to 80 cm between the tabletop and the bottom of the pendant. At that height, the light falls on the table, and the shade stays above the eye line of the people seated: everyone can see each other from one end of the table to the other.

Under a high ceiling, do not raise the pendant all the same. Lengthen its cable instead: the table is the reference, not the height of the room.

Above a kitchen island or a worktop

You cook standing up: the pendant can go a little higher, around 80 to 90 cm above the worktop, so it does not get in the way of your movements or the view across the room.

In a passageway or an entrance

Where people walk, the rule changes: leave about 2.10 m between the floor and the bottom of the pendant, so you can walk underneath without thinking about it.

The diameter for your table

The usual guideline: a shade whose diameter is between half and two thirds of the width of the table. Smaller, it seems to float above the tabletop; larger, it overwhelms the table.

Nimbe comes in three diameters: 40 cm for a table about 80 cm wide or a dining nook, 50 cm for a table 90 to 100 cm wide, 60 cm for a wider table or a large round table. For a long table, two identical pendants spread along its length light it better than one.

A light that does not dazzle

A pendant light is seen up close, throughout a meal. A fabric shade filters the light: with Nimbe's two drums, it falls softly onto the table, without dazzling those sitting below. Choose a warm light, as warm as the lamps in the room.

Installation

A pendant light is fixed to the ceiling and wired with the power switched off at the circuit breaker. If you are not used to it, leave the job to an electrician.