Hanging lights is a trend that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Their variety and adaptability makes them both useful and aesthetically pleasing. They can be used to accent a certain area of a room, to create a certain and express your personal style.
Lighting plays a huge role in the ambiance and atmosphere of your home. Do you want to create a feeling of rustic comfort? Chic sophistication? Surreal quirkiness? All of these elements can be affected by the way you go out lighting your space and hanging lights are an easy and adaptable way to go about doing that.
How to Spice Up Any Space with Gorgeous Hanging Lights
Unfortunately the more elaborate hanging lights can lean a little on the pricey side but don’t think that you can’t adorn your house with them if you’re on a budget. The way these light are made makes them easy to DIY and style exactly to your liking on a lower budget. All you need is a few supplies and a dash of creativity.
They come in a huge variety of different styles so to get you started here are 20 different types of hanging lights to inspire you.
1. The Classic Remake
A chandelier is an classic symbol of opulence but a little rework can make this iconic shape fit into a more cozy home setting. By replacing the expensive and easily tarnished glass or crystal with clay or wooden beads and setting it in rustic metal, it makes this style more approachable. This twist on a classic makes for a beautiful centerpiece for a warm family living space
2. An Arc of Light
Do you want some statement overhead lighting without the hassle of wiring electrics? A swooping arch light is the perfect solution. This choice is not only simple, just plug it in at the wall and you’re done, it’s a design feature all on its own. You can choose from a myriad of materials and lampshade styles to complement your home and the unique, almost gravity defying, design will do the rest.
3. A Hint of Nature
Are you a nature lover? Well now you can bring nature to you! The beauty of this design is one that with some creativity this can easily be DIYed. Take yourself on a foraging mission into your garden, local park or forest to find the perfect branch (one that’s not attached to a tree still please!), weigh it down and anchor it in a pot that you can decorate. Now all you need is some cheap pendant lights or even a string of fairy lights and voila! You’ve brought a little bit of nature to your living space with very little expense.
4. Classic Hanging Lights
If your home has high ceilings then hanging pendant lights are perfect for you. You can add your personal flavor by choosing different shades; clean, decorative, opaque, translucent; and bulbs; big, dainty, round, Edison bulbs; to create a look that fits your interior design. Hang them at various heights in your high ceilinged areas and you have a feature that gives plenty of useable light while being eclectic and beautiful at the same time.
5. Creative Hanging Lights
If you have a quirky style and want more DIY lighting options this one is perfect for you. Almost anything can be a lampshade if you think about it and hats are a cheap and easy option. Thrift stores are a perfect place to find interesting and old school hats that you can DIY into this light up talking point. LED bulbs for your pendant lights are key here to prevent any fire hazards but other than that your only limitation is your creative thinking.
6. Decorative Lighting
As we’ve already seen, lighting can be used to make a statement but hanging lamps like this one kick it up a notch. A structured, translucent hanging lamp sheds a soft, diffused light while making a dramatic aesthetic impact. Hanging lamps like this can even become a centerpiece for your room to be designed around especially in a monotone, minimalistic setting. This one may be more of an investment but the impact makes it all worth it.
7. A Different Bathroom Sconce
Bathroom lighting is very often overlooked but it can add a little extra flair to a room that we use so often. A simple, beautiful LED bulb design with a cord that is covered to protect it from damp can be wrapped around any structural or decorative element to give your bathroom a certain something extra.
8. DIY Kitchen Lamp
As we saw with the hat lights in number 5 everyday objects can make for some really cool DIY lighting. The kitchen is a great opportunity to flex your DIY muscles and make yourself a hanging light that makes your kitchen stand out. A few graters, a chunky piece of stained wood, simple lightbulbs and your decoration of choice, like the fake ivy seen here, are all the basics you’ll need to create this quirky kitchen light.
9. DIY Pendant Lamp
This light may look like a unattainable piece of art, however this is something you can easily replicate yourself. A DIY pendant lamp like this is not as complicated as you might think. You can pick up any cheap pendant light with a generic shade and make it something custom made especially for you by cutting away at it to creative beautiful patterns and shapes. Dyes and trimmings could also be added to customize it even further and really make this design your own.
10. Pendant Lamps made of Paper
Pendant lamps with paper shades give you the chance to incorporate a transformative element to your interior design. When the light is off the detail of the paper shade is almost sculptural, its layers casting shadows and catcheing natural light on its edges. However when the light it turned on the full design is shown in all its glory, the amount of light showing through is controlled by the amount of layers of paper in that particular area of the design. The manipulation of light and colour makes it something eye-catchingly beautiful. LED bulbs are a must with these paper pendants to prevent fires and save you electricity as an added bonus.
11. Eternal Texture
Woven fibre lampshades are a staple for outdoor lighting since they are so strong and can be treated to be heat resistant. They are also a very natural way to bring the outside into your interior/ exterior spaces. If your style is rustic choosing a hanging light with some natural textures or woven fibres is a great way to complement that, especially outdoor dining areas like patios or gazebos.
12. Glass Chandeliers
If the more understated chandelier we started with idn’t doing it for you a more flashy glass chandelier might be right up your alley. Traditional chandeliers like this one speak of opulence and grandeur with shining shard of glass pouring down the sides reflecting the light. Instead of reserving it for more public room they can be used in a more unusual bedroom setting. The overt glamour it exudes can make you feel like you’re living in the lap of luxury every time you wake up in the morning.
13. LED Wooden Wall Lamp
A structured wooden prism is a perfect vessel if you want to cast beautiful patterns with light. Well thought out geometric designs are cut into the thin wooden structure so when the light is switched on it will cast light that distorts and dances over surfaces for a dramatic lighting effect. This is perfect for a nightlight since they give off less useable and more aesthetically pleasing rays.
14. Metallic Hanging Lights Design
Nowadays you are not limited to the standard round bulb to light up a room. These innovative rings of light are set in a brushed metal casing, varying sizes are juxtaposed and layered over one another, the metal around one light reflecting the light from the one above. This intricate layering of light and materials is a showstopper in any setting.
15. Modern Pendant Lamps
Modern pendant lamps like these let the bulbs do all the talking. There are so many different aesthetically designed light bulbs now that the process of creating a lamp like this is as easy as choosing one beautiful bulb style, clustering them together and hanging them at different heights. This cluster of light can even be seen as another fresh take on the traditional chandelier and can be used to light up the darkest corner or give life to the simplest room.
16. Modern Bedroom Chandelier
If your tastes are more modern than the bedroom chandelier in number 12, never fear, there is a more modern alterative to extravant bedroom lighting. Unique bedroom lights like this one, fibres of light creeping plant-like up to the ceiling, are the perfect solution. They create all the drama of a traditional chandelier with a hint of futuristic chic and simplicity.
17. Nuances for a Small Bedroom
Small bedrooms are the perfect place to make use of lights that are classic while still creating ambiance. Since the ceilings are lower a traditional hanging light can make the room seem even smaller. This glowing shade uses the diffusion of the fabric as well as reflection off the ceiling to bathe the bedroom in a calming, cozy light making you feel comforted by the small space rather can confined by it.
18. Metal Geometric Pendant Light
If you like the patterns cast by the wooden lamp in number 13 but wanted more light pay off a metal geometric lights can do that to the power of 10. One bright bulb in the placed at the centre of the intricate metal framework casts other worldly shapes far across a space to add a little touch of magic. This kind of light is perfect in a room with very minimal colour and furnishing so that its delicate cage and the patterns it casts can be the real focal point.
19. Technical Architectural Lighting
Recessing light can be a great space saver, mostly equated with small standard spotlights. However if this idea is expanded upon it can also be applied creatively to add visual interest to a large space. By using inset glowing circles of various sizes spaced erratically the long empty ceiling becomes a focal point rather than blank monotony. The placement can also be used to draw the eye across to certain areas of the room.
20. Unique Hanging Lights
Lighting is not limited to strict symmetrical geometry, some designs take a great deal of inspiration from the natural world. An organic, asymmetrical hanging light can cast light in elegant, freeform shapes and be featured as much as a piece of art as a functional bringer of light. This one shows how elegantly a flower can be used for the inspiration behind the curled petal like shade.
Conclusion
Lighting is something we don’t always consider when we think of our interior design. Often times we move into a place and work with the lights that were already there. Commonly these are harsh, ill placed spotlights that don’t do anything to make our home feel our own. Replacing these uninspiring lights with your own hanging ones is a great way to bring character and quality light into each space.
As this ample list has proved, the design of hanging lights is limitless. From simple and practical to over the top and avant garde, their design can have an impact on the design and feel of any room. No matter what aesthetic, budget or type of home own, hanging lights are a beautiful way to contribute to our interior design. Lighting is something that can act not just as a necessity to see but to add a mood and ambience throughout your home, even the bathroom! The type of bulb, materials, room location and colours gives you a great deal of freedom to create and make your home feel uniquely yours. Your grandmother’s conical fabric lampshades could become a thing of the past.
If you have decided to DIY your own hanging lamps please consider a few key elements:
- Electricity is dangerous. If you aren’t knowledgeable in this area and your DIY requires wiring please seek the advice of a professional.
- Standard light bulbs produce heat. If you aren’t using energy saving or LED bulbs heat could be a big issue for you when it comes to what materials (ie paper, plastic) that you can use that won’t be a fire hazard. So why not do the planet and yourself a favour and choose to use energy saving lightbulbs. This means you use less electricity and you are free to use any material you desire.
I hope these have inspired you to experiment with hanging lights and maybe even try your hand at making your own.