The Facts

• Pendant lights hang from the ceiling. An alternate name is "swag light/lighting." Presumably the term "pendant" arose from the fact that early models had shapes that resembled the way a pendant necklace looks as the pendant hangs on a chain. This style is still available and popular, but the selection today has broadened considerably.
  
  

Pendant Light Characteristics

• A hallmark of most pendant light styles is a certain simplicity of form. Indeed, one distinction between traditional chandeliers and pendant lights is that chandeliers have elegant and often intricate styling. Pendant lights, however, while often quite stylish, tend towards more streamlined designs.
  
  Another distinction is that while chandeliers often incorporate several light bulb fixtures, most pendant lights use only a single light bulb per lamp.
  
  

Function

• Generally, consumers and interior decorators use pendant lights over such locations as desks, nightstands, or kitchen tables when used as either task or basic lighting (for instance, basic lighting over a kitchen table). As mood or atmosphere lighting, purchasers may use pendant lights in a variety of locations, particularly in corners or other areas with special lighting challenges.
  
  Pendant lamps of the same basic style may be staged at different heights in a living area to create a visual design element.
  
  

Benefits

• The most important feature that pendant lights have is their versatility. Versatility, here, incorporates three principles:
  
  •This style of lighting provides both task lighting and general lighting, and one can find styles suitable for mood lighting as well.
  •Purchasers can choose from several styles, offering a broad potential home lighting canvas.
  •An outcome of the second principle, pendant lights blend easily and compatibly into a home's overall lighting scheme that may incorporate many other lighting elements.
  
  

Considerations

• Considerations involved in choosing pendant lights for home use are the same as for any lighting, that is:
  
  •Appropriate lighting level for the area to have lighting installed (Bright enough if task lighting is needed? Not overly bright, for general or mood lighting purposes?).
  •Do the lights to be installed blend well with the overall design scheme of the home, including but not limited to other lighting selections?
  •Cost. Generally, with pendant lights you want the best quality at reasonable yet not cut-rate cost.
  
  Pendant light use, however, includes two additional considerations: one a positive, the other potentially adverse.
  
  Pendant lights free up space that would otherwise be occupied by a floor lamp (such as in a corner) or by a table lamp (such as on a desk). This allows more efficient use of such spaces.
  
  The potentially adverse consideration is that pendant lights hang too low for some uses, blocking other views, which can become a safety factor.