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Dining rooms are sometimes difficult to tackle. Many people, especially those in smaller apartments and condos, don’t even have a dedicated dining room and for those who, it’s often about striking that difficult balance between formal and comfortable. With today’s trend toward open floor plans and away from walled-off rooms set aside for a specific purpose, the dining room has become integrated into the rest of the home in ways it may not have been in the past.

The most common lighting fixture people think of when they think of a dining room is undoubtedly the chandelier. As we’ve discussed in previous articles, chandeliers are now appearing in other rooms throughout the home. While the iconic dining room fixture finds its domain expanding, how do you continue to make your dining room stand out? There are infinite possibilities for decorating any room in your home. We’ll look at a few options while keeping in mind the trends we see emerging for the 2020s.

Chandeliers

Yes, chandeliers may be sneaking into other rooms throughout the home, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still the classic dining room lighting choice. What chandelier you pick will depend on a number of factors, principally the size of your room, the size of your table, and the height of your ceiling. You want your chandelier to hang approximately thirty inches from the surface of your table, so a very tall chandelier won’t work well in a room with eight-foot ceilings whereas a shorter fixture may look too small and tiny (and provide insufficient light) in a room with twelve-foot ceilings. Click here for some basics about picking the right-sized chandelier for your space. Keep in mind that in this age of possibilities for self expression through your decor, the idea of “right-sized” is certainly a question of personal preference.

Pendants

If you’re not a fan of chandeliers, another route for dining room lighting is the pendant. Similar in concept, pendants are a way to vary the texture and dimensions of your room by suspending more, smaller lights, even varying their lengths, sizes, and shapes when suspending them above your table. We encourage you to weave in vintage fixtures, natural fibers, glass, metal, and even multi-colored acrylic shades. Pendants can feel much less stuffy than traditional chandeliers and are very popular in more modern buildings or paired with modern furniture.

Recessed lighting

One surefire way to get excellent ambient lighting in your dining room is with recessed lighting. Its unobtrusive design allows for lots of light while not overpowering other focal points in the room, such as art, display pieces, or other more ornate fixtures. While it’s rare to see a dining room using only recessed lighting (or as in the picture above), recessed lighting coupled with alcove/soffit lighting, it is certainly a sleek, modern option that leaves clean sightlines throughout the room. If you have a room with low ceilings, or other interesting areas of focus you would rather stand out, this recessed-only lighting option may be right for you. We still recommend including recessed lighting in your lighting plan coupled with other types of lighting to give you more control, balance, and variety.

Crown, cove, and soffit lighting

Advances in LED technology have helped create and solidify new lighting trends. Crown, cove, and soffit lighting have become much easier to install and afford. As a result, this trend is showing up in elegant decor, minimalist decor, and everything in between. Rarely has a lighting style been so versatile and universally loved. Though it will likely never be sufficient on its own, this indirect, diffuse, ambient lighting is the perfect accent to any well-layered room.

Natural materials

Rattan, paper, metal, and glass are all being prominently featured in home lighting and are gaining popularity daily. The rattan pendants in the picture above give play perfectly with the dark wood of the table and chairs and lend a nice, airy feel to the room. The rattan texture complements the textured walls and the linen curtains. Paper lanterns are also making a huge comeback with the improvement in LED bulbs. No longer need you be worried about overly hot incandescents igniting the paper should they come in contact with each other. The texture and color of the paper can also enhance the look of the light in any room.

Maximalist and minimalist

We’ve talked about oversized lighting fixtures quite a bit. These statement pieces are meant to draw attention in a big way. They take over the room and command attention. In the picture above this table, large enough to seat six, is dwarfed by the massive pendant, which has nearly the same circumference.

On the other end of the spectrum is this extremely minimalist setup with a long table featuring only two pendant lights. Note that the light provided by the pendants is supplemented with recessed lighting and sconces as well as lots of natural light. Off-camera there are two table lamps set up along the wall opposite the windows to provide additional light when the sun has gone down.

Zones and Dimmers

It goes nearly without saying that all the suggestions for dining room lighting we’ve discussed should be paired with dimmer switches and put into distinct lighting zones. At minimum each different kind of lighting (recessed, pendant, chandelier, cove/crown, lamps) should be on its own dimmer switch. In a larger room, consider dividing recessed lights into more than one zone so you can control lighting in different parts of the room independently. This is especially helpful in open-concept floor plans.

Make a statement

No matter what style or lighting combination you ultimately choose, the goal is to make a statement with your decor. As you stand out or blend in, go modern or traditional, layer your lighting, plan your zones and dimmers and create the perfect dining room that perfectly reflects your taste and shows off your style, remember SunLake is always there with the bulbs you need to outfit your space.

Below are some of our favorite lights for the dining room. Click here for SunLake’s full catalog of LED products.