The best ceiling lights, according to interior designers
The best ceiling lights, chosen by interior designers
Ceiling lights can be a hard decorative choice to make; other kinds of lighting like table lamps and floor lamps don't feel like quite such a commitment, but when you're having something wired into your ceiling, it's important to get it right. That's why we're looking up towards the ceiling lights chosen by some of our favourite interior designers and tastemakers for inspiration.
How to choose the best ceiling light
The best pendant light, or ceiling light, for your space will depend on which room you are choosing your light for. A kitchen will likely require something more utilitarian, especially if placed over a workstation or kitchen island. Glass, metal and other wipe clean materials are preferred here as splashes, stains and grease from cooking will, somehow, manage to get up there. Dining tables, indeed dining rooms as a whole, can handle more of a focal point, but will benefit from a dimmable bulb to create more ambient lighting, or a rise and fall pendant. In bedrooms, statement pieces are a brilliant idea, as they will be seen more readily from the vantage point of your bed. With high ceilings, you can afford to go for a much larger shade to make an impact, or have it hanging on a longer wire so it sits lower, whereas very low ceilings may be better off with a light fitting that's flush with the ceiling, to avoid making it feel even lower with a hanging pendant.
There's a whole world of ceiling lights out there, from flush lights that work well in bathrooms, kitchens and hallways, to highly decorative pendant lights that will enhance your living room or bedroom. Here are our top picks.
Interior designer-approved pendant lights
Our pick of pendant lights and shades loved by creatives and interior designers, and ideas on how to use them.
Pooky's Stella pendant, available in three different sizes, is a House & Garden favourite, and has been seen in countless different interiors. Its lantern style and striking star shape suits both traditional and modern houses, and its brass and glass finish works with all colour schemes. Whether hanging in a living room, a bedroom or a hallway as in the Hampstead house above, ‘Stella’ always draws the eye upwards.
We often spot signature statement pieces from Soho Home in the houses of creatives and projects of interior designers, from bed frames to wall lamps. This 70s inspired green glass Lorenzo chandelier is a great example, and works perfectly in the centre of the eclectic sitting room of Rixo co-founder Orlagh McCloskey.
Soho Home's large Aldwin Pendant is a centring presence in the sitting room of this Emma Ainscough project, while its strong silhouette and neutral colour prevents it from taking over the space completely.
A truly iconic piece of Danish pop modernism from Verner Panton, the Flowerpot silhouette is today produced by &Tradition and is just as fun in pendant or table lamp form. It comes in many different bold colourways and even some psychedelic patterns, but on the stairway of 8 Holland Street's townhouse in Bath, Tobias Vernon opted for a neutral beige tone against the bubblegum palette of paints on the walls.
Designed in 1958 by Poul Henningsen, the PH 5 is a Danish mid-century classic, which arrived exactly 10 years before Panton's Flowerpot, showing the breadth of Danish design of this period. The futuristic, spaceship-like ceiling light is surprisingly versatile, and is the perfect fit in textile artist Alice Kettle and her husband Orlando Goodden's eco-conscious newbuild in Somerset, as seen above.
We love a handsome rise and fall pendant over a kitchen island or dining table, in order to easily alter the ambience of a room. This Original BTC one is one we've spied in a fair few houses in our archive, and for good reason; smart, simple and crafted from bone china, it's a timeless and incredibly versatile lighting design. See Harriet Slaughter's London cottage for inspiration. She's paired the light with a set of reproduction Cesca chairs.
Japanese-influenced rice paper shades never go out of style, and this pleasingly large edition from Danish studio HAY is one of the best in terms of a cost-quality ratio. The shade adds an airy dimension that lifts the otherwise rich, bold tones in the sitting room of the ever-stylish Lucy Williams. Elsewhere in the same house, Lucy switched to designer lighting with the elegant Beata Heuman Snowdrop pendant, with a rise and fall mechanism ideal for over a dining table, to switch up the ambience.
We often spy another Beata Heuman number, the Dodo Egg Lantern, in the pages of House & Garden. More traditional in style than the ‘Snowdrop’, it works brilliantly well solo, as seen in Lucy Williams' dusky pink hallway, or in a group, in a Belgravia townhouse by Buchanan Studio.
Similar in sensibility to the Original BTC rise and fall pendant, the Lucia double pendant from Hector Finch is a great choice for those wanting to spread their lighting out to multiple shades, but from just one fitting. The drop can be customised, which is ideal for those with especially high ceilings. Phoebe Hollond chose the light in a pale blue shade above the kitchen island in her west London house.
Though best known for their luxury kitchen designs, British independent studio deVOL shouldn't be overlooked for their lighting, which looks especially good when placed in multiples. The clean lines of the subtly industrial Creamware Pendant Light have been used in a smart house in Hampstead, whereas the pretty Frilly Amber light gives a feminine touch to the dining area of the Emma Ainscough project in Chelsea.
Hallway lighting can be tricky to get right, but in the clean lines and striking silhouette of Caravane's Ilam shade create a focal point without overwhelming this narrow space.
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