What’s the best way to light a
dining room?
Dining rooms have been around for centuries. Once reserved for the wealthy to show off, most of us now have a space dedicated for eating.
Where once dining rooms were reserved only for mealtimes, modern life sees us treat them differently.
Regardless whether your dining space is glamorous table, a rustic kitchen table or a breakfast bar, they now generally offer us greater value than solely being used for mealtimes.
This can range from a home office, a music room, a place for the homework or a games room.
With this flexibility comes the need for our lighting to work harder to create the variety needed. Historically, one ceiling pendant or chandelier over the table would suffice; no longer!!
Best Lights to Dine By
If you’re lucky enough to have a home large enough that you don’t need the dining room to serve any other purpose, make sure that you keep it fresh. It needs to be a sanctuary where you come together as a family. Make mealtimes a special part of the day where you take a bit of time to enjoy their company.
It’s easy to light this space as you really only need to light the table area. That said however, if it is a dark colour, or does not have a good source of natural light, you may think about adding some wall lights or floor lamps to stretch the light into the corners of the room. Picture lights are also fabulous to shine your personality into the space.
How to position lights over your dining table:
Lighting a Home Office in your Dining Room
Working from home is becoming an increasingly viable option to many more industries and roles. If you don’t have a spare room or space that can be turned over to a dedicated office, the most logical place is the dining room.
The key here is to not let work overtake the room. It’s still your home, after all! Make sure that you have clever storage, where paperwork and equipment can be safely stored away at the end of the day. You don’t need visual cues of work when you’re trying to relax.
Lighting this space needs a bit more consideration. The ceiling light(s) can remain the same as if it were just used for an eating space, with one exception. You’ll need to ensure that the ceiling lights do not reflect in your screen. You need to look after your eyes and glaring lights off a screen is a definite no-go. Using the charts above, you may opt to go for the more conservative shade diameter.
You will almost undoubtedly find that the ceiling lights alone are not enough to work by. They may well be adequate when it’s light outside, but when the light starts to fade, you will need something to replace it.
Lighting a Dining room used as a playroom or Homework Station
With busy lives, we (quite rightly) cherish our quiet time, even more so when you have kids! We tend to want our living rooms to be more of a calm, adult zone where when we enter it, we simply sit and ‘chill’.
It can therefore be ideal to use dining rooms for the little ones – and for the bigger ones who have homework.
Considerations for your lighting:
- Choose robust ceiling pendants that will cope with a bit of abuse! Concrete, acrylic or tarnished metals will work much better than crystal or glass
- Position these lights closer to the ceiling to minimise wear and tear, or consider a semi flush or flush ceiling fitting.
- Focus on lighting that is fixed and can’t be knocked or pulled over. Wall lights are perfect for this setting.
Lighting a games room in your dining room
Whatever games you’d like to play in your dining room, a good spread of light is always going to be a winner. If you have a snooker or pool table, or just simply enjoy a game of cards, an oval ceiling pendant or ceiling pendant bar is a clear winner. Top tip; use a dimmable ceiling light so that you can brighten for a family board game, then create intrigue for a murder mystery night, or secrecy for a game of polka.
Lights for a library in the dining room
Books are still a firm favourite of ours. Despite e-books being widely available, many still opt for the tactile familiarity of turning the pages of the latest bestseller.
Yes, they can be cumbersome and storage can be an issue, so why not make it a feature? Floor to ceiling shelves to house your literary heroes makes a fantastic feature in the dining room. Light them with picture lights and if you have room, create a reading area with a cosy chair and a mother and child lamp. This look works for a contemporary setting as well as it does a traditional style.
Lighting a garden room in your dining room
With the ‘good-old British weather’, a many people would say that our outside spaces are a little underutilised. So why not create a foliage filled dining room to bring the outdoors inside?
This room does need to be light, so make sure that there is enough light fittings around the entire room to have an even spread of light. Using the chart below, aim for the lumens as a minimum across all of the lights; you can always choose which lights you use. Too much light is far better than not enough!
Or you can watch our handy video guide with Ellie D:
Light a second lounge in the dining room
In today’s modern age, a great use of the dining room is to have a tech free zone. A place for peace, tranquility and harmony. If you have space for comfy seating in this area, it will offer a perfect place to sit and contemplate the days events as you unwind.
Enjoy getting creative with your dining room!
If you’d like to read more, take a look at our Ultimate Lighting Guides: