Imagup General Magazine 2024
In recent years, one of the most popular trends in the decor space has been the combining of different categories. You’ll see homes decorated in the modern rustic style or contemporary farmhouse, for example. Today, though, we’ll be discussing one of the fastest-growing, which is the vintage industrial style. More specifically, we’ll cover how adding vintage industrial pendant lights to your home can completely revamp your living space in a way that you’ll love for many years to come.
What is the vintage style?
While when most people hear the term “vintage style,” they think old fashioned, fancy, and elegant, this isn’t a perfect definition. Sure, something that fits those terms could certainly be described as vintage. It would be better to consider the vintage style, however, to be something that simply creates a sense of nostalgia and warmth. This could be something that is five years old or fifty, so while when we think “vintage” we often think “old,” it’s better to think of it as something that hearkens back to happy times, whenever those may be.
What is the industrial style?
The industrial style invokes in one vision of a converted factory building, with its high ceilings, exposed beams, and metal accents abound. You have no need to have all of these present to create the style in your own home, however. A quick way you can bring the industrial style into your home is by looking for pieces that have clean, defined lines and a heavy presence of metal, leather, glass, and wood. Solid, not bright colors like black, brown, and tan will be the norm with mattes being frequent. Patterns will be minimal (if present at all) and subtle.
What is the combination of vintage industrial style?
To combine the styles of industrial and vintage, you should start your search in the vintage category and work from there. Avoid anything heavily patterned, and steer yourself towards pieces that have exposed metal and a simple color palette. Converted pieces that once were primarily used for work, as a wire metal basket turned into a pendant as you can see in this collection from Stylish Direct, would be a great example of something from the vintage industrial style. Pipe lighting is also an excellent representation of this category.
How to add vintage industrial pendant lights in the kitchen
Now that you have a good idea of just what exactly the vintage industrial style is, let’s cover how to bring it into one of the most used rooms in your home: the kitchen. The most popular placement for vintage industrial pendant lights is over the kitchen island. Before searching for your fixtures, first, start by measuring the length of your island. Smaller islands (four to five feet in length) will be best served by two mini pendants, which means 12 inches or less in diameter. For larger islands, you’ll want two to three pendants, and the diameter you go with is simply up to what you think looks best.
With both small and large kitchen islands, you’ll want to space the pendants two feet apart to ensure even illumination over your countertop. Hang the pendants 30 to 36 inches above your island to give yourself plenty of light while still keeping them out of your way. Do your measurement from the top of the island to the very bottom of the pendant.
As far as the shape of the vintage industrial pendant you should be looking for, this all depends on how much illumination you will require from the fixtures. If you already have plenty of illumination in the kitchen, then you can obviously go with whatever shape you feel looks best. More likely, however, you’re going to need the pendants to provide you with a directed light over your kitchen island. In this case, the best shape to go with would be either a dome or bell pendant. These both will direct light downwards and are very popular with both designers and consumers, so you should have no problem finding plenty of options to choose from.
How to add vintage industrial pendants to the dining room
Much of the same concerns you would have with adding pendants over your kitchen island will be present with dining room pendants. You may, however, prefer to go with just a single larger pendant centered over your table regardless of length. It really all comes down to whether you’d prefer a brighter dinner setting or something more soft and subtle. Once you have decided on this, you can figure out how many pendants you would like and which shape would be right to meet your illumination requirements.
How popular are vintage industrial pendant lighting fixtures?
Extremely! This is not some obscure combination, so you should have no trouble finding plenty of fixtures from which to pick at major lighting sites. As we’ve mentioned before, both categories from which this combination draws are very popular, so it’s no surprise that mixing the two still leaves you with plenty of fixtures available from which to choose.
Our industrial vintage pendant lights more expensive?
Vintage industrial pendant light fixtures are not necessarily more (or less) expensive than any other style or combination of styles. It all comes down to the individual fixture you decide on, and other factors like the pendant’s size and design. The materials used will also be a big factor.
When you consider that these lights will be a part of your home for many years to come, however, it’s probably best to spend just a bit more to ensure that you buy lights that are quality and exactly the design you’re looking for. You should also opt to spend a little extra for features like an adjustable hanging method, which will allow you to place the light at the perfect height for your placement.
Vintage industrial pendant lights alone can completely refresh a room, adding nostalgia and style in just an afternoon. Think over what we’ve discussed today when doing your browsing and you are sure to make a decision with which you’ll be happy. Enjoy, and good luck with your purchase!
