Want to add interest to a room, highlight your collectibles, and add ambient lighting: try lighting your cabinets or – like here – add illuminated niches.
One way to take away from the harshness of the main light source in a dining area is to use additional lighting around the edge of the room. This diminishes the strong contrasts between light and shadow in the room and makes it possible to dim the main fixture, usually the pendant light or chandelier over the dining table to a comfortable, more intimate level.
Buffets and hutches can be illuminated from within and light up your collections of china or treasured pieces .
Look for the color temperature of the bulbs you use for your display. In order to get the effect shown here you need to look for bulbs (lamps) close to 3000K (Kelvin.)
Most quality halogen and fluorescent lamps give you the color temperature as well as the CRI (Color Rendering Index.) If there is a choice, look for a CRI as close to 100 as you can get.
My comments to this beautiful dining area: I love how the illuminated niches stand out and add architectural interest to the space. They fill the room with warmth and make the art pieces “pop”.
That said, I find that the pendant light / chandelier looks kind of lost way above the table. Is it even centered? – It looks like some kind of afterthought. Lowering it would do a world of difference.
Rule of thumb for mounting height of a pendant of chandelier : 30″ above the dining table.
