Let There Be Light: Rediscovering Fancy Bars’ Delight

My fancy friend is an interior designer and she is literally in love with fashion, fabrics, colour combos and ambiance creating techniques. And I must say, she is a genius at what she does. So I’m sitting with this friend of mine in this very trendy and stylish cafe, drinking a latte and enjoying the beautiful ambiance. While doing so, I drifted away for a few minutes analyzing the interior in details: industrial style all over the place, simple fabrics used for the chairs made of wood and metal, and a weirdly attractive domination of all the tones of the colour brown. Thanks to the large glass walls surrounding the place, you get an inspirational feeling that you’re living this grandiose, fabulous life. It was the perfectly designed cafe bar.

Everything looked magical, so naturally, I had to ask my expert what was the trick here. She explained to me that this wonderful effect was acheived thanks to the great combination of colours and the smart use of the lighting. Lighting is often the secret ingredient in many great interior designs, but people often don’t position it in the right manner, so half of the beauty effect gets lost in the space. This cafe had all the fixtures used in a way that it complemented the interior scheme, positioned in the right spots to illuminate it just perfectly. Among other points of attention, the most important spot in a cafe is the bar, and choosing the right fixtures for it is crucial. If you search the light fittings online retailers, you’ll see just how large the palette of products is. Also, if you have a bar in your home (the kitchen, dining or living room) you’d want to illuminate it in the best way possible too.

All this was food for thought for me since I want to finally do something with the large empty space in my living room, so I figured, a bar would be the perfect element to add. So, I took matters in my hands and asked my friend (the expert) for some light fittings online searching advice to ease my quest. Here’s what I figured.

Pendant are always a good idea

When it comes to illuminating a bar, the focus is on the bar counter. Not the surrounding environment, nor the bar stools, but the bar counter top. This is why pendant light fixtures are considered to be the bar’s accompanying design element. There are many types of pendant light fixtures – from single units to multi-pendant lighting units. So according to the type of bar you have and the style of the entire environment, you can choose from various shapes, cord options, canopy shapes and sizes, as well as from the various types of bulbs available.

A few useful application tips from an expert

Pendant lights are the perfect choice if you want to add intimacy to the space. They are a great task lighting option, since they illuminate only a small fraction of the bar counter with the strongest amount of light. Shades that aren’t opaque on the other hand, allow more light to spread in the space and illuminate it. The type of the pendant fixture you choose also matters a lot: mini pendants serve centralized lighting purposes delivering a very intimate and gentle ilumination of the bar surface. Large pendants are great for ambiance lighting over a bar, since they offer a shade width of about 15 centimetres. And finally, multi-light pendants, which are best for small bar designs. They’re versatile as well as you can hang the pendants at a desired length.