Natural Elements: Pendant Lighting

My design client loves clean, modern design and her husband loves rustic. One way to marry these styles is in a rustic pendant shade. I've picked out some pendant shades that could work. Their size and scale is modern but the natural materials used make it work for him. I'm going to need three (one over the dining table, one in the entry, and one over her desk which branches off from the dining nook) and we are being as economical and humanly possible. With two babies at home, the priorities for the budget are those cute little girls.... shocker, I know. My challenge is to bring in great style at a minimal price point. Let's do it!

The first is from Ikea and was really my inspiration for the lighting. The Boja Pendant is 18.5" across, 10" tall, and $60. I like how wide and squat it is; it really takes up the space it inhabits, in a good way.

Ikea Boja Pendant

Here's another option I've found from Shades of Light. It is 11" wide, 13" tall and deeply discounted at $49 from $189. My concern is that the lights would be too narrow and wouldn't make enough of a statement in the space.

Shades of Light Wicker Shade Pendant

Now, I love a good DIY like the next person, so when I saw this next one I was pretty excited. Here, they've taken any drum shade and covered it with paint sticks. I really did not see the paint sticks first, which is the hope. Please see the full how-to if you're inspired like me. What do you think? For this one, we will be limited by the size of drum shade I can find and how many stir sticks I can finagle from the paint desk people...

Stained Paint Stick Pendant DIY from theDIYshowoff.blogspot.com, originally from montydob.blogspot.com

Similarly, I was squirming in my chair when I saw this next one: another DIY Pendant Light, made from hemp, inspired by West Elm's Abaca light. The Abaca is great, but at $79, I think we can do better.

West Elm Abaca Pendant

Here's the finished result from the author of the DIY. Really I think it's an impeccable knock off! And with the flexibility of finding a large bouncy ball and cheap materials, we can make it large so that it will be the statement piece we need.

DIY Hemp Pendant from Heika DeHart, featured on craftynest.com

Created with these materials. Crazy-town!

I'm meeting with the client today, so I'm going to bounce these ideas off her. I'll update soon!