Cafe Lighting Ideas We Love

Cafe Lighting Ideas We Love

pendant lights with multiple cord colors

Designing the Best Lighting for Cafes

Hola from Costa Rica! Our friend Andrea Kroneberg at the MERAKI Design Studio recently shared some beautiful photographs of the new Peppermint Café Gourmet in San José! We were so excited to see how she utilized our modular light fixture options and accessories to customize this space and create a fun vibe.

If you’re considering a cafe redesign for your business, get inspired by Andrea’s cafe lighting ideas for this space and explore more stunning DIY lighting inspiration made with products found exclusively at Color Cord Company.

1. Choosing Cord Colors

custom cafe lighting

As you can see from Peppermint Cafe Gourmet’s cafe lighting ideas, you can opt for nearly any cord color imageable – solid colors and patterns included! While Andrea chose to utilize a very broad spectrum of colors, you go with a maximalist or minimalist approach. Follow in Andrea’s footsteps with cord colors in every hue of the rainbow or match your cafe’s paint and accents with just one or two major hues.

You can also explore complementary metal hardware colors when you customize your fixtures at our customization station. While our typical light fixtures are available in five or six finish options, including brass, nickel, bronze, black, or white, if you want a hardware finish that’s not one of our pre-fabricated selections, you’ll have to customize. Check out how Peppermint Cafe Gourmet mixed green and purple, yellow and green, white and gray, and blue and chartreuse for an off-the-wall take on cafe lighting ideas!

2. Manipulating Fabric Cords

closeup of pendant lights

Our fabric cords are unlike any others available on the market! Sheathed in woven cloth, our electrical cords are flexible and malleable for you to create unique, striking designs that stand out.

Bending & Shaping

Peppermint Cafe Gourmet took our flexible cords and ran with them! Andrea’s cafe lighting idea was to loop the cords around and pin them in place with clothespins in order to play with shape, height, and space throughout the cafe.

Using Swag

swag accessories for lighting

In addition to looping, bending, and shaping our cords along themselves, you can also use some swag accessories to attach cords to walls and ceilings in just the right way. Explore our swag hook blog to find tons of unique ideas and practical advice for using swag hooks.

3. Finding the Right Bulbs

naked light bulbs in cafe

Because Andrea had so much fun with the cord colors, she chose to utilize exposed designer bulbs to balance all that action and create the best lighting for their cafe. With incandescent and LED options available in so many configurations, finding the ideal bulbs could be the key to illuminating your space. Choose dimmer, intimate lighting with low lumens and wattage or create a spotlight space with brighter lights and bigger bulbs.

4. Exposed or Shaded?

shaded pendant lights

Some light bulbs are designed for a more exposed aesthetic, as your cafe lighting idea could hinge on letting brightly colored cords do the talking or showing off the internal swirls of Edison bulbs. But if you’ve got a pretty minimalist design, you may want to incorporate a few accents in the form of shades or cages.

At Color Cord Company, we offer brightly colored bulb cages in geometric shapes that may balance whimsical vibes with an industrial feel. We also offer shades in a variety of different materials to evoke a specific atmosphere in your cafe. Interested in something retro? Our mod glass globe shades or our 50s turquoise, tapered metal shades are the best lighting for your cafe! Prefer something with an island aura? Explore our natural shades for plenty of woven palm, braided rattan, and string basket styles. 

5. Supplemental Lighting

cafe interior design

At Peppermint Cafe Gourmet, Andrea’s preferred lighting method was pendant lighting. You might find yourself following the same path, too! But if you’ve started putting your cafe lighting ideas into practice and found that you just need more illumination, Color Cord Company has the supplementary fixtures you need. Shop light bulbs for recessed lighting, sconces for wall lighting and flush-mounted pieces for ceiling additions!

Get Started!

peppermint cafe exterior

Whether your cafe lighting ideas are fully formed and fleshed out or you need a little bit of additional guidance, Color Cord Company is here for you! Explore our blog to find more lighting inspiration, play with customization in our shop, or reach out to our team for additional details about our fixtures today!

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