Firstly - thank you everyone for your fantastic ideas. I absolutely loved the light and airy Look especially! I have been visiting various lighting stores today and other online sites and then went back to the house and I am not sure that I have reached any useful conclusion! My latest thought (which may change!) is that I have a lot of beautiful Aboriginal artworks so I am thinking this room might showcase all of that and have a warm light to complement - possibly brass, but maybe even a completely out of the box modern fitting as a juxtaposition to the gorgeous art. Your great ideas have made me more comfortable again with a pendant over the table, but a lot that I saw today was chrome which doesn't thrill me. I hope to change the balustrades in the next couple of years to something more contemporary also. Thanks for keeping the ideas flowing!

It might be worth while to consider the rest of the space also. Your breakfast bar/kitchen is located quiet closely to your dining table so depending on your kitchen space (apologies, I can't see too much of your kitchen from the photo) you might want to think about the overall style you want to achieve for you entire open plan space, and select pendants that would work for both your kitchen and dining. This is a project I worked on recently that shows how two different types of pendants can work harmoniously in the one space that is most similar to your kitchen and dining set up. Keep us posted on what you decide!

I would highly recommend redesigning the ceiling fixtures, rather than working around what's already there. It's cluttered and lopsided; and you will probably regret it, or spend much more $ fixing it afterwards. I'm 1/2 way through my kitchen project with a large island hub. To make space for the pendants, I removed two round fluoro's, moved an A/C outlet (and another in the adjacent room with a sky-light), then patched and painted. It's all simple stuff, you just have to design around the ceiling joists, and usually the previous cut-outs are left in the roof (makes it easy to patch). I also installed an electronic sky-light from Bunnings for the in-laws, which is perfect for small roof-space issues. A very small PV panel goes on the north-side of the roof, a slim LED panel goes in the kitchen ceiling, and a long power cable links the two.

Your industrial style lighting is at odds with the glamorous pendant for the dining room, and will detract from this feature. Your kitchen will be dark as it is a long way from a window for natural light. I would actially consider installing a Velux skylight above your island bench to bring some light into the kitchen. I would make any pendants above the kitchen bench as neutral and simple as possible so they are easy to clean and detract from the dining pendant. If you are going to include recessed downlights then do your research on the LED fittings that are sealed at the top to prevent heat loss/gain from the ceiling space if you are a single storey at the rear. Make sure you have suitable dimmers on all the light sin these areas so that you can control the amount of light for different functions. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls