Brainstorming: Dining Table Pendant Lights

If you happened to read my post from Friday, you'll know that I'm brainstorming ideas for lighting over our dining table. Today I wanted to show you our little dining area in our apartment to show you why I'm thinking a little more light in that area would be awesome. And so you can help me decide what would look best in the space. :) Allow me to introduce you to our dining area:

As you well know by now, we've got a pretty tiny apartment, but enough space to have a little dining area. I'm really glad we do, because it not only allows us to not eat all our meals on the couch, but it also gives me a large surface to sew, craft, paint, etc. Honestly, I use it more for the latter than the former, but either way, I'm glad we have it! It's a great multitasking space.

To give you some context on where this space is in our apartment, from the angle of the photo, our living room area is to the right and our bedroom is to the left down a little hallway. The farm table belonged to my grandparents, and the chairs used to live in my parents' breakfast room. The big old map of Martha's Vineyard (from 1933!) was a wedding gift.

I love the placement of this table and chairs, but the lighting is a major problem. The closest overhead lighting is some track lighting behind the table, and when you sit at the table, your body blocks the light. No good for eating, and certainly no good for doing projects. Light is important!

This spot is just begging for an overhead fixture of some sort, but because we're renting, there's no way I'm going to install anything permanent. So I've been dreaming about stringing up a plug-in pendant light kit over the table. The question is, what kind of fixture should I use?

I've narrowed it down to three options: something with texture, a glass ball or a drum shade. I guess that's not much narrowing, actually. Anyway, here are some inspiration photos for what I'm thinking about for each of the options:

Texture:

{Design Sponge}

{Made By Girl via Apartment Therapy}

{Crafty Nest}

Glass:

{west elm}

{In My Own Style}

Drum shade:

{west elm}

{Young House Love collection from Shades of Light}

{Target}

Since the overall space is small, and I don't want to block that gorgeous old map, I'm thinking I want something with little visual weight. I'm leaning toward the glass option. It's hard to picture though without trying different ones out, so I had some fun with Photoshop and tried some out in the space. Take a look...

Texture:

Glass:

Drum shade:

So tell me, friends, what do you think? The more opinions the better!

P.S. My heart and prayers go out to all Bostonians today, especially those affected by the horrible events at yesterday's marathon. Much love to you, Boston.