Decorative Lighting Guidelines for any Room – Chandeliers

Decorative lighting includes Wall Sconces, Chandeliers, Flush Mounts, Semi-Flush Mounts and Pendants. The proper combinations of these five elements insure an interesting, attractive lighting design for any room. Using different elements of lighting is called layering. Many layers of light make the difference between an OK room and WOW room.

Beautiful New Design

Chandeliers, the crown-jewel of a room’s lighting array, is a showpiece of decorative sentiment and material beauty. Chandeliers are available in a multitude of different styles and designs, from the sublime to the ridiculous and everything in between. Your choice of a chandelier is a very personal matter. Some folks like a lot of metal, some like crystal, some like modern and some like traditional. There is no wrong choice. It is purely a matter of personal taste. Since the chandelier is usually the focal point in a room it sets the design fulcrum of the room.

Proper sizing is essential in choosing your lighting centerpiece. Too small and your chandelier will be lost among the other elements in the room. Too large and it will obtrude. There are a few guidelines for picking the correct size chandelier. Add the dimensions of the room in feet and then use that result in inches to determine the diameter. For example: a room is 10′ x 12′, add 10 + 12 = 22′ converted to inches = 22″, a 22″ diameter chandelier would be appropriate. The larger the room the more variance is allowed. A chandelier over a dining table should be no larger than 3/4 the table’s width and extend no closer than 6″ to the table’s edge. (A chandelier over a table should be at least 30″ above the surface of the table. The higher the ceiling, the higher above the table it can hang up to 36″). The height of a chandelier is determined by the ceiling height. Obviously a really high ceiling can accommodate a taller chandelier than a really low ceiling.    

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