Making sure your living room has everything it needs is important even down to the chandelier. Here is how to find the right living room chandelier.
Did you know the designers of the original chandeliers made them out of wooden cross sections? Instead of light bulbs and crystals, these fixtures held candlesticks. They don’t resemble anything like the magnificent crystal pieces of art in today’s living rooms.
Are you shopping for a new living room chandelier? Such a big purchase requires a lot of research and planning before deciding on the final one.
Chandeliers do more than just light up a room; they provide elegance, class, and glamour. Selecting the right style and size fixture for your room says a lot about your home decor taste. Picking the right chandelier is no small feat.
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know before purchasing the right light fixture for your home. We’ll go over style, heights, sizes, and brightness so you can be confident before making your purchase.
Let’s get started.
What to Consider When Choosing the Right Living Room Chandelier
It’s not often you purchase a chandelier. With that in mind, you must not only shop for your style now but account for how your style might change over time. Picking something timeless is always a good idea.
Style
Chandeliers come in all shapes and sizes from modern to traditional. Right now, exposed bulbs and sharp cut lines are very popular in dining and living rooms, making the rectangular chandelier a hot choice this year.
Keep in mind that a light fixture should always complement a room’s style, never take away from it. If you are someone who refinishes their interiors often to match the hottest interior design trend, you’ll want to stick to a more classic look that can complement many future styles.
Keep in mind where you are hanging the chandelier when you’re purchasing it. The size and style of a chandelier peeking out from a two-story window in your foyer is going to sit differently than a small piece hanging over your dining table.
If the aesthetic of your chandelier chain is unsightly remember that you can always slip a thin sleeve of fabric around the chain, or woven through the chain to bring your room’s look together and elevate the pendant’s length.
Size
A crucial element to your chandelier is the size. Although you may think the larger, the grander, this isn’t always so.
The size not only affects how it will look in your home but how you take it home. Whether you’re buying it online or in-person, be sure to ask if it comes apart for transportation, shipping, and cleaning.
To get ballpark dimensions for your future chandelier you can add up the dimensions of your room in feet, then use that number in inches. For example, if your living room is 10 feet by 15 feet, a good size chandelier for you would be a diameter of about 25 inches–give or take a few inches.
A good rule of thumb is that you keep at least 48 inches of space between the edges of the chandelier and the room boundaries or walls.
Weight
Another element to keep an eye out for, especially if you’re buying online, is the weight of the light piece. The weight of your chandelier has a real effect on how you hang the fixture. This determines if you need additional hardware like brackets and an appropriate support system.
Check out the how to hang a heavy chandelier here.
Price
Above all things, besides safety, price matters the most when choosing a chandelier. There’s a chandelier for every budget so that everyone can afford a bit of glam.
If you’re paying the big bucks for an antique be sure to ask questions about its origin, age, and designer. All too often, people get swindled into buying high-end reproductions advertised as originals.
If you do decide to go with an antique, be sure you rewire it for safety purpose and avoid major issues down the line.
Brightness
When shopping around, keep in mind the purpose of your fixture. Is just aesthetics or will it eventually be illuminating a room full of guests?
Think about the size, brightness, efficiency, and function of the bulbs you purchase for your chandelier. Try to avoid high watt bulbs.
Not only do they produce more heat but if you’re using them in the dining room they can produce an unpleasant glare on its surroundings. These days there are LED lights for everything from headlights to chandelier bulbs.
You can also experiment with the color of the bulbs. Light-colored bulbs, on a dimmer switch, can provide a warm, romantic look for your next dinner party.
Height
Once you’ve decided on the perfect chandelier you must, of course, hang it. Be sure to hang the light fixture high enough to illuminate major elements of the room like bookcases, staircases, and any statement wall decor.
Is your junction box off-centered? Don’t worry; there are a ton of tricks online on how to hang your chandelier in the middle of your room, or over a table, without atrocious wires. Check out the guide here.
Experiment with hanging the chandelier at different heights by shortening the chain or adjusting the cord via a shortening mechanism that will allow you to double up the wire.
What Chandelier Will You Choose?
At this point, we hope you have enough information to go out and buy the perfect living room chandelier for your home. Whether you choose a modern pendant, an abstract metal art piece, or an elegant crystal candelabra, elevate your living room with a chandelier that is just right for you.
Need more interior decorating tips? Check out our lifestyle blog here for more tips and tricks and never miss a thing.
