Chandeliers add an elite charm to your rooms. Whether it is elegant lighting for your foyer, living room, or specific spaces like kitchen islands and dinettes, you need to adopt a different approach for each of these. Different chandeliers go with different settings and awareness of these minute details helps ensure that your chandelier is the focal point of your room. From thinking of designs and styles to the size and length of chandeliers, you can figure it all out with this comprehensive guide.

Chandeliers for the Living Room

Lighting decor is one of the foremost things to grab viewers’ attention and admiration when they enter a living room. Dazzle up your living room with iconic lighting options like a crystal chandelier. The finely cut crystal beads beautifully refract the light and add an exquisite appeal to the entire space. If you have a high ceiling in your living room, then you can incorporate the gorgeous stairwell or staircase chandelier. The intricate design of this chandelier resembles a winding stairway and can be added vertically above your center table. You can also go with modern chandeliers like those with geometric shapes that do not occupy a lot of space and work well with low ceilings.

Chandeliers for Specific Spaces

Chandeliers are an elegant way of adding ambient lighting to specific spaces of your home such as your dinette, kitchen, or study room. For your dining area, you can choose simple yet tasteful designs like the candle chandelier which does not need much space and come with candle-like lights. The traditional crystal chandeliers are also an excellent option for dinettes. Make sure to have the chandelier at least 2.5 feet above the surface of the table to avoid glare in the eyes. Chandeliers for your kitchen should be in simpler, modern designs (like geometric chandeliers, and pendant chandeliers) to ensure that the kitchen grease can be frequently and easily cleaned.

Theme-based Selection of Chandeliers

If you have a period home with a rustic or traditional theme then having a chandelier will be an integral part of the interior of your living room or dinette. You might want to choose the classic crystal chandeliers which can never go out of style. Other designs with a perfect representation of rustic elegance include the candle chandeliers, the antler chandeliers, and the transitional chandeliers. There is no end to the designs you can pull off with those in a contemporary home.

Modern chandeliers include everything from space-enhancing geometric chandeliers to stylish illuminated glass globes. For exotic, new-age designs, beaded chandeliers are a reasonable option. If you wish to have a more intricately designed statement maker in your home then the caged chandeliers would be an ideal choice for you. These complement the retro, modern and Victorian look and can be designed to fit the style of your home.

Design, Height, and Coverage

You must be clear about the kind of light you want your chandelier to emit. For a more ambient setting where the light doesn’t cast a shadow, use uplights. Uplights in a chandelier mean lights that face up. But if you want to highlight specific portions of a room like a bookshelf, then you should use downlights. These are lights that cast a downward, individual pool of light and create an interesting composition.

The next important thing is to confirm the size of your chandelier. There is a rule of thumb that should always be considered before buying one. It says that the size of your chandelier should be equal (in inches) to the diameter of your room (in feet). You can get the diameter of your room by adding its length and width.

The height of a chandelier is inversely proportional to the ceiling height of your room. Modern homes have a ceiling height of 9-10 feet, which shrinks further if you add a false ceiling. Compact chandeliers are ideal for such homes. Vertically tall chandeliers should be chosen when the ceiling is at least 11-12 feet high.

Maintenance of Chandeliers

Beauty comes at the cost of maintenance. Fortunately, chandeliers do not demand frequent maintenance. Cleaning yours once or twice a year suffices to keep its shine intact. While hiring professional cleaners is advisable, you can also try and clean the chandelier by yourself. All you need is a step ladder, a soft clean cloth, and a cleaning solution. You can create this cleaning solution with four parts pure water (distilled water) and one part alcohol. Use this solution to clean your chandelier with a clean microfibre cloth. This works well with crystal, wooden or modern chandeliers. However, some may need to be dismantled and rehung, while others can be cleaned in place.

Another aspect of maintaining chandeliers is changing the bulbs. It is advisable to go for LED bulbs as they are known for their longevity and can easily last for 10-15 years. But if you need to change the bulbs of chandeliers in tall spaces, then you need to think ahead of time and install a hoist, or have lights with chain suspension.

Chandeliers render an elegant emphasis on home furnishings. Since there is no one-size-fits-all mechanism for choosing them, being prudent while investing in one is necessary. Create timeless homes by choosing the right chandelier that matches your home’s style and theme and mesmerizes your guests with the resultant sophisticated look.

You may also like to read our blog post on how to maximize light in your luxury apartment.