Choosing a Modern Chandelier

The lighting that you choose for your home will reflect your personal tastes and you’ll want it to be appreciated by guests by becoming a focal point to a hallway, dining room or living room ceiling. A chandelier is the perfect choice for statement lighting and can be as modern or as traditional as you like, as blended or as contrasting as you desire. There are a large variety of designs and styles to choose from, all adding something special and unique to your home’s interior.

Having a bespoke chandelier designed for you means you can call the shots when it comes to decisions over crystals, shades, faux candlesticks, glass, bronze, wrought iron or different colours. You’ll need to consider elements such as purpose, shape, location and the general décor of the rest of your interior. As it is a fixture that will hang in your personal space, you need to find a style that doesn’t look out of place or overpowers a room.

Consider the overall dimensions of the room in which you intend to install a chandelier. For high ceilings, you can choose a larger design and if there are windows nearby, you’ll want to hang it in a way that it can be seen from outside so large chandeliers are ideal for this purpose.

It’s important to consider how a chandelier will fit in with the existing décor. This is a common problem – how will such a fixture fit in with existing wall sconces and pendants for example. A simple way to achieve this is to consider matching finishes such as chrome, stainless steel, bronze or gold-plating for example. You could even consider adding different colours into your chandelier design to blend in with existing décor.

If you want to take a more imaginative and creative approach you can try to match shapes. They don’t have to be exact copies of each other but by incorporating similar shapes you can ensure that everything blends well.

The features of the chandelier that you should focus depend on whether the lighting is for a formal or informal setting. This is important to create the ambience that you’re seeking. Installing an ultra-modern chandelier in a space of traditional Georgian architecture for example, the initial wow factor will soon give way to disappointment as you realise the chandelier simply doesn’t suit its surroundings.

It’s also essential to remember that a chandelier is not your only source of lighting for a large room. Ideally, depending on your room’s layout, you’ll need recessed lighting and perhaps even some task lighting for the entirety of the space. With this set-up, it’s a good idea to install a dimmer switch so you can adjust the light levels to suit.

If you desire a chandelier for pride of place above a dining table, remember that you’ll want it to work with the table’s shape and size. A chandelier should always be one third of the width of the table and should always be hung over the dead centre of a table, even if that table is not totally in the centre of the room.