Chandeliers for the Living Room
A chandelier in a living room has to work at two distances: read as a centrepiece from the doorway, and not loom over anyone sitting beneath it.
A chandelier in a living room has to work at two distances: read as a centrepiece from the doorway, and not loom over anyone sitting beneath it.
Add the room's length and width in feet; that figure in inches is roughly the diameter you want. A 16ft by 14ft room takes something around 30 inches across. If the chandelier sits over a coffee table rather than open floor, size it to the table instead and come down a few inches.
Leave at least seven feet of clear headroom beneath the fitting where people walk. Over a seating group you can go lower, around six and a half feet, which makes the room feel more enclosed in the evening. On a nine-foot ceiling, allow roughly 24 to 27 inches of total drop.
Crystal and polished brass lift a formal living room and reward a dimmer. Antique brass and blackened iron are the safer choice in a room with a lot of wood or a darker palette, and they hide dust better on a fitting you rarely reach.