How to Buy a Chandelier

A chandelier adds style to a room, but is generally a poor light source. Keeping this in mind, here's how to shop for a chandelier that works for your home.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Chandelier
• Chandelier Cleaning Fluids
• Miniature Lamp Shades For Chandeliers
• Spare Light Bulbs

1. Select a chandelier that can hang at the correct height when a table will be centered beneath it. Consider both the chandelier and the room you're lighting: if the chandelier has bare bulbs, for example, it will need to be hung high enough to avoid glare. At the same time, if you have an 8-foot ceiling, you'll want to avoid hanging a chandelier too high or it will look sawed off and stunted.

2. Remember that a chandelier is more of a room decoration than a functional light fixture. It doesn't need a zillion flame bulbs just because the room is big; let other lighting in the room appropriately supplement a more restrained chandelier.

3. Avoid glare problems by buying a chandelier equipped with tiny shades (mini-shades) or adding tiny shades to bare candle-type lighting. Another glare-stopper: Put the fixture on a dimmer and then supplement the room lighting with sconces, table lamps or recessed lighting.

4. Stick with the classic looks. Chandeliers trimmed with the mauve and blue of the 1980s or the hunter green of the early '90s have given way to today's oranges, which will soon look dated, too. If you want your chandelier to match the room closely, outfit it in up-to-the-minute mini-shades - they're easy and relatively inexpensive to replace when they become passé.

5. Choose a chandelier that meshes with the mood and style of the other furnishings in the room: wall sconces, furniture, wallpaper, window treatments and other accessories.

6. Try to keep metals in the room in finishes that harmonize. For example, dull pewter shouldn't mix with shiny silver, and shiny brass shouldn't be mixed with antique brass or verdigris.

7. Pay attention to scale. Bigger is usually better; too often a chandelier can look tiny.

8. Remember that a chandelier is a dust magnet. Examine potential purchases for ease of cleaning and keep in mind that simpler designs are usually easier to clean.

9. Determine whether a potential purchase uses specialty bulbs or standard bulbs. Specialty bulbs can be hard to find and/or expensive.

10. Ask the lighting store clerk whether you can try out a purchase at home and exchange it if it doesn't look right.

11. Ask to see catalogs at the lighting store. You will dramatically increase your selection options.

Tips & Warnings

• Chandelier cleaners, which are sold at lighting stores, will make your life much easier if you have a crystal fixture. (Just be sure to protect any surface underneath when you clean.)

• Don't hang a funky, rusty-iron chandelier over a fine, formal dining table. Don't put an ornate crystal chandelier over a distressed-pine farmhouse table.