Chandeliers are a great way to spice up your interior, especially the dining room. It can be a great way of expressing your taste and design sense. Before you decide on a particular model though, you must know what would be the correct size for it.
If you do not know how to determine that, don't worry, we got you covered.
What size chandelier for the dining room?
You want to pick just the right size that suits your area. You do not want one that is too small to light up the whole room, or too big where it feels like the sun is in your room. The best part is that it isn’t too difficult to pick the correct size.
There are three steps that you should follow.
Step 1: Determine the chandelier width or diameter
Step 2: Determine the chandelier height
Step 3: Determine chain length
Step 1: Determine the chandelier width or diameter
Sizing with the measurements of the room
If you are planning on fitting your chandelier in the middle of the room, it is best to figure out the size using measurements of the room.
- First, you find out the length and width of your room and add them up. Let's say, the length and width of the room are 20 feet and 16 feet respectively. Adding them up will give you 36 ‘.
- Whatever, value you get in feet, you just take them as inches. Instead of 36 feet, you take 36 inches. There you have it, the best size of chandelier for your 20 feet x 16 feet room would be 36 inches.
Sizing using the dining table
There is a big chance you would want your chandelier over your dining table. In this case, we would recommend that you determine the diameter of the chandelier using your dining table as the basis.
For the diameter of the chandelier, it should be about half or two-thirds of the width of the table.
If you have a round table, make sure that the diameter is about half or two-thirds of the diameter of the table itself.
So, if you have a table with 42 inches of width, (or a round table having a diameter of 42 inches), you will want the diameter of your chandelier to be around the range of 21-30 inches.
Hanging two or more chandeliers
If you want to hang two or more chandeliers over a table, divide the table width by the number of chandeliers you want plus one. Let’s say, the width of the table is 80 inches, and you want to hang 3 chandeliers. Here, you divide 80 inches by 3+1=4. Dividing 80 by 4, you get 20.
Here, 20 inches will be the diameter of the chandeliers, and they should be hung 20 inches apart from each other.
Step 2: Determine the chandelier height
- Measure the height from the installation point to the floor. Make sure the installation point is at least 4 feet away from any walls. Let’s say, we determine the height to be 8 feet.
- For every foot of height, take 2.5 to 3 inches for the chandelier. In this instance, we take 3 inches.
- Multiply the height and the estimated amount for the chandelier. Here, the result will be 8 x 3= 24
- Whatever result you get, you take that as inches. That will be your ideal height. The result we got earlier was 24, so 24 inches will be our best height.
Step 3: Determine chain length
A general rule of thumb, make sure the bottom part of the chandelier is about 30-32 inches (75-80 cm) above the table for clearance. You do not want the chandelier to get in the way of a friendly dinner conversation, do you?
- Measure the height from the ceiling to the top of your table. Let’s say, for this instance, our height would be 6 feet.
- Add the height of the chandelier to the recommended clearance space. Let’s take the height we got before in step 2, 24 inches. And let us take 30 inches as clearance space. Adding them, we get 30+24= 54
- Now, we subtract the result we get in the last step and subtract it from the height between the ceiling and the tabletop. In this example, the height would be
6 feet - 54 inches=6 feet -4.5 feet=1.5 feet.
Here, our ideal chain length would be 1.5 feet. Put in your own measurements to find your ideal chain height.
Remember, there is no harm in having a chandelier be bigger or smaller. There are different intentions you may have for it. Some people prefer having big chandeliers in their rooms, making them the center of attention. Some people focus more on the design and try to match it with the theme or aesthetic of a room. And some people just want to have the best possible lighting system for them.
Just keep the general tips on size in mind for reference when going on to look for one, and don’t hesitate to look for more unconventional designs and sizes that may catch your attention.
Tips for other spaces
Similar to our tip of the dining table, it is generally a good idea to take furniture in a room into account when selecting the right size for a chandelier. Keep in mind the rule of taking one-half to up to two-thirds of the width of any central furniture for the diameter, and you will generally have the right size. And with how popular large chandeliers are, you cannot go wrong with taking bigger ones for any type of room.
Keep in mind that the higher the ceiling of a room, the larger and taller you want your chandelier to be. After all, it is all about scaling the size of the chandelier with the area and height of a room.
Decorate your house with custom chandeliers
Now that you know the correct chandelier size for your dining room, here are some different types of custom chandeliers you can check out.
Crystal Chandelier
Crystal chandeliers excel at showing off that vibe of pure elegance. Named after the material they are made from, they come in different shapes and sizes. They are a great fit for almost anywhere, like your dining room, living room, or even your hallways and stairways.
Stairway Chandelier
As the name suggests, they are great at lighting up spiral stairways. You can arrange your chandelier to spiral downwards with the stairway, or even look for unique designs, or make a custom design that can show off your own design skills.
Long Chandelier
Suitable for large spaces with high ceilings, long chandeliers show off traditional design conventions and great details while lighting up the whole place. They are suitable for large areas where parties and functions are held. If you have a large area where you host a lot of parties, you can get a long chandelier to show off to your friends and family.
Glass Chandelier
Another chandelier named after its material, glass chandeliers is known for their wide range of designs. Different glass art techniques like stained glass art or blown glass techniques provide creators with options other materials find hard to provide, making sure you always find something that suits your taste.
This also means that no matter how big or small your space is, you will always find something that fits in size as long as it matches the aesthetic of your space.
Modern Chandelier
Modern chandeliers are known for showing off a more futuristic take on traditional chandeliers. They are known for blending into the digital age with their unique and stylistic visuals.
Modern chandeliers are known to be some of the best options to pick if you are looking for something that can fit with any room in your house without making any drastic changes to its themes.
Wrapping it up
Going out to buy a chandelier can be an exciting journey. It is a great way to show off your house decorating skills and artistic taste to friends and family, and a great topic to keep a conversation going during meal time. We hope that you can ascertain the right size of chandelier for your dining room or any other space and decorate your room with it with our advice.
