I’ve been wanting to update my dining room lighting since we bought this grand ol’ home in 2010.
Lighting plays such a big part in the overall ambiance of a room! And as a complete ambiance geek, it was making me a little cuckoo.
If you’re new around here, our home is a 1908 Craftsman bungalow. We’ve been working on her (in between renovating other turn of the century homes) ever since.
And we’re not done yet. lol
So, older lighting/chandeliers, were definitely smaller (Remember, they were just happy to having electric lighting) and they generally liked them a littler closer to the ceiling than we do now.
Which is what I was struggling with.
As much as humanly possible, I have kept the original bits of this old home, including the lighting but after much internal debate I decided she needed to go.
So the search began.
I knew I wanted a black fixture and I knew I wanted a five or six light, chandelier.
Because my table is about 45″ wide I knew I could get away with a larger fixture.
Here are some quick tips:
Dining room lighting should be 1/2-3/4 the width of your table and the bottom of the fixture should be approximately 30″-36″ above the table. Add 3″ for every foot above 8′.
Those are the general rules and it’s important to know the rules. But like I always say, it’s your house, do whatever you want!
The first few chandeliers that I had my eye on were in the $400 range and weren’t quite wide enough.
So, I stopped looking for awhile.
A few weeks ago we stopped by Home Depot after working on an estate sale all day and I spotted a new chandelier, eeeeks one I hadn’t seen before.
I snapped a couple of pics, talked it over with the man (told him it was half the price lol), thought it over some more and then we went back and bought it. Yay!
Here’s what it looks like in my dining room.
Contrary to most I wasn’t looking for a statement piece. The exposed brick wall is where the eye is usually drawn to in my dining room. I was looking for something light in feel, unassuming, classic and a somewhat flat design because I wanted to be able to put greenery on it for the holidays, like this:
The store model and the packaging suggested a more modern bulb but I stuck with a traditional candle light bulb with a bent tip.
Robert put in a dimmer switch for me and I gotta tell you, I’m already loving this chandelier! It feels so right in my dining room. Nothing too fancy or modern, it’s just right.
Here’s the (non affiliate) link to the light fixture if you would like to check it out.
If you’re in the market for dining room lighting and you have any questions, let me know! I would be happy to help.
Meanwhile, I’ll just be over here slowly flipping the dimmer switch, up and down, up and down. Lol
Blessings on your home,
Catrina
