Choosing the Right Chandelier
For Your Cottage Home

Mention the word chandelier and immediately most people conjure an image of an elegant crystal laden light fixture hanging gloriously in a dining room or foyer. It's an image we've see repeated throughout the decades in movies, decorating magazines, and coffee table books.

A beautiful chandelier can set the tone of your home and provide glamorous and functional general lighting. Fortunately, the role of a chandelier has evolved into a diverse selection of styles and sizes that can fit into anyone's living space. Just about any room in the home can benefit from the addition of an enchanting chandelier. Mini-chandeliers are a perfect choice for smaller rooms and can add a lot of charm to your space.

Chandeliers are available in a multitude of styles and finishes, the most traditional being the Italian chandelier with it's gleaming polished brass surface, candlestick lights, and sparkling crystals. The finishes available for your chandelier includes brass, silver, matte finishes such as brushed nickel and steel, antiqued and weathered patinas like verdigris or wrought iron chandeliers, and painted finishes. Dramatic black chandeliers have been gaining in popularity and are especially eye-catching and alluring. 

When choosing a style and finish keep in mind the decor of the room that the chandelier is going in. Are you decorating in a traditional or modern style, romantic or playful, western or Mediterranean? Look around your room and take notice of the furnishings that may have a metallic finish. If you have a prevalence of brass, stick with a chandelier with a brass finish for a complimentary look.

You'll also want to think about the dimensions of your room and purchase the size of chandelier that functions well in that space. A general rule of thumb is to take a measurement of your room, add the width to the length and convert the total to inches. 

If your chandelier will be hung over a dining room table, hang it around 30" from the table to the lowest part of the chandelier and buy one that is about half the width of the table. Since a chandelier in the dining room hangs relatively close to the people sitting at the table, you may want to consider the type of light and shade that is on the chandelier.

Chandaliers can be purchased with light fixtures called candlestick lights that, as the name implies, resembles a candle. There are quite a few bulbs available for candlestick lights and some are made to imitate the flame of a candle. When bare, the candlestick light can throw off a glare so you might want to consider a chandelier with candlestick lights that have chandelier shades made of either fabric or as a candle drip catcher made of formed glass. Fabric shades come in a fantastic variety of colors and styles and can give a unique co-ordinated look to your decor.

If you are purchasing a chandelier with crystals, it's interesting to note that crystals can be hand cut, machine cut, or molded. They can also be hand polished of machine polished and may or may not contain lead. Lead was originally added to glass starting in the late 17th century and greatly improved the crystals used for chandeliers. Rock crystal had been used up until that time but were fragile and prone to breakage. Making crystals from glass and adding lead oxide to it gave it a softness that made it easier to cut. It also had another excellent advantage in that it was much more refractory than rock crystal.

In the 1830's, Daniel Swarovski of Austria was able to invent and patent the machine that revolutionized the glass and jewelry stone cutting industry. He took leaded glass crystal to a level of brilliant perfection that still exists with the modern Swarovski crystals.

While Swarovski crystals remain the most premium crystals available to date, there are excellent crystals made in several countries. Turkish crystals are a superior value in leaded crystals and are both hand and machine cut and polished. Italian crystals are machine cut and either hand or machine polished. They are less expensive than Czechoslovakian crystals, which comes in many grades and are of an excellent quality, but are still a wonderful choice. It's easy to select the right crystals since they all have a glittery, prismatic, and jewel-like appearance that will always command a grateful and appreciative audience.

The perfect chandelier for your living space is just a click away. The choices are abundant, the styles and finishes amazing, and the aesthetic value added to your home is priceless!

Chandeliers ... Let's go shopping!

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