Cheap Chandeliers

Finding or making cheap chandeliers can be a creative and entertaining redecorating activity. You can always swing by your local home improvement store to see what they have on hand, but there are also some unorthodox low cost solutions to the problem of dining room lighting that you might want to consider.

When selecting a chandelier for your dining room, think drama. Dramatic lighting, like that provided by your typical chandelier, isn't going to win any awards for its ability to illuminate your entree. The goal here is to create ambience. If you want to spend thousands of dollars for crystal, great, if not, a little glitz might do just as well.

Sometimes a basic chandelier, like something you'd find at an auction, garage sale, or thrift store, will work if you're handy. Add some metallic paint or gold leaf, some crystals, and you're ready to install your creation. For this arrangement, having a handy housemate to wire it up would be a big plus, but if not you may be able to use the existing light fixture setup as a guide. Just be sure to turn off the electricity first. From craft store beads to junk store jewelry, making your chandelier an eye-popping confection is a way to add a little Hollywood glamour to your décor. Like scarves? Try using them to change the color of the light in your room. Your roast chicken never looked so good. If it's all a little over the top, your guests will forgive you.

If the idea of fiddling with electrical wiring scares you, why not opt for a chandelier that uses candles instead of electricity? Okay, it may sound like a hassle, but how often do you actually use the dining room anyway? If you reserve it for special occasions, the addition of candlelight via some dripless candles might work just fine. For the rest of the year, place some standard lamps or sconces in other areas of the room. One great advantage of a non-electrical chandelier is that you can usually find them cheap through importers and at estate sales, and sometimes they're real beauties.

Built in lighting is one area where sizing makes a big difference. If you've ever seen a ceiling fan that looks huge compared to the rest of the room, you'll understand the importance of proportion when selecting a light fixture, especially one that's as central to the design of a room as a chandelier. When you choose a fixture, keep these sizing recommendations in mind:

• Small Rooms (10' x 10' or less) - 20-inch chandelier or smaller
• Medium Sized Rooms (11' to 13') - 25-inch to 27-inch chandelier
• Large Rooms (14' or larger) - 27-inch to 36-inch chandelier (or consider multiples)

The decorating police have established guidelines for the placement of chandeliers over dining tables. Try for a finished height that will keep the bottom of the chandelier about 30 inches from the top of the table. You should also have a table overhang of about a foot on each side of the fixture. Although proportion and balance are important, these are just recommendations. After all, nothing kills creativity like rigid rules. When designing longer rooms with large tables, consider placing two chandeliers, one at either end of the table, rather than having one large fixture.

If possible, audition fixtures before you install them. When thinking about balance, it isn't only the table you have to consider, but the location of windows and entries too. If you're decorating a dedicated dining area, it's probably a no brainer, but if you're carving out a dining niche from a larger room, consider the placement of the table and chandelier carefully because once the fixture is installed, you probably won't be moving it any time soon.

The following online resources will give you some useful information on current styles and prices for cheap chandeliers. In many areas, hiring an electrician to do the installation for you can cost $200 or more, so figure that into your budget too.

• Factory Outlet Store
• Shopping.com Online Chandelier Search
• Lighting Direct
• Lamps Plus
• Lighting New York

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• Category:Lighting