Hey Loves!  I hope everyone is having a great week! I am so excited about today’s blog. Alison will be the first person to tell you about my obsession with lighting. If it were up to me, every room in the house would have some sort of light fixture including the laundry room. I feel it is the jewelry of the room. No matter what your decor style is, modern, transitional, or coastal, a chandelier is an opportunity to add glamour and drama to any room.

I absolutely love Restoration Hardware! I bought a lot of their light fixtures for my home and love them, but it is an investment! Today, there are so many choices out there and you can find the look of Restoration Hardware without the crazy price tag. You just have to be willing to do a little research. Well today is your lucky day, because I am going to take away some of the legwork and give you great lighting tips along the way.

Restoration Hardware, Looks for Less

1.  Restoration Hardware Crystal tiered chandelier 2. Look for less  Crystal tiered chandelier

How to pick the right size chandelier?

It is very important when picking out a light fixture that the size of the room is taken into consideration. The last thing you want is spend money for a chandelier only to find it doesn’t look right in the space. If you buy a fixture that is too big, it can be overpowering. If you buy one that is too small, you run the risk of making the fixture look cheap and insignficant. There is an easy equation that works for any room. Add together the width and length of the room in feet. That number is the diameter your fixture should be in inches. Whenever you are in a bind and don’t know whether to go bigger or smaller, I always say go bigger!

1. Restoration Hardware Wooden Wine Barrel chandelier  2. Look for Less Wooden Wine Barrel chandelier

How high should I hang my dining room chandelier?

The most common room to hang a chandelier is the dining room. So let’s discuss how to make sure it looks perfect. To determine the proper size chandelier for a dining table, choose a chandelier with a diameter that is 50% of the table width or greater. It should be hung with the bottom of the fixture 30 inches above the tabletop if you have an 8 foot ceiling.

What light bulbs should I use for my chandelier?

Be sure to choose the correct lightbulbs for your particular chandelier. Make sure to use clear bulbs in chandeliers with the bulbs exposed, or crystal glass enclosures will enhance sparkle. In chandeliers with linen shades, frosted bulbs cast a pleasing glow and won’t create shadows. There is an equation to determine the watts needed to supply proper lighting. Multiply the length by the width of the room to get the total square footage. Then multiple the total square footage by 1.5 to get the proper watts needed to illuminate the room.

Example: For a 15 foot by 12 foot room, multiply the room dimensions to get your total square footage (15 x 12=180). Then multiply the square footage by 1.5 for total illumination needed (180 x 1.5 = 270 watts).  Remember that is for the total watts to light the room, not just for one single bulb.

1. Restoration Hardware prism single pendant  2. Look for less prism single pendant

What about kitchen pendants and task lighting? 

On average, a pendant light should be 30 inches above the countertop. For taller people, hang your pendant lights higher than 30 inches from the countertop to raise them above eye level. Pendant lights should never impede a person’s view of someone or something on the other side of the island.

For specific task lighting within a space (for instance, the light needed on an island in your kitchen), calculate the square footage of the island (example: 10 feet by 4 feet = 40 square feet) and multiply by 2.5 (40 x 2.5= 100). So, two 50-watt pendants would do the job!

Hope this helps with your journey! See you next Wednesday!