Key Takeaways
— Chandeliers not only illuminate but bring elegance and personality to a space.
— For a cohesive aesthetic, match the chandelier material with other design elements in the room.
— Whether placed in the center of a room or over a seating area, a chandelier can anchor open space.
Lighting is a practical part of home design. Chandeliers, however, marry function with form. Unlike recessed lighting, which provides illumination without calling attention to it, chandeliers demand that you respect them whenever you walk into a room. While dining rooms have long been their traditional hangout spot, chandeliers also dazzle in bedroom design.
Dale B. Cohen, principal of Dale Cohen Designstudio in New York, likes to make the most of the fifth wall — what many designers like to describe the ceiling — in her interior designs, often choosing coffered ceilings or even dark wallpaper for a moody aesthetic. An eye-catching chandelier is often the focal point, particularly in bedrooms. “Generally, everything else in the bedroom is nowhere near as fun or exciting,” she says.
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Chandeliers for Every Design Aesthetic
Eve Jean, principal interior designer of Style My Space Design Inc. in New York City, loves working with chandeliers in bedroom design for the luxury hotel-like aesthetic they offer. “It’s also a stunning way to add elegance and personality to the space,” she says.
Chandeliers come in all shapes, sizes and materials. Whether your aesthetic is glam or rustic, modest or bold, there’s a style for everyone. If you like a boho chic vibe, Jean recommends wicker, beaded or macrame chandeliers for a “cozy, earthy vibe.” For a more modern or industrial look, she likes chandeliers with metal finishes and exposed bulbs for an “edgy, raw look.” Of course, if that’s the look you want for your bedroom, there are plenty of shiny and shimmery fixtures.
Whatever your style preference, Jean recommends aiming for a cohesive look by matching the chandelier material with other elements in the room, whether metal accents, wood finishes or textiles.
Since chandeliers make such a bold statement, Cohen designs accordingly. “If I’m using a light fixture in the center of the room, I make sure that everything else in the room stays pretty quiet so that you can see the beautiful thing,” she says.
Ashley Yeates, founder of AYI & Associates, an interior design firm in Carmel, California, and Ashley Yeates, her eponymous furniture company, agrees. “Lighting is the jewelry of a project, so each room can sparkle a little more with a chandelier,” she says.
But she also notes that overdoing it with lighting can be a distraction, especially if you’ve got chandeliers in multiple rooms and can see them all from where you’re standing. “I think it kind of takes away from the elegance of spacing it out or varying your types of lighting,” she says.
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Install a Fixture, Add Character
The general guideline is that chandeliers should hang at least 7 feet off the ground. Higher ceilings beg for a statement chandelier, especially to anchor a bigger space. In one large bedroom design, Yeates worked with a nonsymmetrical layout where the furniture was placed closer to the fireplace. Rather than put the chandelier closer to the seating area or near the bed, she took advantage of the high ceilings and hung it in the middle of the room, grounding the whole space as an attractive feature. “It adds character to an otherwise open, vacant space.”
But that character comes with a price tag. Depending on the materials used, chandeliers can run hundreds to thousands of dollars. Aside from the cost of the fixture, there’s also installation to consider. Hiring a contractor is a fraction of the cost, but it can still add up depending on the fixture’s size and the installation’s complexity.
According to home improvement network and information company Angi, the average cost to install a chandelier is $500. A straightforward installation of a small chandelier might be as low as $100, but heavier chandeliers requiring a carpenter and an electrician to ensure safety could push the price up to $4,000 or more.
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Consider adding a dimmer switch to the mix if there’s not one already, although it will depend on the type of bulbs in your chandelier. “LED does not dim as beautifully as traditional incandescent lights,” Cohen says.
Yeates likes using a dimmer switch to control a layered lighting design, often adding small recessed lights to the perimeter of the room — “the smallest cans I can so they disappear.” Then, she’ll hang the chandelier in the center of the room, or as an accent to a nook or area off to the side. “It not only brings light to that area, but it gives an element of character you wouldn’t otherwise have,” says Yeates.
If you’ve chosen the fixture well, it can be hard to let go of the aesthetic that a statement chandelier brings to a room. Whenever Yeates has moved to a new home, the chandeliers usually come with her. “Anytime I’ve sold a house, I’ve written them out of the contract because they have some of my story,” she says.
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Not Just the Dining Room: Why You Should Consider Chandeliers in the Bedroom originally appeared on usnews.com
