How to Choose The Right Chandelier Style and Shape

From elegant to rustic; with so many design choices, picking the right chandelier doesn't need to be intimidating.

Home decorating is a tricky business. There are many words for an endless number of combinations and styles, and at the end of the day, the important thing is to be happy with what you’ve designed for your space. One example of this phenomena is the chandelier. To the average observer, a chandelier is simply a hanging light, and it is related to its modern cousin the pendant light in that way. However, a chandelier has multiple branches, or many layers, that hold more bulbs than a pendant lamp. The chandelier has a rich history and many design styles to choose from to help you fit the right one into your home.

Why the Chandelier?

Chandeliers have a look and style all their own. They provide class and elegance in design, while providing an overall ambient lighting experience. A chandelier isn’t limited to any one material, offering your choice in metals, finishes, or textures. You can go for the classic look of crystal glass waterfall chandeliers with their multiple tiers, or you can find a sturdy metal globe style with rustic antlers for something more eclectic.

Ceiling lighting fixtures can become a bold statement in the room, drawing attention and adding flair. As a result, chandeliers are more decorative and artistic than your standard hanging lamp, or pendant lamp, and they take on many different shapes that can be scaled to fit different sized rooms. The ceiling is a blank canvas compared to the furnishings and other grounded pieces that clutter up the floor and walls of a room, so the chandelier is an artful way to utilize the landscape.

Chandelier Shapes

Chandeliers have come a long way in design since they were used to hang candles in the 15th century. You can still find modern interpretations of that classic design, but there’s no need to limit yourself when you have so many options to choose from.

Abstract chandeliers - With emphasis on the art form, these chandeliers can take any shape, from swirling cascades to cubic lines that bear a striking resemblance to a molecule pattern, to stacked boxes with candlestick-bulbs.

Billiard chandeliers - These are usually found over a long table, bar, or pool table, hence the name. Another recognizable trait is a tendency toward stained glass shades or individual colored down shades for very directed lighting immediately below the lamps.

Candle chandeliers - The light bulbs in these chandeliers are set to resemble actual candles in a classic round, flat base form.

Drum chandeliers - The base of these chandeliers is round and shorter in height than it is wide in diameter, so it looks like a drum.

Empire chandeliers - These ornate chandeliers have a traditional look, with their pear-shaped silhouette and detailed strings of draped glass or crystal.

Globe chandeliers - Exactly as the name implies, globe chandeliers are marked by either the fixture itself or the shade that encloses it being a sphere shape. Similar to the globe chandelier is the more modern Sputnik design, which has a centrally round shape and extruding arms or branches that form a starburst style.

Lantern chandeliers - These boxy lamps usually have emphasis on their metal framework and leave the light bulbs exposed to resemble stylized lanterns from yesteryear.

Linear chandeliers - Like the billiard chandeliers, these are usually found over a rectangular fixture, such as an island or a bar, so they are shaped long and narrow.

Waterfall chandeliers - This popular style has a tiered effect, with a wide base at the top that tapers down level by level. This is usually achieved by strings of dangling crystals or glass bead work to resemble water, but it can also be achieved through other textures, depending on the imagination of the design.

The list of style types goes on and every option adds to the creative personalization options you have when choosing a chandelier for your home.

Lighting Limitations

While the chandelier is a focal point for any lighting scheme, it is not necessarily the most ideal primary light source within one. Most are designed to be dimmable, to provide custom ambiance. Dimmer switches also are useful in that they can prolong the life of the bulbs. The form of the chandelier itself can provide reflective surfaces to refract light from that central bulb, such as with a crystal waterfall chandelier. It can also cast shadows instead if the chandelier has strong framework lines, such as with an antler or other abstract chandelier where the bulbs are located inside the outward branches.

For this reason, they are not generally good sources for direct, task lighting, and should be augmented with other light sources in most rooms. Chandeliers can be utilized alongside a complete lighting package, such as wall sconces or recessed can lighting, to allow you to direct the focus of bright light to any working area, such as a desktop or a reading nook. Chandeliers are most useful at adding to the overall atmosphere outside of a particular zone. They are for accenting the overall look of the room, and it’s important to keep that in mind when planning how to use them for lighting. Be sure they don’t end up pulling away from the enjoyment of the space rather than adding to it.

What’s Trending?

Thanks to the internet, you can read up on all of the existing kinds of styles and the different home trends they blend with. A homeowner becomes their own expert by creating their space with all of these influences in mind and customized to their own rooms. The trend of the moment seems to reflect that, so use your imagination. The ultimate goal of a chandelier is to help you create a personalized, unique space in your home.

Chandeliers have a long history throughout many cultures and the modern interpretations of them have brought the variety forward. Bringing in the look of a chandelier is a way of crafting and reflecting your own personal style. Be bold. Treat your ceiling as a blank canvas and let your chandelier choices color your home.