By Martha Stewart Brighten your home by hanging chandeliers in unexpected places William Abranowicz This Venetian-glass chandelier hangs in Martha Stewart's living room. In spite of its humble name, the chandelier has quite an opulent reputation. The word brings to mind grand, hotel-style lights dripping with cut crystal. Not all chandeliers are so fancy, however, and they don't have to be restricted to the most formal spaces in your house. They can be functional fixtures, illuminating a workspace such as a desk or kitchen island, or charming accessories hanging in unexpected places.
Chandeliers are always at home over the dining-room table, of course, but that's only the beginning.
The perfect placement A chandelier hanging above a dining-room table should be low enough to bathe the table in light, but not so low as to be cumbersome or to block anyone's line of vision. A general guideline, for a room with 8-foot ceilings, is to hang the chandelier with approximately 30 inches between the bottom of the fixture and the table top. To create a unified look, you can paint all the fixtures the same color. In other parts of the house, the height of the chandelier will depend on the style of the fixture and how it will be used. A small chandelier can hang low over a table or a cozy chair to take the place of a traditional reading lamp.