Choosing a Chandelier

by: vern uyetake, Pamela Sandall with Pamela Sandall Interior Designs of Lake Oswego has more than 22 years of experience in the home industry. She helps clients choose anything from a paint color to furnishings for an entire house. A quick fix for any room? Adding a chandelier.

If a ceiling is a large blank canvas, then Pamela Sandall of Lake Oswego is quite the artist.

With her company, Pamela Sandall Interior Designs, Sandall is a real life Martha Stewart – transforming local houses into homes through material, furniture, and color selections; space planning; custom window treatments and, sometimes, choosing that perfect chandelier.

The decorative ceiling-mounted light fixtures can pull any room together with charm and class, but choose one too small and if might get lost with the decor. Choose one too big and it might overpower the space.

So how do you allow refracted light to reflect your personality and style? Sandall shared a few bright ideas for chandelier shopping:

— Choose its purpose: Sandall said there are three basic types of lighting: functional or ambient lighting – which illuminates a room so it isn’t dark; task lighting – like a desk lamp, which is focused on a specific area to aid with a task; and accent lighting – which draws attention to a light source and is meant to stand out from its surroundings.

‘Take the functionality of the room into consideration,’ she said as a starting place. ‘Is the chandelier going to light up the space or is it just decorative? Do we need to add a little sparkle because the room is flat and without a lot of texture?’

Keep in mind a chandelier can serve multiple needs, she said.

— Select a finish: ‘It’s better to blend, not match,’ Sandall said.

Choose a light fixture that will compliment the design elements already in place, not distract from them.

‘Remember that a chandelier can completely alter the look of a room. If I have a rustic Northwest room,’ Sandall said, ‘and I throw in a Hollywood Regency chandelier, it will just look wrong.’

If you fall in love with a chandelier that doesn’t quite mesh with accent lamps already in the room, ‘lampshades can always be switched out to match,’ Sandall said.

— Invest in lighting: A high quality chandelier will add value to your home.

‘An aesthetically pleasing and cohesive fixture will (help to) maintain the value,’ Sandall said. ‘An unattractive or inadequate fixture will detract from the value of your home.’

While it isn’t best to skimp on this functional illuminated artwork, a chandelier needn’t contest with those at Buckingham Palace. Many chandeliers start around $100 and can run upwards of several thousand dollars. Choose one that blends with décor, yet can be appreciated.

— Hang it properly: If the fixture is more than 50 pounds additional structural support will most likely be required so it doesn’t end up as a table centerpiece at suppertime.

‘Look how big that is,’ Sandall said pointing to a four foot tall chandelier at Lamps Plus at 8748 S.W. Hall Blvd. in Beaverton. ‘You probably couldn’t lift that. It’s heavy.’

To make sure chandeliers are installed at the proper height, Sandall suggests hanging chandeliers 7 feet off the floor in open areas and 30-36 inches above a dining table, depending on the scale of the room.

‘A really tall ceiling? Consider a two-tier or stacked chandelier,’ Sandall said.

— Think outside the box: A chandelier in the kids’ rooms? Above the bathtub? In a closet? In a guest suite, den or music studio?

‘Sure why not? I think the only room you could skip would be the garage,’ Sandall said, ‘but right now I have three in my garage waiting to deliver them to clients.’

— Stand alone or work as a team? ‘A lot of people hang a chandelier and think they’re done,’ Sandall said. ‘Let’s say you have a big dining room table and your chandelier in the middle, (and) a long wall with a piece of artwork. Some accent lighting (would be a nice compliment). It adds ambiance and is the finishing touch.’

And it prevents dark corners.

— Dim the lights: ‘Always, always, always put your chandeliers on a dimmer,’ Sandall said. ‘Frankly, overhead lights should be on dimmers. I even have my bathroom fixtures on dimmers.’

Dimmers – when used in a bedroom – can be courteous to someone asleep. But wherever they’re installed, a chandelier can add a romantic touch of pizzazz in any room of the home.

‘Almost every room can benefit from a chandelier,’ she said. ‘They’re functional and fun and come in every style.’

For more information, visit www.pamelasandalldesign.com.