Modern chandeliers are all rage these days, but if you’ve recently brought one home, it may have dawned on you—they’re not the easiest to place. Modern chandelier are often comprised of several small bulbs attached by long branches or arms. These long arms require a canopy that’s much wider than the average chandelier’s—hence making them difficult to accommodate. If you’re struggling to find an appropriate place to hang your chandelier, let us light the way. Read on for a few tricks of the trade, plus get a list of the rooms the spots that don’t traditionally work with them.
RELATED READ: Shining a Light on Your Chandelier Style
Places to Avoid Hanging a Modern Chandelier
Bathroom
Going back to that extended canopy you’ll typically want to avoid hanging modern chandeliers in small rooms like a bathroom or powder room. Of course, if you have an oversized bathroom, the outlook brightens. Especially if you have a free-standing tub, chances are there’s enough room to install a modern chandelier overhead without causing visual mayhem.
Bedroom
First and foremost, it’s worth noting that any style of chandelier is a hard sell in bedroom. Their low drop paired with an average bed’s height creates a visual battle that can make a bedroom feel anything but serene. Additionally, if your chandelier branches out horizontally, it can feel out of sync with a bed’s vertical length.
The Best Places to Hang a Modern Chandelier
Over a Dining Table
Like most modern chandeliers, dining tables tend to have a width that’s much wider than their length. That’s good news on two fronts. For one, mimicking silhouettes among your decor is an easy way to usher in cohesion to a design. Secondly, providing directed light to every seat along a long dining table calls for a more extended light source. As for what style of dining table meshes well with an avant-garde chandelier? Mid-Century Modern furniture is always a match-made-in-heaven, but don’t discount the drama that can be created by partnering one with traditional pieces.
In a Living Room
Since modern chandeliers tend to have long arms that throw light in all directions, they can be an especially suitable choice for a living room, where seating is stationed all over. Look for articulating designs as well as globe designs to really dial up the drama. If you’re curious about our personal persuasions, we’re forever fans of Serge Mouille chandeliers for evoking a downtown cool-meets-uptown collector aesthetic.
Over a Kitchen Island
When it comes to island lighting, pendants may take precedence over most other lighting options, but modern chandeliers can make a striking and unexpected statement. Since counters are longer than they are wide, look for a particularly linear chandelier. Linear, constellation-style chandeliers, which have an expansive canopy, are especially befitting.
Lead image design by Mendelson Group, Inc. / Photo by Eric Piasecki