Chandelier advice...

[elened]

Hello, =A0I am thinking of buying a chandelier for my dining room and have found my 'dream' chandelier at an auction in Virginia (far away). =A0However, this chandelier happens to be a bit bigger than what I'm accustomed to and wanted to get your advice as to whether I should go for it or not. My dining room is 12' 8" x 13' 5" with 8' 8" ceilings and the chandelier is a sort of chunky brass thing 30" tall by 32" diameter - Chapman Brass Chandelier in the Chippendale taste, electrified, with six scroll arm branches and a central turned and paneled column with a ball pendant. =A0It is not new or shiny and would go well with my ecclectic / rustic furniture. My question is: do you think this chandelier would be too big for my dining room? And might it be too heavy (27 Ib) for the ceiling (old farm house) Any advice would be very appreciated!

--Elena

[SteveBell]

The scale and size is a decorating thing, and I stay out of those issues.

If you want to try it first, make a cardboard mock-up the same size and hang it from the ceiling with duck tape. Move it higher and lower. Stand back and look at how it fills the room. If you like it, hang the real thing.

27 pounds is a fairly light chandelier. I took one down last month that had to be more like 75 pounds. In any case: * Take down the existing fixture and look inside the ceiling. If you're lucky, the junction box will be screwed to a strong joist. You probably won't be lucky. ;-) * If you can get to the fixture from the attic, you life just got easier. Buy a new junction box that's designed for chandeliers. Put some 2" blocking in. Fasten the J-box to the blocking. Feed the old wires into the new J-box. Bob's your uncle. * If you don't have attic access, go talk to the people at a lighting supply store. They'll have a fixture that you can feed through the existing hole and screw into the joists on either side. Some of them come with a J-box already attached. * If all else fails, call a handyman ($) or electrician ($$) to install it for you.

[Colbyt]

My dining room is 12' 8" x 13' 5" with 8' 8" ceilings and the chandelier is a sort of chunky brass thing 30" tall by 32" diameter - Chapman Brass Chandelier in the Chippendale taste, electrified, with six scroll arm branches and a central turned and paneled column with a ball pendant. It is not new or shiny and would go well with my ecclectic / rustic furniture. My question is: do you think this chandelier would be too big for my dining room? And might it be too heavy (27 Ib) for the ceiling (old farm house) Any advice would be very appreciated!

--Elena

Assuming that your table is full size (at least 40" wide) it should be OKAY. Your opinion is the only one that really matters.

Mine is 27" wide and about 30" tall in a smaller room with 8' ceiling.

Most people buy and install something that is far too small for the room because the bigger ones cost too much.

I can't see it from here, you may be able to from the attic; the older boxes MAY BE far more secure and sturdy than more recent ones. In most 60 year and older installations a scrap of wood was run between the joist and the metal box was secured to that. Later installs use a metal bracket and the newest are just plastic boxes nailed to a joist.

BTW, the "proper height" is 30" above the table. A lot of folks hang them much too high also.

[RBM]

If it looks good to you, go for it. I wouldn't be to concerned about the weight. Garden variety ceiling boxes are good for something like 35 pounds, and old boxes, either screwed to framing or attached to a steel bar are very strong

[Nate Nagel]

There are ceiling fan boxes that can be installed without cutting a larger hole in the ceiling. like this:

nate

[elened]

.

de quoted text -

You are all wonderful. Thanks so much for the advice. You put me at ease. And the chandelier is replacing a ceiling fan so I'm assuming the box should be adequate - in any case, I'll make it work.

Again, thank a lot! --Elena

[N8N]

...

Elena,

I believe that a fan-rated box is rated for 75 lbs. static load, so you should be good. When you pull the fan down just check and make sure that the screws holding it up are larger than the typical electrical box screws - I think normal ones are 6-32 and fan rated boxes use 8-32 or 10-32. Or you might even see some verbiage stamped in the box such as "suitable for ceiling fan use." If you see something like that you should be good to go.

good luck

nate

[Phisherman]

It doesn't sound unreasonable, but making a "paper chandelier" on a string will you a better idea if it might be overwhelming. If you found the "chandelier of your dream" chances are good you won't go wrong, especially if you have given it some thought over several days.

[Wayne Boatwright]

On Thu 25 Sep 2008 02:13:47p, elened told us...

There's nothing wrong with using an oversized fixture over a table in the dining room, and of course, making it a focal point. The fixture does need to hang high enough to allow at least 32" clearance between the bottom of the fixture and the table top.

As to the weight, you may possibly need to reinforce the junction box, depending on how solidly it was originally mounted.

[elened]

I'm so sad. The chandelier went for too much at the auction. I wasn't able to get it. I stuck in there for as long as I could - I was the last out of 14 to drop out.... Oh well, there will be other possibilities, even if months down the road. It's something to look forward to, right? Thanks all for the wonderful advice. It was just what I needed, and it will still be of much value when I one day do get a dream chandelier.

[Wayne Boatwright]

On Mon 29 Sep 2008 08:56:49a, elened told us...

I'm really sorry you lost out on it. I know the feeling. Just keep looking, and you may find one you like even better.