chandelier size for a 2 story foyer

10 years ago

we are starting to pick our light fixtures for our build and are sort of stumped on the size of our 2 story chandelier. looking for some help and here's what we're dealing with:

2 story foyer (6 feet wide, 8 feet deep, 19 feet height)
foyer is open to great room
foyer window measures 48" x 48"

we're looking in the 32" x 32" range right now (give or take a few), but not sure if that's too big? too small?

hopefully someone with more knowledge than me can give some good advice. thanks to all in advance!

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Comments (3)

rrah
10 years ago
You might try posting this question in the home decorating forum. They are really good.

A couple of sources I've read state that the way to determine size is to add the room dimensions and convert to inches. A 6x8 room would equal a 14 inch fixture (width). That seems to small to me, but I'm not good at visualizing that. I will tell you that my two story foyer is about 14 X 10 (part of that space is taken up by stairs, but it is visually open). The light fixture is about 24 x 30 inches and hangs down far enough so that it is centered in the window. It seems a bit small to me, but it was the best option at the time within a reasonable budget. I wasn't willing to spend four thousand dollars for the fixture I really wanted.
Joe
10 years ago
We have a foyer light that measures 33 inches tall by 19 inches wide. Out of the box it appeared huge.

Our foyer dimensions are 11 feet 3 inches long by 6 feet 8 inches wide. The ceiling is vaulted with the peak at 17 feet. The foyer is open on 2 sides.

We feel the size of the light is in perfect scale with the foyer. You may want to consider a light which is somewhat smaller in width than 33 inches.

Good luck with your decision.
~bgj
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bevangel_i_h8_h0uzz
10 years ago
Rule of thumb that I often see is: width of chandelier should be equal in inches to the length plus width of room (in feet). Height of chandelier should be 3 inches for every foot of room's height. In your case that would give you a 14 inch wide and 57 inches tall. I doubt you'll find much with dimensions close to that. LOL!

I'd probably go quite a bit wider than 14 inches especially since the foyer is open to the great room. Maybe up to 22 inches wide. But you need something to fill up some of that well-like space and give it some definition so definitely look for something that is taller than it is wide.

I'd want at least 42 to 44 inches tall and I'd want to be able to hang it so that it is either centered in the foyer window or so that the bottom edge of the chandy is at the same level as the bottom edge of the foyer window.

LightingUniverse.com lets you search on both width and height at the same time. It isn't a perfect search because height is sometimes measured from the ceiling to the bottom of the fixture and therefore includes the length of any fixed rod - or even sometimes the length of the chain! - rather than just giving you the dimensions of the "decorative part" of the fixture which is really what you want to focus on.

But at least you can eliminate fixtures that are much too wide for your space and narrow down the search for some with a body height which is great enough for your space.