Thanks, enablers!!! : ) I will wait until the chandelier arrives to see what itÂs...top thingieÂlooks like, before choosing one. I have waited so long to get a chandelier for this house that I want to play it up as much as possible. When the house was being built 23 years ago we both thought that colonial chandelier was ugly and resolved to replace it. But then we had kids, and all such ideas were put offÂ. My ceiling is only standard height. So, much as IÂd like to paint one to match the chandelier, I think that would make the ceiling look lower and I should paint it to match the ceiling itself or the trim. Providing I can keep my hands off and resist embellishing it (hÂmmmÂmaybe a little gold outline alongÂ) How wide would look good? The chandelier is 29 ¼". There is one with acanthus leaves on it IÂm drawn to. CanÂt remember where I saw it. I have a background in ancient art history so acanthus makes me drool. IÂm still hoping to find a paintable anaglypta border with acanthus (no luck so far), plus some trim with it.

This is still an under construction pic...you can see inside the medallion you see ceiling and the gold was too bright and artificial. So I had an artist refinish the medallion the same as the chandelier. Unfortunately it's hard to photograph because of the gold leaf (which replaced the gold paint)...it comes out much brighter than it really is with flash on it but here's an idea (picture it duller LOL)

I think the congress would come down on my head if I screwed with the medallions too much LOL Our house is actually known for it's medallions and it's hardware (door brasses etc). There's actually a conservator coming to do impressions of them so they can be sold at a local Kmart near you :oP (ok not kmart...are they still around LOL but at a reproduction place). I'll post one pic and I think you can click right on it to the link for the house pics which show a few more. They are actually in all rooms aside from my son's room (for some odd reason) and the servants quarters. But there are several originals in the water tower which we'll use as we restore the rooms (they're in original white plaster and weigh a ton!) You'll see in the pics, my problem is not with the medallions but with the lighting. They're wonderful, but the lighting is either not period appropriate or it's too small. I'll post the master as an example. The medallion in this room is huge and impressive, yet the fixture is earlier than the house by about 20 to 30 years (house is 1889). You might have seen it in a home that was simpler (because these things were saved) but this house began with electricity and gas so we'd have had light'o'leers or something more spectacular than this fixure (which by the way I love and will use elsewhere in the house): We're actually going to replace the lighting, but over time since it will be an investment thing. Probably as we do each room. I'm toying with the idea of the canvas painting for the dining room though. I have do to some research on it, but I was thinking if I had a maritime scene done in there it would be beyond cool..beyond affordable :oP BUt since the back up plan is bradbury papers, maybe not so unaffordable LOL We are going to do bradburys in many of these main rooms so for instance the master with the red light will have different lighting, keep the medallions and the ceilings will be papered to highlight it. I'm a big fan of decorating the ceilings in a room :) Right now I'm doing the smoking parlor (you see it in the pics with red carpet and seating verses the red dining room). It's going to be a deep blue on the walls, but I'm toying (I toy a lot) with the idea of reproducing a piece of italian silk I purchased many years ago. It's almost burlap in texture, but in a gorgeous ivory silk shot with silver and gold threads. I just wonder if doing an entire ceiling (14 ft) will make me batty LOL

The boxes are fairly standard but often the fixture itself is the problem (not the wiring in the ceiling but the cap on the actual fixture that touches the ceiling). I'd guess that was the problem. Options, different medallions with a pattern you can cut to fit your larger capped fixtures in. Change out the fixture's top caps (same finish, stollen from a diff fixture, which is a very easy switch) or more expensive medallions (ie custom). I guess one other option, and frankly I've never seen one before I moved into this house is a connector from the ceiling cap on the light fixture to the medallion center basically it's the middle man on lighting and causes your lighting to hang much lower so tough in newer homes without tall ceilings. You can barely see it in this pic...if you look at the fixture you see a ring then the ceiling cap, hanging down about a foot or a foot and a half down from the medallion...that piece is not part of the light fixture, it's brass and the ceiling medallion is plaster. I have no idea what it is though but you could show a dealer and they'd know. They may come in different sizes????? Good luck!