red lover, thanks! I am totally open to putting a lantern in the dining room, BUT there is only one spot for a fixture there, and we cannot add a second fixture at this point- drywalling/mudding is already done. I am unclear about the rules for how big a dining fixture must be. My lighting designer said we should aim for 22" wide- and no lantern is going to be that wide without being way too tall for that space. My dining area is around 15 feet wide and open to the kitchen so no exact border in the other direction . The current dining table is 6 feet by 3.5 (although we may look for a larger one in the future). That said, I do see some pics on houzz here and there of a single lantern over a dining table, but usually it's a smaller size dining table, OR there are multiple lanterns over a single larger size dining table. So I'm not sure I could pull it off is what I'm saying. I'd love to though.

nosoccer, gotta love those jars -- always so fun -- but "mason jar rustic" doesn't tie into the look I'm trying to achieve. I will have beachy whitewashed and distressed furniture, yet I'm going to play up polished chrome as much as possible vs. aged zinc and similar metals. I think I found the right pendants for the island, AND (bonus!) they already have a 16' cord. I wish they were a tad larger than 20"x19" but they're the perfect color, so I think I'll go for it.

I love Lamps Plus. Lighting Universe, Restoration hardware, Vintage Lighting, West Elm (stop me) are all great. I don't know if it'll work for you, but have you noticed those screw-in things that you put in canned lights to create pendants? If your lighting is in the right place, these might work for you?

In addition to hand-building copper and iron chandeliers, Bevolo also sells some vintage/new lighting pieces. We also offer a complementary design service and can scale out the proper size fixtures for your rooms, based on your ceiling heights and a photo of the room. For a 9' ceiling we'd typically recommend the 10'' Square Hanging or the 18'' French Quarter lantern, to name a few great options. Let us know if we can help you at all. Happy decorating! -Lindsey @ Bevolo