The lovely La Petite Acadienne wrote me to ask the following question:
Do ceiling fixtures look funny in living rooms with standard-height ceilings? We were going to do a mix of wall sconces and lamps in our living room, but have nixed most of the wall sconces because we have no idea where we will be placing our furniture, and don’t want to be cursing ourselves down the road when we can’t put our tall bookshelves in a certain spot because the damn wall sconces are in the way.
So, we decided to go with one wall sconce, some yet-to-be-determined lamps, and an overhead fixture for when it’s really dark (or for when I am cleaning.) Yet my mother said that she thought it would look “funny” to have a ceiling fixture in the living room when we don’t have extra-high ceilings. If anybody else had said this, I’d have brushed it off. Yet, because my mother has pretty elegant tastes in decor, I am now second-guessing myself.
My answer was a highly unhelpful “It depends.” When I’m contemplating ceiling fixtures — which is fairly often because my office is desperately crying out for one — I typically ask myself what will be underneath and around it. If you’re enamored with a hanging fixture, are your ceilings so low that people will bonk their heads? Will it look awkward or split up the room? If you’re in love with a wide fixture, is it going to look monstrous in a smaller room?
Some people reject dropped fixtures on standard ceilings in average sized rooms, but I like to consider questions like these on a case by case basis. For example, The Beard and I have a ceiling fan and three dropped lights hanging from our standard height bedroom ceiling (right over the bed, in fact) and it looks great. Woe unto them that jump on the bed, however, as they will be decapitated!
I’ve seen some very, very chic low hanging fixtures on standard height ceilings. I think it works best when the room is relatively uncluttered and the fixture can stand on its own as a kind of centerpiece. If it blends in too much, it will look like it’s in the way, even if it’s not. I think they tend to look best hanging over a table, which removes the risk of bonked heads. My advice to you is to take a snapshot of your living room and shop in your chosen fixture (or something very like it) to see how it will mesh with your current decor.
Some hanging fixtures lend do themselves well to having their cords shortened — a step I will likely have to take in my office because, dang it, I want a colored chandelier — but I wouldn’t recommend taking your fixture all the way up to the ceiling, because that can look ungainly. Better, I think, to take the risk and do something a little different.
Additionally, I recommend that anyone who is entirely unsure of what sort of ceiling fixtures they want give the Rejuvenation Lighting Advice app a try. You put in the age of your home, the architectural style, and a smattering of other details, and the site spits out a selection of appropriately sized fixtures. Of course, they’re just recommendations, and I’m not about to dissuade anyone from doing something crazy-funky!