I want to give you some basic guidelines for selecting key interior lighting fixtures for your home. Now these are just guidelines, they do not have to be followed exactly to the penny, if you do following these guidelines with in a smidgen or so, then you will have an interior lighting fixture that will fit properly and be the right size and proportions for the scale and dimensions of your home.
Let's start in the dinning room, dinning room chandelier or chandeliers for any particular room where an interior lighting fixture will be hanging over a table.
Interior lighting fixtures hanging over a table, if the table is round or rectangle then the rule of thumb or guidelines is that the chandelier should be a foot in from the total width of the table. For example if the width of the tables measures fifty inches in diameter than the interior lighting fixture's width should be thirty-eight inches in diameter.
For interior lighting chandeliers that are hanging over a round or square table then the rule of thumb or guideline is to have the width of the fixture eighteen inches smaller than the total width of the table. Example for round and square tables say the table is forty-eight inches in diameter than the chandelier should be thirty inches in diameter.
Now for the hanging heights for interior lighting fixtures, the guideline is that on a standard eight-foot ceiling the height of the interior lighting fixture should be hanging thirty inches above the table. In the cases where you may have a ceiling taller then a standard eight-foot ceiling, then the rule is, for every foot past eight-foot then you need to raised the interior lighting chandelier three inches per every foot past eight foot. Example if you have a ten-foot ceiling then your interior lighting chandelier should be hanging thirty-six inches above the table. Now this measurement is from the bottom of the interior lighting fixture to the table.
Next for entryways and rooms, that you have a hang interior lighting chandelier that is not mounted over a table. The rule of thumb for these other areas is that the chandelier can be in inches what the diagonal of the room is in feet. For example if a room is sixteen feet on the diagonal, the chandelier could be approximately sixteen inches in diameter.
For interior lighting fixtures mounted on a wall or a wall sconce, sometimes a wall fixture or sconce can create a sense of scale. The size of the fixture must be compatible with the wall's height, the furniture, and the volume of the space. To determine the size, test it. See for yourself, is the wall fixture the right size? Build a rough model with cardboard and masking tape as close as possible to the shape and size of the wall sconce in question. (Shoeboxes are often the size of a wall fixture.) Hold the model up to the wall or tack it up with some thumbtacks. You can not only judge the size but also decide how high to hang it. Rules of thumb for hanging, interior wall fixture or wall sconces, all wall fixtures are hung at or near eye level. Wall fixture and or wall sconces are meant to be seen. Hang them higher only if they infringe on the space needed to move around, for example, beside steps.
We have covered the basics rules for sizing some of the key interior lighting fixtures, these rules are a standard practiced by interior designers, we hope they will help you when you are selecting your interior lighting fixtures for your home.
Dennis Romano is a lighting store owner and writes about
Interior Lighting & Lamps
