Acrylic Chandeliers

Most acrylic chandeliers exist for one practical reason: weight. The material carries a wide frame at a fraction of what glass or crystal would put on the ceiling box, which is why it turns up in bedrooms, in apartments and anywhere the box is standard rather than braced.

How to choose acrylic chandeliers

Settle the weight question first. A standard ceiling outlet box holds only a modest load, and anything heavier needs a brace or a box fixed to the joists above the plaster. Acrylic lets a frame run three feet across without that work, which is the reason it appears over beds and in rooms where opening the ceiling is not an option.

Then pick the optic. Clear acrylic behaves much like glass and leaves the lamp on view inside the frame. Frosted acrylic spreads the source and hides the diode strip that runs through most large integrated rings, so the lit edge reads as one continuous line instead of a row of points. The machined edge matters too, because a clean cut is what gives a ring or a linear bar its outline.

Care and cleaning for acrylic chandeliers

Acrylic marks more easily than glass, so the routine that keeps a crystal frame bright will dull this one. Grit does the damage rather than the cloth.

• Cloth: soft microfiber, dampened with plain water.
• Avoid: ammonia based glass cleaner, alcohol and any abrasive pad.
• Dust first: lift loose grit off the panel before wiping it.
• Assembly: hold panels by the edge and leave the protective film on until the final step.

Does acrylic yellow over time?

Indoors and out of direct sun, cast acrylic holds its color for years. Hours of unfiltered daylight age any plastic fastest, so a sunroom or a landing under a skylight is the setting to think twice about. Ordinary room light does nothing to it.

Will a wide acrylic frame need a ceiling brace?

Usually not, which is the point of the material. Read the weight on the product page and compare it with what your ceiling box was built to hold. Any fixture above that figure needs a brace anchored to the framing, whatever it is made from.

Also worth a look: Crystal Chandeliers, Brass Chandeliers, Rattan Chandeliers and Iron Chandeliers. Everything in this category sits under Chandeliers.