Bedroom Chandeliers

Most bedroom chandeliers get looked at from flat on your back, which rules out plenty of fixtures that photograph well. An upward facing or fully diffused design keeps the source out of the sightline from the pillow. This page gathers every chandelier whose specifications name the bedroom.

How to choose bedroom chandeliers

Decide what the fixture does to a person lying down. An open bulb design sits in view every night and throws hard shadows across the ceiling. A shade, a diffuser or an uplit form hides the source and bounces light off the plaster, which is a far more comfortable arrangement in a room used mostly in the evening. This one choice matters more here than in any other room in the house.

Scale is the second decision. Add the length and the width of the room in feet, and use that total as a diameter in inches. A 12 by 14 foot bedroom takes a fixture around 26 inches across. Bedrooms usually carry a lower visual load than a dining room, so err slightly under the number rather than over it, especially with a busy headboard already in the room.

Then plan for two light levels. A bedroom needs a bright setting for making the bed and finding clothes, and a low one for the hour before lights out. A dimmer covers both, provided the specification allows it. Where it does not, a pair of table lamps beside the bed carries the low setting and the ceiling fixture handles the rest.

Ceiling clearance and placement for bedroom chandeliers

The measurements below assume an eight foot ceiling, which is what most US bedrooms have. Everything moves up from there as the ceiling rises.

• Floor clearance: at least 7 feet from the floor to the lowest point of the fixture.
• Over the bed: 7 feet 6 inches or more, measured from the floor, not the mattress.
• Diameter: the room length added to the room width in feet, taken as a figure in inches.
• Position: centered over the foot of the bed rather than directly above the pillows.
• Ceilings under 8 feet: a semi flush profile instead of a hanging drop.

Placement is the part designers argue about and the part people notice. Centering over the foot of the bed keeps the fixture out of the way when someone sits up, and it puts the light where the room is walked through rather than where it is slept in. Centering on the room instead of the bed only works when the two happen to line up, which in a bedroom with a closet wall they rarely do.

Questions about chandeliers in a bedroom

Can a chandelier hang directly over a bed?

It can, with clearance. Keep the lowest point at least 7 feet 6 inches off the floor and choose a diffused or upward facing design, since anything above the pillows is in view from lying down. Many people prefer it over the foot of the bed for that reason.

What size fits a standard bedroom?

Add the room dimensions in feet and treat the total as inches. An 11 by 13 foot room suits roughly a 24 inch fixture. Go a size down if the ceiling is eight feet or the headboard is tall, since a bedroom reads crowded faster than an open dining room.

How low can it hang with an eight foot ceiling?

Leave 7 feet of clear floor to the bottom of the fixture in any part of the room people walk through. That allows roughly 12 inches of drop from an eight foot ceiling, which points toward a compact profile or a semi flush mount.

Does a bedroom fixture need to be dimmable?

Not strictly, but it helps. The room is used at full brightness and at very low light on the same evening. Where the specification does not allow dimming, cover the low setting with lamps on the nightstands and leave the ceiling fixture for the bright one.

What about a low sloped ceiling?

Check for a sloped ceiling adapter in the specifications before anything else. Without one, the canopy will not sit flat against the angle. On a slope, hang the fixture at the high side of the room and measure clearance from the lowest point of the slope.

Other pages in this family: Dining Room Chandeliers, Foyer Chandeliers, Hallway Chandeliers and Bedroom Pendant Lights. The full category is Chandeliers.