Beautiful Chandelier Designs (68 Modern Examples)

A classy or modern living room chandelier is always a good interior design idea, regardless of whether you’re looking to enlighten the living room, entryway, dining hall, or an unexpected area like the kitchen and the bathroom.

The following chandelier design ideas help make the place more personal and dramatic, especially when the owner decides to follow a particular stream, and hanging light fixtures in similar shapes and made of similar materials.

Image source: DKOR Interiors Inc.- Interior Designers Miami, FL

In this article, we are about to discuss different types of chandeliers, many of them available in many online lighting stores, and hopefully help you choose the right ones for your place.

Tiered chandeliers

Image source: Lizette Marie Interior Design

Tiers help make the chandelier visually bigger without investing too much. Therefore, you don’t have to hunt for discount chandeliers. Tiered chandeliers work well with any style, and you can use them in various modern and traditional settings for your home lighting.

Traditional chandeliers

Image source: Debra Villeneuve Interiors

Large and ornate-detailed chandeliers are usually referred to as traditional chandelier lights. You can easily recognize them by the filigree and scrolling, as well as the variety of fine materials they’re made of.

Crystal chandeliers

Image source: MASSIMO interiors

Crystal or crystal-resembling chandeliers play an important role in giving a place a luxurious and sophisticated vibe, and that’s why they usually go a bit over what an average family is ready to spend. You can sometimes find some discounted prices on lightning websites, but in most cases, you rather buy them from dedicated outlet stores.

Despite the sometimes prohibitive prices, crystal chandeliers are still among the most attractive lighting option, where shine reflects off each and every piece, giving the place a romantic and glamorous vibe that can’t be achieved in any other way. They are perfect chandeliers for the dining room.

Mid-Century chandeliers made of metals

Image source: Tracy Murdock Allied ASID

During the mid-century, people just discovering the art of lighting design, and introduced most of the ornamentation options we’re using nowadays.

The focus back then was minimalist design and organic shapes, but the main idea was still to create a traditional lighting system as dramatic as possible.

With the development of this interior design movement and the space-age discoveries of the 60s, the design for chandeliers was slowly becoming more modern, up-to-date, and angular.

For the purpose of making a personalized statement, mid-century chandeliers were mostly wooden or made of metal, and were given names such as Miracle, Sputnik, or, Atomic to describe as closely as possible their intended message.

These names, unusual for a ceiling lamp fixture, were more than deserved.

The reason why we’re all quite aware of the existence of these chandeliers is that they’re widely used nowadays, being a classical light fixture, working perfectly in large spaces, luxurious establishments, and even simple, open lofts.

People are not only choosing those ceiling fixtures because of their appearance – these chandeliers have not yet been surpassed in terms of functionality!

Drum chandeliers

Image source: Bruce Norman Long Interior Design

For those of you struggling to decide whether they need a traditional or a modern chandelier, and not sure which one of the lamp plus offers suits them, drum chandeliers are cut to solve the problem.

combine the best of concurrent and evergreen chandeliers style, added as cascades of hanging chandeliers that hide basic lighting and reflect its shine all around.

These are also the most popular chandelier lamp designs for living rooms, where an extra sense of drama is desperately needed.

Why choosing drum chandeliers instead of crystal ones? These chandeliers are simpler and easier to maintain, and visually restrained when compared to their crystal counterparts.

A distinctive advantage is that they are cheaper and come in all colors and finishes you can possibly imagine.

You can use them as dimmed alternatives, or spotlights for the library or dining, or choose instead a translucent nuance that will shed the light evenly throughout the room.

Transitional chandeliers

Image source: Melinamade Interiors

Traditional dining room chandeliers are another example of a semi-modern and semi-traditional chandelier, slightly touched with modern sleekness, but still shaped and decorated in line with traditional living habits.

Such a chandelier will smoothly blend into any setting/environment, matching any design style.

Rustic chandeliers

Image source: Artistic Designs for Living, Tineke Triggs

When thinking of a rustic linear chandelier, have in mind a paired down versions of traditional, opulent, and luxurious chandeliers, but make sure there is nothing simple about your imagination.

The core difference here is the material used – in the rustic scenario, this will often be metal, wood, or even antlers that make the living rooms feel more personal and dramatic.

Browse the internet – especially the offer by lampsplus.com -, and you will see that best-of-breed rustic chandeliers are usually massive, and made of the most unexpected materials such as elk racks.

Nowadays, this dramatic effect is easy can be achieved even without the hunting-feel experience, as long as you’ve picked the right hand-crafted material, nature iconography, tree branches, or whatever gives you the earthy feeling you want.

Still, we recommend these ceiling light fixtures especially for cabins, mountain getaways, and lake retreats.

Petite chandeliers

Image source: Oakley Home Builders

Designers were pretty much aware that large and overdone chandeliers are simply not feasible in all places and settings and thus came up with their petite versions to help owners obtain just the same statement in less squared space.

These solutions work perfectly in bathrooms, closets, nurseries, and of course – bedrooms!

Modern chandeliers

Image source: Willman Interiors / Gina Willman, ASID

There is no universal rule to as how a modern chandelier should look like, but especially when considering a dining chandelier we recommend you to look for a contemporary solution with sleek lines and little to none detailing.

A great idea is to consider futuristic and unique designs, many of them featured in online lightning websites. Usually, you can also find interesting solutions featured in general furniture catalogs.

How to choose the right chandeliers?

Image source: Oswald Homes

Chandeliers come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and weight, which makes it extremely difficult to choose the right one for each room.

In all cases, there are few things that will require your attention when considering which interior light fixtures suit you: The size of the chandelier, that should correspond to the room’s need for light all around, but yet such that won’t cause people to bump in the chandelier each time they stand up (it also looks too obstructive).

Measures are as follows:

Image source: Paula Grace Designs, Inc.

Choose a chandelier that is at least 12 inches smaller compared to the width of your table (or its diameter, if it is a round one).

For instance, with a 42-inches wide dining table, you should be looking for a 30-inches chandelier.

As for lighting, follow these guidelines, especially when you are not buying your chandelier from a classical light store – such as from lampsplus – where you can eventually be advised by a professional:

Take all light sources into account (natural light included), and pick a chandelier that won’t compete with it, but complement it instead.

The functionality of the dining room chandelier comes first compared to looks, but you still need to remember chandeliers have a notable influence on your mood. Therefore, pick flattering dimmers that will always cater to your needs and space requirements.

Think of proportions first. In this case, the most important thing is to follow your instinct and eventually your personal standards when it comes to interior design and especially unique chandeliers.

You know the best in which room you can use the chandelier lamps, and will probably know at first sight what would look good hung in your already furnished space.

Installing your chandeliers

Image source: Britto Charette – Interior Designers Miami , FL

In this section, we are about to discuss chandelier replacement for those who already have lighting fixtures in place.

In case you’re purchasing your pioneer chandelier from lightning online stores, you will need a firmer and brand new junction box to ensure your ceiling can support its weight.

Select the right circuit for it, and disable power (you can even take out the electrical box fuse for the moment, to ensure no dangerous incidents will take place).

Remember, it won’t be enough to push the switch, as the possibility for a sudden electrical shock will still remain.

Go to a hardware and utility store, and get yourself a circuit tester (you can find it for $20 or even less). It will help you confirm that power in the desired circuit is disabled before you start and you can safely install your room chandeliers.

Image source: Brandon Barré Architectural Interior Photographer

Each newly purchased chandelier comes with detailed manufacturer instructions, so start by reading them carefully. Mount and assemble the lightning chandelier, fix it, and add the bulbs only then. This makes the process even safer than before.

An important thing to compare is the weight of your old and new chandelier – in case you’re mounting a heavier version, you’ll need to replace the whole junction box, and use one that can support the new and heavy features. For the same or slightly bigger weight, a stable old box will do. Still, make a preliminary check of its condition.

In cases where you’re replacing the complete box of the ceiling fixture, take the fixture down carefully, and give yourself some time to explore the internal wiring.

In order not to miss a thing from the installation process, take pictures of it or take notes, and disconnect it completely when done.

Next step would be to compare the wiring schemes of both your old and new ceiling chandelier, and you will have the clear picture of all potential mistakes you should avoid during the installation process.

Image source: Charles Clayton Construction Inc

Once ready, put the bulbs inside, turn on, and enjoy what you’ve installed. It may look even better than the ready-made products available in a chandelier store.

Obviously, installing a compact chandelier is not the rarest household skill ever, but a helper will be more than welcome especially when you want your dining table chandelier ready in a couple of minutes.

This is particularly true with heavy and sensitive chandeliers or the unique designer chandelier where it is practically impossible for the same person to hold the piece, and wire it at the same time.

Even when the chandelier is light and simple, someone should be down there waiting to pick up the old piece, hand out the bulbs, or at least hold the ladder steadily while installing the elegant chandelier.

In the best case scenario, ask a professional electrician to come and complete the task safely and efficiently.

The traditional chandeliers have been around since the medieval times when they were used to light big rooms by hanging from the ceiling helped by a chain or rope. Thanks to their sumptuous and royal appearance, antique chandeliers are also used today giving a warm and fairytale air to the room. Therefore, their frequent features in the glossy furniture magazines. The beautiful chandeliers can be accessorized with pearls, crystals and even diamonds designed to stun you with their brilliance when the light touches them.

A hundred years ago, there were used only candles on them but now the electric system replaced them and therefore, gave a chance of survival to the chandeliers.

Those outstanding pieces of interior decoration were improved a lot and this is how from the simple and poor wooden chandeliers from back then, we went to the beautiful and luxurious chandeliers of today that can be in every house room from living room to bedroom and kitchen also with different colors designed to satisfy the most extravagant interior design desires.

Black chandeliers are used often in the living rooms for their elegant appearance and while the colored ones can be easily placed anywhere in the rest of the house.

No matter of their color, size or shape, chandeliers will always hide a story because the mystery surrounding them. I wish you good look in finding through the chandelier images the one who fits you better and hope this collection is more than useful to all of you. Good luck with decorating your amazing rooms!