Chandelier

Installing Your Chandelier (using an electrician)

2009-05-07T20:03:00.001-07:00

Hiring an Electrician to Install Your Magnificent Chandelier

You're excited about your new exquisite chandelier purchase at the lighting bazaar. It's still wrapped up in a box and you need to assemble it. You're like a kid at Christmas; you can't wait to tear into it Then you realize it. You realize that a chandelier uses electricity.

Electricity, if you haven't figured it out lately, can be lethal if you are not careful. It's a fairly common way to die among electricians. There are a kazillion volts of electricity running through hundreds of wires all over the house. You know not to touch any of them unless you have a really reason. Even then you have someone at the fuse box to turn all the juice off just in case something goes awry.

So rather than paying an overpriced electrician $100 to come in and ease some of your burden, you play macho and try to download something online that would walk you step by step through your installation process. So you say to yourself, "how hard could it be? A few wires, a few snips, and then bingo, instance elegance!"

You can do that but I wouldn't recommend it. First, unless you're a trained and experiencd electrician, you could really hurt yourself. No, I mean really really hurt yourself.

Secondly, I have always operated under the principle of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." In other words, if you do mess up any of the electrical connections and circuitry in your house, think of how much you would spend to have a qualified electrician come and undo your damage. Probably more than $100.

Lastly, get the job done right the first time. Period. If he (or she) screws up, you bring him back to fix it. Simple. The electrician should have some sort of 30 day or 60 day guarantee. It's standard.

So, how do you find a good electrician? Ask your friends if they know someone. It's not necessary to get a union shop to take care of you, though that guy will probably know what he's doing because of all the training and experience he has. It'll cost you but it's probably worth it. Asking around will probably get you in contact with one or two. Otherwise, let your fingers do the walking or let your mouse do it for you.

Installing your new chandelier shouldn't cause you mental angst. But if you want the job done right, hire someone who will get it right the first time. You want to be able to enjoy your chandelier a bit.

Crystal Chandelier or Candle Chandelier?

2009-05-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

Crystal Chandelier or Candle Chandelier?

Some choices in life are easy. But the choice to purchase either a crystal chandelier or a candle one isn't one of those easy choices. There are a variety arguments pro and con for purchasing either a crystal chandelier or a candle chandelier. The arguments seem obvious but take a bit of education to decipher them more fully. It essentially can be argued using the "is it live or is it Memorex" commercial of the late 1970s. As you may recall, you didn't know if the opera singer was live of if she was recorded and you were hearing the taped version. So how does this relate to a chandelier. A "live" chandelier is one where there are candles burning on it. You have to pay careful attention to it lest you start a fire unintentionally. The live candle lighting must be attended to throughout an enchanted evening, which is something that is not hard to do once you are mesmerized by its enchantment. A "Memorex" chandelier is one where the jewels are plastic or glass. You can wait and wait and wait for months without worrying a stitch about it catching fire. And that, needless to say, is a good thing.

Of course, the main argument for a candle version t is that it gives off a more powerful glow. The light emanating in the candelabra is romantic and seductive. There's warmth and exquisiteness that you'll never experience from a mere electrical circuit. The only downside is that a when even one candle is lit (and unattended), a candle chandelier is a potential fire hazard. You also have smoke and fumes from 5-12 candles burning solidly in one room. Those obstacles can be overcome with a bit of planning and adequate ventilation.

Of course you can purchase chandeliers now where this doesn't have to be a choice at all. You can choose both the crystal and the candle. In fact, even when the electric lights are spinning your kilowatt meter, the unlit thin candles can accentuate the glow and warmth of the fixture. It really is the best of both worlds.

Whichever you choose, a chandelier will accent any room you hang it in. You won't be sorry you bought one.

Care and Maintenance of Your Chandelier

2009-05-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

Care and Maintenance of Your Chandelier

You've been putting it off for weeks, months even. You look up at the masterpiece of a chandelier that adorns your dining room, and the glass crystal jewels in your once elegant, once brilliant chandelier have lost their luster. They no longer sparkle when you flip on the light. The dirt and grease and grime and gunk of the long winter months and hot summer days is starting to show on your beautiful lighting fixture. But you also realize that cleaning it could potentially be a major undertaking. You think about hiring or ordering one of your kids to do it, then realize that he'll break something if he's left with the glass alone for too long. So, then you decide to break down and grab a rag to clean it yourself. Okay, where do you start?

Plan out what you want to do first. You'll need a step ladder, a drop cloth, a bucket of fairly warm water, some mild detergent (what you use for dishes should be fine for the crystal jewels), metal polish and/or an all purpose cleaner, a drying towel, and a rag or two. Perhaps the quickest way of cleaning all of those pieces is to take them off the actual chandelier first and let them soak in the water. For glass crystals, you can use hotter water than if you have plastic crystals. Water is your friend and will take most of the elbow grease out of spending a lot of time cleaning them individually.

Now that the crystal pieces are soaking in the bucket of water, you have more free space to clean the stems and the metal. Be thorough. Clean the metal well. Step back and take a look at your job before you rehang the jewels. Take your time in this step as you don't want some family wise acre to remark, "you missed a spot." Now comes the fun part. With your rag, clean each jewel separately and place them on the towel. After you have a dozen or so, dry them individually so that they'll shine, then hang them (or wait to hang them altogether. You'll get more of a sense of accomplishment if you hang a few at a time.

By the time you're done with all of the pieces and have rehung them, your bucket of water should be thoroughly dirty. So, to prevent that kind of buildup from happening again, you need to spend two minutes a week dusting the chandelier. Do that and you'll keep the brilliance and sparkle of your glass crystals as well as the metal to the fixture. It'll look fresh and clean, like you have slaved over each individual jewel weekly. No one has to know your secret.

Should You Make a Candle Chandelier?

2009-05-07T19:55:00.000-07:00

Should You Make a Candle Chandelier?

By now you are to the point where you like the idea of having a chandelier gracing your dining room. You can envision the lights glowing softly as you talk with your significant other about the day's events. Sigh. To use an overused cliche, it's candlelight dining on steroids. And you know you shouldn't have to pay $1000 for such an exquisite light feature. So what do you do? Build your own.

If you search long enough on the internet, you'll be able to find just about everything you'd ever want or need. This is also the case with making a candle chandelier. Now, if time is an important issue, then waltzing over to your Home Depot or Lowe's or your home lighting store is still the better and more efficient option. But if you have lots of time and are good with your hands and tools, then building your very own candle chandelier just might be the very thing you need to do.

If you've seen the number of fixtures on the online market, you'll know that many are very very intricate. Of course you will pay dearly for those intricacies, but they do exist. However, there are simple designs that simple to create as well. The design I have in mind is a chandelier in its basic form: a circle or a square with candles evenly placed on the sides with chains on the outer or inner edges rising to the ceiling to hang the fixture. Balancing the candles is critical to this design. Another design is equally simple: two boards in the form of a plus or an X with candles at the ends of each of the boards. The chandelier can be held up with chains rising to the ceilings from the ends or from where the X meets. That seems to be a much better approach as the candle flame won't heat the chain.

Again, there are designs for more intricate candle chandeliers on the web. A quick online search should reveal dozens of Do It Yourself designs. Choose one of those or be creative in your design.

Ah! The Chandelier

2009-05-03T19:33:00.001-07:00

You need to buy a chandelier. That's all there is to it. You need it in a bad way!

There's no denying it, even the most inexpensive chandelier will add grace and beauty where there was little of each. Think about it: wouldn't you rather spend a few hundred dollars now for an inexpensive crystal chandelier than being stuck with that silly four-light fixture under a a tacky confines of a ceiling fan (isn't that what air conditioners are for)? The noble chandelier more than pays for itself almost immediately in the wonderful comments that people will have when they see that you took the time and expense to install one in your dining room.

It used to be said that purchasing a chandelier was only for the so-called "hotty totty" or the upper class elitists. Not so, definitely not so. Middle income residents are now seeing the benefits and rise in social status when they introduce a chandelier into the home.

A chandelier is elegant; it commands your visitors' attention; and it remains the number one attention piece in any room (with the possible exception of a grand piano, but who needs to pay upwards of $30,000 - what you might pay for an "inexpensive" grand piano-for a chandelier). No other furnishing has that type of reaction on others. However, selecting the best kind of chandelier for the dining room is not exactly as easy as you think. You have to be able to match the size of the table with the amount of illumination you need.

But the good news is that when you have the right guidance and the right store, shopping for a chandelier is easy. If you are totally thumbs when it comes to installation, you'll probably want to hire somebody from the store to install it. You may be able to negotiate the chandelier based on whether someone from the store can provide the installation services.

You will not be disappointed when you purchase even a low budget chandelier. You'll enjoy it for as long as you live in your home.

The chandelier adds dignity and class to any dining room.

Privacy Policy

2009-05-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

Update April 2009 - Privacy Policy

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Chandelier Intro

2009-05-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

This is a blog about the Chandelier. It's more than just lighting or a simple ceiling fixture. The chandelier has class and sophistication. Hopefully you'll one day be able to enjoy the pleasures of chandelier lighting.