Update Your Dining Area with a Beautiful New Light

Update Your Dining Area with a Beautiful New Light

I’m excited to show you how to update your dining area with a beautiful new light.  I love beautiful lighting.  It is an easy way to change the look of an area.

I’m kind of weird, I could go through my house and change my lighting every year or so.  I don’t do that because it’s expensive and really isn’t necessary but I would love to.  There are  so many beautiful options and they continue to come out with new designs, colors and looks.

Changing out the lighting is an easy way to update a space.  If you’re looking to change the look in a space think about changing the lighting.

Lighting Prices 

Have you ever shopped for new lighting online and noticed the pricing difference.  I sometimes look for lights and forget to put on budget filters.  I’ll be scrolling along and click on a light I’m loving then notice the price.  They can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousands of dollars.  I’m not at a place where I’m willing to spend $20 000 dollars on a beautiful chandelier.  I am willing to spend a few hundred dollars but not several hundred dollars.

When I’m at Home Depot I love to look for lighting.  I also like to look online at Home Depot and other stores like Overstock and Wayfair.  Online shopping does make the searching a lot easier especially if you have an idea about what you’re wanting.  

Applying filters in your search make it so much easier.  

Out with the Old

My dining area isn’t an actual dining room.  It’s an eat in kitchen but the space is decently large.  We have a beautiful table that is fully extended with 8 chairs plus a high chair for the grand babies. 

We also have a two large beautiful windows and a patio sliding door so it’s light and bright.  I had a traditional chandelier that was purchased at Home Depot.  I loved it for many years but I was ready to do find something different. 

For awhile I told myself it wasn’t necessary and was a waste but I decided it was okay to change the light and find something modern and not terrible expensive.  Like I said before I want to change out the lighting in my home a lot more often I do.  It’s something I notice in my home and love changing the look of the space with a beautiful light.

Finding a Beautiful Light

After deciding it was ok to change the light and find something more modern I got looking in all the usual places.   There are a lot of options in store at Home Depot but they have many more options online.  I also looked at Build.com, Overstock and Wayfair.

I had a pretty good idea about what I wanted I just needed to find one that was the right size, color and price.  Knowing what you’re after helps with the search.  I knew I wanted a modern farmhouse candle chandelier that was black.  Here are a few that I was loving.  This ones from Wayfair and this ones from Overstock.  I am loving all the gold that is back in style but I don’t have any gold in my home and wasn’t ready to change everything.

I have a variety of lights in my home Here are a few of my favorite.  

What Size of Light Do I Need

There is a formula to finding the right sized light for over your dining room table.  For my space it would look better if I had two lights over my table but I’m not willing to move the existing light and add a second instead of one over the center of my table.  That would involve electrical, drywall, mudding and paint.  A little more involved then I want to get.  

This is a great formula to find the appropriate light size for over your table.

Table Width minus 12″

Table Length minus 12″  

My table is 44″ so I need a light approximately 32″ wide and up to 80″ long.  

Because my table is so long that would be the reason two lights would look better then the one I have but I don’t have that so I’m going to make what I have work.

Here’s a blog post with all kinds of chandelier size guides.  

Right Light for the Right Price

It’s never hard to find a light that I love but finding one I love for a price I love is always the challenge.  

Once I decided the style I wanted I got busy looking for the perfect light that was the right size and price.  

I found this perfect for the space light at Overstock.  It is elegant, simple and a great modern farmhouse candle chandelier.  You can check it out Here.  It is really going to change the look of this space.

Light Installation

If you have never done electrical work you will need to hire an electrician.  Monte has installed hundreds of lights so it’s something he’s comfortable with.

My job is putting the pieces together and holding it in place while Monte does the electrical work. 

Thankfully there wasn’t a lot of assembly.  It always takes a minute to unpack, assemble and clean up all the foam bits.  

After I had it together it was time to take down the old light so we could hang the new one.  

How High do you Hang a Chandelier

You want to adjust the length of the chain prior to hanging the chandelier so you need to figure that out before hand.  A common rule is the bottom of the chandelier should be about 30″ above the table.  

Be sure to measure from the bottom of the chandelier, if you have glass balls or beads handing include that in your measurement.  If you are tall you appreciate having the light high enough so you don’t hit your head when you stand up from the table.

A Final Look

I love the look of my new light.  It updated my space and changed the feel which is what I was after.  I’m so happy with the results.  It’s amazing that by changing out the light you will up level the space.  It is a simple and fairly inexpensive way to update the look of a space without doing a huge DIY project.



Decor to the Door

Beautiful unique decor delivered to your door is my specialty.  Not only do I have seasonal decor collections but you can find unique pretty individual decor pieces at Decor to the Door.  Check out the individual decor pieces Here.