Dining Room Lighting Design and Installation

You may not use your dining room every single day, but you still want it to have the perfect lighting design. At Lighting One, our member showrooms have an exceptional selection of dining room lighting options, including chandeliers, sconces, and much more. If you’re thinking about updating your lights, or you’re looking for a different style of light for your home, visit your local lighting store to find exactly what you need!

Where to Start?

If you’re building a new home or renovating your current property, you might not be sure where to start. Many of our showrooms have expert consultants and designers to help you sort through different styles of fixtures, and assist you in deciding which options will be best for your space. They can show you various options that can help you achieve the style and function you desire.

Quality Products from Quality Manufacturers

When you walk into a showroom, you expect to see quality products hanging from the ceiling and displayed on the walls. You might be familiar with a few lighting brands, but with so many to choose from, you may not be sure which ones produce the highest-quality fixtures. At Lighting One, we’ve built relationships with the top brands in the country, including names Crystorama, Hinkley, and Kichler. When you shop at one of our affiliated locations, you can rest assured that you’re looking at quality options that will stand the test of time. If you have questions about a certain brand, or you’ve seen a fixture in a catalog or magazine that you like, the staff will do their very best to answer your questions and help you locate exactly what you’re looking for.

Finding new dining room lighting doesn’t have to be a challenge, and with experienced staff and the best selection, a Lighting One member showroom can help you find the perfect fixtures. We have locations all across North America, so find a store near your home today!

Designing and Building Your New Dining Room

If you’re currently working on a new house, then you’re probably eagerly awaiting the day when everything is finished and you can move in. However, before that can happen, you have to pick out light fixtures, furniture, and more. When it comes to the dining room, finding the right lights will make the space what you want it to be, and you’ll be able to envision all of the family meals you’ll have in there over the coming years.

Our Lighting One showrooms love working with homeowners and their builders or designers to find the perfect dining room fixture options. As we said before, many of our locations have expert lighting consultants who can show you a bevy of light options for your dining space.

One of the best places to begin is with the main, or ambient, fixture. This is often a chandelier or some type of hanging fixture, which is centered over the dining room table. Obviously, you may not yet know how big your table is going to be, which can make it difficult to find the proper size of chandelier. Not to worry, because the consultant can present several options that fit with your vision for the look and feel of the room. You may be thinking that a classic crystal chandelier will be best, or you might be leaning towards a more modern and linear fixture. Whatever the case may be, you’ll be able to find the right option at one of our member showrooms.

Finding the Right Chandelier Size

Having the builder involved in your lighting choice is important, because they need to know what type of support and wiring is required for the dining room. A heavy chandelier must be mounted properly, and there needs to be proper wiring so that your light functions correctly. You’ll also need to discuss ceiling height, since that will determine how high the chandelier will need to be installed. For a ceiling that is eight feet tall, the fixture should be approximately 30 to 34 inches above the top of the table, and it should be centered over the table. This will allow for proper lighting while not obstructing anyone’s vision while sitting at the table.

Most dining tables are 30 inches tall, so that means that the chandelier will be approximately 60 to 64 inches from the floor. If the ceiling is to be taller than eight feet, hang the fixture three inches higher for every foot of height. For example, if the ceiling is 10 feet tall, the bottom of the chandelier should be at least 36 inches above the tabletop. Since most hanging fixtures have a rope or chain, you can raise or lower the light as needed, in case you don’t like how high or low it is situated

The hanging fixture should not be wider than the table, since that can make the light feel too large or the room feel too small. The common rule of thumb is that the chandelier should be 12 inches narrower than the table, and there should be approximately 48 inches between the edge of the fixture and the wall, on all sides of the fixture. If you’re building a grand dining room with a large table, you can choose a larger fixture, but these guidelines will still apply when choosing your lights.

Accent Lighting

While the chandelier will provide ambient illumination in your dining room, it shouldn’t be the only source of light in the space. Accent lighting such as wall sconces can be a great addition, as they will add more light and bring a sense of scale to the room. Your chandelier will likely provide both upward- and downward-focused light in the center of the room, and the sconces will add more light on the walls and in the corners. They can also create focal points if you have a buffet table or curio cabinet that holds your fine china.

If you’re planning to hang artwork and other decor in the dining room, be sure that you have lighting for those areas as well. Track lighting can be a great option, but you’ll want to be sure that it doesn’t overpower the space. Small rails and slim fixtures are ideal in the dining room, and your local Lighting One showroom can help you find the right options. Recessed lighting can also provide accent and ambient lighting, and you’ll want to discuss their placement with both your designer and your builder.

There are many choices when it comes to designing and building your new dining room, and at Lighting One, we love helping people discover the perfect lighting choices. Look through our Inspiration Gallery today to find ideas for your new home!

New Dining Room Lighting Controls

Even if you only use the dining room on formal occasions such as holiday dinners and family reunions, it’s important to have the proper lighting controls for your chandelier, sconces, and other fixtures. You want to set the appropriate mood for the occasion, and you may need more or less light depending on the time of day. Our showrooms have a great selection of lighting controls, including dimmer switches, sensor plates, and much more.

Dimmer Switches

While appropriate for nearly every room in the house, dimmer switches often have the most versatility in the dining room. By having an individual switch for each fixture, or set of fixtures such as sconces, you can set the levels depending on the mood you want to create. If you and your sweetheart are having a romantic candlelight dinner, you can turn the lights in the chandelier all the way down, while you turn off the sconces entirely. If you’re celebrating a milestone, such as a grandma’s 90th birthday, you can dim the lights for the cake and the candles, and then bring the levels back up so that everyone can see while they’re eating and talking. The control and flexibility of dimmer switches will make your dining room more versatile and more comfortable.

Lighting Presets

One of the advantages of modern lighting controls is smart controls that can sense when someone enters the room, causing the lights to turn on so that no one runs into the dining chair that wasn’t pushed in all the way. If everyone leaves the room and no one turns the lights off, they’ll shut off automatically after a few minutes!

Your Trusted Source for Dining Room Lights

We created our cooperative program so that local showrooms could have access to the products and resources they needed to better serve their customers. As a customer, this means that you can find exceptional light fixtures at prices that fit your budget. Your local showroom can help you choose the brand and style that you want, and in some cases, even help you install your new fixtures! With reduced freight policies and access to exclusive supplier benefits, showroom owners can pass the savings on to you, the consumer.

An Experienced Staff

The staff in our affiliated member showrooms build relationships with customers who come in again and again for new lighting choices. These relationships make it easy for our customers to recommend us to friends and neighbors.

If you’re looking for new dining room light fixtures, find the options you want by visiting a local Lighting One showroom. We have stores in both the United States and Canada, and every location is equipped with an amazing selection of lights, as well as an experienced staff who will assist you every step of the way. By the time you leave the store, you’ll feel satisfied that you made the right decision and that your new lighting will serve you well for years to come.