Old is New with Chandeliers (Article taken from Houzz)

Traditional Dining Room by San Rafael Architects & Designers Doma Architects, Inc.

Chandeliers are usually seen in grand traditional homes. But given this statement, it doesn’t mean that you can’t put one in your home. 


You can install chandeliers and add elegance to any space. But have you ever wondered about the history of these lighting fixtures? 

Chandeliers are fixtures that usually have two or more arms that carry lights. They are mounted on your ceilings. There are different kinds of chandeliers, but all of them give that very same effect for elegance. Modern ones are very flamboyant, with lots and lots of lamps and complicated displays of murals, to give more illumination to the room with its many convoluted patterns. 

The first chandeliers were utilized back in the medieval ages as decorations in churches and abbeys to give more illumination to vast halls. Their first look was a simple wooden cross that has some spikes on which the candles will be laid. This whole construction will be lifted up to a particular height hanging on a rope that is also suspended from a hook. 

After the fifteenth century, more ornate versions of chandeliers showed up. The most popular designs back then were those of crown designs and were commonly found in palaces and residences of the extremely rich. It was used as a status symbol. 

When the world reached the eighteenth century, brass versions came into being, with long, curved branches and carries many candles, and were also most usually found in houses of merchants. 

It was also in the same century that glassmaking skills were developed, and this said enhancement led to the cheaper production of lead crystal. Crystal has highly refractive glass and it scatters light in proportions other forms of glass are incapable of doing. Crystal was added to the chandeliers’ conglomeration, and the famous crystal chandelier started to exist. 

Until the end of the twentieth century these lighting fixtures were referred to as an item for decoration in a specific room. 

Chandeliers can be added to any style space adding that touch of old world elegance. One of my favorite combinations is a modern space with a very traditional chandelier as the focal point.