Lighting Ideas for Your Dining Room

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There are many ways to add ambiance to a dining room, but our favorite way is with lighting.

Lighting can set your best mood, highlight artwork, and show off your gorgeous table setting.

Start with the right chandelier, of course. Something that fits both your room and your decor. Check here for how to choose the best size, but it is about more than getting the right size. You have to love your chandelier. That is absolute! If you love a chandelier that has too few lights, add lamps. If you love a chandelier that has too many, turn your dimmer down. We've written a few blog posts about choosing the right chandelier, and we hope you find those helpful. Imagine that gorgeous chandelier shining down on your set table with your family all around. Beautiful!

Adding wall sconces will help brighten a room and fill wall space. Like most lighting, it is both a decor choice and a practical choice. I think there is nothing classier looking than sconces above a sideboard or buffet placed on either side of a mirror or art. A pretty sconce is like its own work of art.

Wall sconces

Buffet lamps! Who doesn't love buffet lamps? They aren't just for buffets, but for any side table in your dining room. What distinguishes a buffet lamp from other table lamps is the size... a buffet lamp is usually slender and tall - perfect to fit elegantly on dining room furniture. The height helps bring light up to the center of the room. Of course any type lamp can work, either in pairs or on their own. I've seen large based lamps fit spectacularly on a sideboard.

And, whether you have dining room furniture beyond your table or not, you can put a floor lamp just about anywhere! Floor lamps are ingenious that way. My favorite floor lamps are shaded, but many folks like a torchiere which directs your light up. I like the the traditional shaded floor lamp because it offers less competition to your chandelier's reflections on the ceiling.

The bottom line is that most folks just don't have enough light in their rooms. And, even dining rooms need more than one source of light. I like at least 3 sources of light, or layers of light, in a room.