elened wrote:

Hello, *I am thinking of buying a chandelier for my dining room and
have found my 'dream' chandelier at an auction in Virginia (far
away). *However, this chandelier happens to be a bit bigger than what
I'm accustomed to and wanted to get your advice as to whether I
should go for it or not.
My dining room is 12' 8" x 13' 5" with 8' 8" ceilings and the
chandelier is a sort of chunky brass thing 30" tall by 32" diameter -
Chapman Brass Chandelier in the Chippendale taste, electrified, with
six scroll arm branches and a central turned and paneled column with
a ball pendant. *It is not new or shiny and would go well with my
ecclectic / rustic furniture.
My question is: do you think this chandelier would be too big for my
dining room? And might it be too heavy (27 Ib) for the ceiling (old
farm house)
Any advice would be very appreciated!

The scale and size is a decorating thing, and I stay out of those
issues.

If you want to try it first, make a cardboard mock-up the same size and
hang it from the ceiling with duck tape. Move it higher and lower.
Stand back and look at how it fills the room. If you like it, hang the
real thing.

27 pounds is a fairly light chandelier. I took one down last month that
had to be more like 75 pounds. In any case:
* Take down the existing fixture and look inside the ceiling. If
you're lucky, the junction box will be screwed to a strong joist. You
probably won't be lucky. ;-)
* If you can get to the fixture from the attic, you life just got
easier. Buy a new junction box that's designed for chandeliers. Put
some 2" blocking in. Fasten the J-box to the blocking. Feed the old
wires into the new J-box. Bob's your uncle.
* If you don't have attic access, go talk to the people at a lighting
supply store. They'll have a fixture that you can feed through the
existing hole and screw into the joists on either side. Some of them
come with a J-box already attached.
* If all else fails, call a handyman ($) or electrician ($$) to
install it for you.

--
Steve Bell
New Life Home Improvement
Arlington, TX