How to choose the right size of Moroccan chandelier
Three measurements and two rules of thumb: how wide, how tall and how high to hang a Moroccan chandelier or pendant in any room.
Choose a Moroccan chandelier by three numbers: the room's floor area, the ceiling height, and — if it hangs over a table — the table's width. The rules below are the ones lighting designers use for any chandelier; a pierced lamp only changes one thing, which is that you should err on the larger side.
Why larger? Because a pierced brass shade is visually lighter than a solid one. The piercing lets you see through it, and on the ceiling it reads smaller than the same size in fabric or glass.
Rule 1: width from the room
Diameter (cm) ≈ (room length + room width, in metres) × 8.
| Room | Length + width | Chandelier diameter |
|---|---|---|
| 3 × 3 m bedroom | 6 m | about 50 cm |
| 3 × 4 m dining room | 7 m | about 55 cm |
| 4 × 5 m living room | 9 m | about 70–75 cm |
| 5 × 6 m salon | 11 m | about 85–90 cm |
| Double-height entrance | — | as large as the ceiling allows |
Our Star chandelier is 80 cm wide, which by this rule suits a room of about 4.5 × 5.5 m — or any entrance hall with the height for it.
Rule 2: height from the ceiling
Allow roughly 20–25 cm of chandelier for every metre of ceiling height.
A 2.6 m ceiling suits a fixture 50–65 cm tall. A 4 m ceiling can take one of 80 cm to a metre. Measure the chandelier's full height including the crown, not the shade alone.
Rule 3: clearance underneath
This is the rule that most often decides the size in the end.
- Anywhere people walk underneath — halls, living rooms, landings — keep at least 2.1 m between the floor and the bottom of the lamp.
- Over a dining table, the bottom of the lamp should sit 75–90 cm above the tabletop. Nobody walks under it, so it can hang lower.
- Over a kitchen island, a little higher: 80–95 cm, because people stand.
Worked example: the Star chandelier is 1 m tall. Over a table 75 cm high, with 80 cm of clearance, its top sits 2.55 m from the floor — so a 2.8 m ceiling leaves room for the chain and ceiling rose. In a hallway, 2.1 m of clearance plus 1 m of lamp plus fixings needs a ceiling of 3.3 m or more.
Over a dining table
Choose a diameter of one-half to two-thirds of the table's width, and keep the edge of the lamp at least 15 cm in from each side of the table. A 100 cm wide table suits a lamp of 50–65 cm.
For a long table, two or three pendants in a row look better than one oversized chandelier. Leave 60–80 cm between them, and a little more at the ends. We make pendants to order with the drop cut to your ceiling height for exactly this.
Stairwells and double heights
Rule 1 stops working when the ceiling is two storeys up. Here the chandelier is judged from the floor below and the landing above: hang it so its middle sits roughly level with the upper floor, and choose it large — a small lamp in a tall space looks lost.
The cardboard test
Before you commit, cut a circle of cardboard to the diameter you are considering and have someone hold it up at the height you plan to hang it. It takes ten minutes and it is the most reliable test there is.
Next: the bulb, which decides whether the pattern appears at all — see which bulb to use in a Moroccan lamp. Or go back to the complete guide to Moroccan brass lamps.
Questions people ask
- How big should a chandelier be for my room?
- Add the room's length and width in metres and multiply by 8 to get a diameter in centimetres. A 4 × 5 m room suits a chandelier around 70–75 cm across; a 3 × 4 m room about 55 cm.
- How high should a chandelier hang over a dining table?
- With the bottom of the lamp 75–90 cm above the tabletop. Its width should be one-half to two-thirds of the table's width, so that nobody standing up hits it.
- What ceiling height do I need for a 1 m tall chandelier?
- Over a table, about 2.8 m or more. In a hall or anywhere people walk under it, at least 3.3 m, so that the bottom stays 2.1 m above the floor.
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