Off Center Dining Room Light
Looking for a solution for an off center ceiling light? This one solution is so easy you can fix your overhead lighting problem for $4.97.
Today I'm going to go all after-school special on my light fixture.
I love it when solution shows up that simple and easy and brings along its own make-up kit.
This is what the office looked like when we bought it.
(total aside: can we press pause and look at those floors? Hello 1908. You were a beautiful floor year.)
It's a super awkward room. There's a bay window where there used to be a desk and crown molding that stops about 24″ down from the top of the ceiling and then no crown molding where the walls meet the ceiling and a random built-in on one side and fireplace in the corner of the room that makes it really hard to decorate around.
But by far the most egregious fault of the room?
This off center ceiling light fixture.
Here's the other side of the room.
See the fireplace?
See the built-in all alone by itself on the middle of the wall?
And see the empty space at the top of the ceiling where the light fixture should be?
THE PROBLEM: THE OFF CENTER CEILING LIGHT
I'm sure when they designed the room there was a really good reason for the off center ceiling light by the windows.
I'm sure in 1927 or whenever they got light fixtures there was a piece of furniture sitting right here and they needed extra light.
I get it.
I understand.
But now? In 2019? It just looks awkward.
And sad.
And lonely.
Q: HOW TO ARRANGE THE ROOM AROUND THE OFF CENTER LIGHT
I tried to decorate around it.
You can see one of the first arrangements of the room where I moved the desk over here to make the light fixture make sense.
I added a rug at an angle and some chairs that faced that fireplace and tried to make the fixture work.
But this arrangement didn't really work at ALL. It just felt like a bunch of furniture in a room all jumbled up together.
And so I moved the desk over to this side of the room where it's always been. This was my father's desk and as far back as I can remember it sat right here it this spot with chairs in front of it.
I guess my mother was right.
(total aside: sometimes that sentence is a little difficult to type.)
But truth?
This is where the desk should go. I could almost hear it breathe a sigh of relief when it moved over to this spot. After I figured out the furniture, I called an electrician to move the off center ceiling light to the middle of the room and almost dropped the phone when I heard how much it was going to cost.
Yikes.
So I saved my pennies and ignored the random light and acted like it wasn't there.
Until.
SOLUTION: HOW TO FIX THE LIGHT FIXTURE
Until one day I was sitting at the desk and a brilliant idea occurred to me.
Something so simple.
Something so easy.
Something that would be the perfect off center light solution.
Something so four dollars and ninety-seven cents that I couldn't BELIEVE I HADN'T THOUGHT OF IT BEFORE.
A HOOK.
What if I just hung the hook in the middle of the room and just extended the light fixture to the center.
Would it work?
Here's a close-up of where the light fixture hangs on the ceiling.
Most chandeliers like this come with extra chain in case you have super tall ceilings.
We used all the chain that came with the fixture.
And hung it in the middle of the room.
We used an extra-strong hook (and our ceilings are shiplap so it screwed directly into wood to stabilize it).
If you don't have wood ceilings, make sure you find a stud in the ceiling to hang it from.
Here's another look at how it looks like from this angle.
I thought it might bother me there was an off center ceiling light with the chain hanging like that. I planned on covering it with a cord cover, but I thought that might draw too much attention to it.
The cord is nickel and the electrical cord that runs through it is clear and so you actually barely even notice it.
Your eye just assumes that the light fixture is in the middle of the room.
Just where it should be.
Here's one last before.
And one last after.
It makes me so happy when I look at how far this little room has come. It's an after school special with a makeover and a happy ending.
And truly?
Have you ever seen $4.97 look SO GOOD?
PS The office is painted Sandbar Sherwin William 7547 and the curtains are dropcloths (you can see how to make them here) and I'll put all the links to the office below just in case you want to shop the room.
PPS If you need to paint your ceiling before hanging the light, here are some amazing tips.
Want to know how to decorate your home for free?
Click here to get my FIVE BEST secrets.
Source: https://thistlewoodfarms.com/simple-solution-for-an-off-center-overhead-light/
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