Foyer Chandelier Lighting

You might be tempted to think that finding the perfect lighting arrangement in the living or dining area might be the most difficult but actually foyer lighting is one of the hardest places to illuminate properly.  After all, the natural intensity of sunlight can often outperform your foyer lights.  This will cause disorientation as the irises struggle to adjust and account for the dramatic drop in illumination.  However, with a little planning, you can illuminate your foyer in style while eliminating any problems with disorientation and/or glare.

As with any space, there are different sources of lighting that should be used in order to create a more balanced effect.  For instance, the total illumination most rooms with 9 foot ceilings require is equal to the square footage of the area multiplied by 1.5 Watts.  For a 10X10 entryway, that means you might need 150-200 watts of total illumination.  However, rather than relying on a single fixture to provide all of the lighting for the space, you should “spread the illumination” between several fixtures.

There are actually three distinct sources of interior lighting that ideally should be used in every room:  ambient, task, and accent.  The ambient or general illumination should be supplied by some overhead light fixture like a chandelier, inverted pendant, or perhaps even a flush or semi-flush mount ceiling fixture.  This ambient light source should be centrally mounted in the center of the room and be proportional to the surrounding space.

Because the foyer or entryway is the first place any guest sees when visiting your home, it really is a great idea to illuminate the space with an elegant and hypnotic foyer chandelier.  However, as the typical foyer is not a large area, mini-chandeliers tend to be better options for this space.  These miniature chandeliers are capable of providing more than sufficient illumination for the space and if they are wired to a dimmer switch—you can adjust the lighting to account for sunlight during the daytime and thus minimize and even eliminate disorientation or glare.

Again, you ideally want to use more than one source of illumination even in small areas like a foyer or entranceway.  Wall sconces made using the same materials and in the same style as the chandelier tend to be great choices for a foyer.  Though small, these regal light fixtures can make a dramatic impact on the illumination in any confined area while still imbuing the area with style and beauty.  Plus, when it’s time for bed, you can leave the wall sconces on to serve as accent lighting.

The foyer really is like any other area in the home:  it needs a balanced lighting scheme that provides ample illumination from a variety of sources.  You will tend to need a little more illumination than is typically required of an area because of the transition from natural to artificial lighting that takes place in a foyer or entryway.  Just be sure to balance the foyer lighting scheme with chandeliers, wall sconces, and table lamps all made in the same style for a more unified and professional interior design.