Light is not centered above dining table - help!

19 years ago

Hi Everyone,

I moved into a condo and have one room as the dining room/living room. The dining area has a chandelier lighting fixture above it but I cannot find a way to arrange the dining table so that it is centered with the lighting fixture above. We think it's a builder's flaw.

How much would it cost to have an electrical box moved over a couple of inches?

Or should I look for a lighting fixture with a chain to loop across so it is centre? Would this look ugly?

I really want a pendant light that comes straight down but then the light would not be centered above the table.

Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

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Comments (6)

svwillow1
19 years ago
What about getting a piece of track, and using the current electical box as the feed. Then hang 3 pendant lights from the track. One centered on the table, and the other two equal distance to the left and right along the axis of the table.

No electrician needed, and a DIY project.
brutuses
19 years ago
You could definitely loop it over to the center. Some say this is out of style, but I just saw it used by a top designer on TV and see it in magazines all the time so I don't think it's gone out of style. This would be the cheapest fix I think.
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barbaranh
19 years ago
I don't think it should cost much to have an electrician move the box in the ceiling. You'd have to put new plasterboard over the old hole, though, and then paint it, which may seem like a lot of trouble. But to me, it would be worth it.
sojay
19 years ago
I had a similar issue, but where I needed flexibility to move the lighting according to different positions of the table (in a kitchen), and I chose to use a metal strip (chrome suspended ceiling grid piece), and then I glued (contact cemented) a hook onto a few pieces of extra extra strong magnet disks. The light fixture is not super heavy, but not that light either. It holds up very well, I need to really pull hard to pull it off, that's how strong the magnets are. This is probably not what you want for a dining room and a real chandelier, but I thought I'd mention my solution in case others are looking for that kind of flexibility. The fact that the chord loops a bit to one side, is absolutely not a design no-no, in my book. Doesn't look cluttered at all.
acey
19 years ago
Similar issue, rectangular DR, but the chandelier would be NOT in the center depending on how many of the leaves of the DR table were being used.

Sooooo....in this rectangular dining room, we took out one leaf of the table (we store it under a bed until it is needed for large gatherings) and we ROTATED the table about 45 degrees within the rectangular room.....

I get sooooo many OHHs and AHHs with the table slightly off center to the room, and the chandelier still is very lovely..... for some reason, the chandelier "appears" centered and the whole room makes mathematical sense.

Acey
patty_cakes
19 years ago
I have the same problem in the condo I recently sold~obviously not a big deal, as it wasn't even mentioned. I swagged mine when I moved in, and centered the table under it. Just used one of those large plant hooks with a mollie in bronze, same as the light fixture.

Having it swagged looks a lot better than having it off-center as the previous owner had his.