Mine aren't installed, but I like them in formal rooms. I have two, and both are painted to match the chandeliers verses the ceiling. I think both ways work, but mine are both for dining rooms so I wanted to highlight the formalness of the fixture by adding to it visably with the medalion in the same finish. I think it's a bit more casual if you use a different color finish...but not always (for instance a white one with a crystal chandelier is quite lovely).

This is in my old house:

Both rooms have Focal Point medallions but the kitchen is 24" radius while the dining room is 18" diameter.

Not to highjack your thread, I have one more question, how large are they suppose to be in relation to the chandelier or light fixture, i.e., same size, smaller, bigger, etc.?

I found this site

Here is a link that might be useful: medallion size

Here's mine - it's in my dining room. I painted to match the chandelier. It's a two story room, so getting both in one pic is tricky. I got it at Lowes.

I have one above the fan in my great room. The fan is the Casablanca 19th Century and the medallion is about 2/3 the width of the entire fan (the room is 18x18 with 17' ceilings). I painted it plain white (ceiling color) primarily because it was installed when we built and I didn't have time to do anything else. I think if I had it to do over I would faux paint it gold with glazing in the noods (to imitate the antique brass of the fan).

I did not decide, the whole we cut in ceiling did that for us. I think we did not realize it was cut wrong, but knew that we could use a medallion. We chose one like the first one pictured above because the room had simple lines. We left it white to blend in. The black one daisyadair did looks great with her room, white would have looked odd with the dark chain. I would recommend it be same color as chain if you are using chain, but for close to ceiling lights or fans, you could do white like I did.

My neighbor loves things decorated, she has a white one and is painting all the leaves and flowers. Will have a very Mexican feel.

{{!gwi}}

The photo is a little dark. I bought some metallic paint with a glaze to kinda match my chandelier. I just kinda thought I wanted one in my formal DR....now wish I had done a big one in the 2 story foyer but too late!

Smiles:)

Thanks to everyone for your help!

Oh, Jonatemp--how hard was it to apply the glaze? How did you do it? thanks for any information!

Very timely question for me too! I actually just emailed a friend this morning with the subject line, "thoughts on ceiling medallions?"...

I've just started a bedroom revamp and am going for a French vibe, my new chandelier arrived yesterday. Ballard's Petite Claire in gold. The weekend project is to hang it! But first--to medallion or not medallion? Too fussy for a bedroom? My husband is a slob so the bedroom of my dreams will probably always be messy, BUT there will be toile and sparkly chandelier...

Here is a link that might be useful: Petite Claire Chandelier

I absolutely loved using ceiling medallions throughout my house. I used a lot of vintage electrical fixtures (chandeliers as well as sconces), and I thought these were just very appropriate. I also like them because they break up what would otherwise just be a bunch of plain space. :)

All of mine are painted to match the ceiling color. In general, I used a guideline of making sure the medallion was approximately the diameter of the fixture. The only place this didn't work was with the ceiling fans in my bedroom and office -- I couldn't get one big enough shipped here anywhere close to my budget. But then, you don't have that problem on the mainland......

This is a long hallway with two hanging fixtures:

My entrance foyer:

When I took this photo, I hadn't yet re-dressed the chandy. It looks much much nicer now. :)

And I put on with the chandy in my master bath:

HTH!
Summer

Wow, Summer, what great pictures and beautiful medallions! Did you paint yours or were they already painted?

Summer, your home is stunning! Your chandeliers and medallions look just heavenly to me--I'm very jealous!