Hanging a chandelier to the right height

Hanging a chandelier.

There is often some leeway with bedroom lights. The expectations people hold are different in the displayed area of the home. I always found it better to attempt perfection in order to make up for imperfection. I want to hang my chandelier over my dining room table and the box is already center. So what we will be looking for here is a height. The light cannot shine directly in the eyes of our diner guest, but still has to be visible from the entryway. The dining room is divided from the rest of the house by a lowered area that looks like beams holding up the ceiling. These beams extend two feet off the ceiling and our table sits three feet off the floor. To achieve a good appeal and a functional lighting arrangement, I want to divide the visible space above the table equally and place the center of the light fixture in that area. Can you tell me how long my chain will need to be?

This is how to accomplish this task.
We will start by getting a ceiling height. Ten -foot ceilings are all the rage. So surely, my ceiling is ten feet high, or 120 inches. I need to subtract 24” for the dropped beams, and 36” for the suspended tabletop. In this case, I can go ….Oh look 2 feet plus 3 feet is 5 feet. Then I can remove those five feet from my equation. I am left with 10 feet minus 5 feet is five feet. Five feet is 60” and that is my ZONE. So far we have the ZONE the fixture should be centered in and in order to do that we need to know what center of the ZONE is. Half of 60 is 30, so we will be calling that the center of the ZONE. We have a center, but no reference point. I cannot very well hold the tape in mid-air and assume that I am centering the zone. We know that the chandelier will hang from the ceiling so we now need to know what the distance of the sweet spot is, to our reference point of the ceiling.

We initially subtracted the 24” from the 120” as a step in deciding center of the zone. 24 inches represents the start of our zone. 30” represents the center of our zone. We now add the 24” to the 30” to represent our centerline from the ceiling. 54” from the ceiling is our target centerline.

Chandeliers have depth, and height. I guess we should assemble the chandelier and measure its height, and figure out what center of that is. I have hung hundreds of chandeliers that averaged in the 18” high range. (Only the fixture, not the chain). Well, half of 18 is nine. This is where it all boils down.
We have a 54” distance to bring the center of the chandelier to. The top half of the chandelier will be above the 54” mark by nine inches. So, when we hang the chain from the ceiling it needs to reach the top of the chandelier, or someone will have to sit there and hold it. 54 – 9 is 45. The top of the chandelier will be 45 inches from the ceiling. Chandeliers also have a box cover known as a canopy and an threaded tube that holds an eyelet intended to attach the chain to. This too is a part of the equation. The assembly is another amount of space that comes out of the chain length. After setting the canopy to match the mounting bracket the total measurement of the assembly will be near 2 and ¾ inches and will subtract from the 45” that was initially the reference point. 45 minus 2 and ¾ is?
Forty four and 4/4 is the same as 45.
So 44 minus 2 is 42 . 4/4 minus ¾ is ¼ . The total chain length will need to be 42 and ¼” !