DR lighting: help me tweak this?

[Susie]

I recently painted our DR, and we hung the chandelier we brought from the old house. The DR had sconces that matched the old chandelier, so I bought new ones to replace. We put up the mirrors, and our wedding pic. I also ordered curtain rods and sent our old panels to be dry cleaned so they can go up. It’s starting to feel like a room! vs. the dumping ground it has been since we moved in. The piano will go back against the wall once we finish the baseboard behind it.

The sconce wall isn’t looking quite right to me. We’re kind of stuck with the height of the boxes… Should the picture come up? Should I see if the sconces can be used as down lights? It’s not BAD, but I feel like there’s an improvement to be made here.

Bonus question: can anyone rec Edison bulbs that are maybe not quite so warm?  These are what I'm using now.

[TR]

I'm far from a designer, but in my opinion I think it's the positioning and scale of the sconces. I would try them upside down if you can and see how much that helps. But they might just be too small in scale compared to the piano and the picture.

[deadwing]

I think having the top of the photo in line with the tops of the sconces is at least part of the issue. I would raise the photo so that the vertical midline of the photo is in line with the bottom of the sconces. I think that will make a big difference.

[definitelyO]

agree - the sconces do look a bit high to me - so try raising the picture and maybe flipping them down would work - not sure.

[TR]

The problem with raising the picture is that it puts it too high on the wall. The top would almost be level with the top of the door frame.

[Susie]

The old sconces were down lights, so maybe that would help?  I would have to check our sconces to see if they can be flipped, or if they have to stay up in order for the glass to stay in place with gravity.

I think the new ones are a little taller than the old ones, which maybe isn't helping.



If we can't get the wedding pic to work, we could put something else there.  IDK what, but we could eventually find or buy a piece that is vertically oriented instead of horizontal.  That might be easier to work with.  I was just hoping to make the wedding pic work because it used to be in our LR, and we don't really have an LR in this house.  The LR space is "the office," and a wedding pic doesn't so much go in an office.

[deadwing]

I think the mirror is quite a bit bigger than the wedding photo, which is making the 2 layouts hard for me to compare.

I'm wondering if adding a row of smaller framed photos above and below the big one would help balance everything.

[TR]

This might be too spendy, but you could re-frame the wedding photo with a larger mat and heavier frame to make it take up more room.

[TBM]

Aug 19, 2021 14:49:25 GMT -5 TR said:

This might be too spendy, but you could re-frame the wedding photo with a larger mat and heavier frame to make it take up more room.

I like this idea. pictureframes.com is a good place to get frames, and they have sales often.

Honestly, I would hang the picture a little lower so that it speaks to the seated furniture, and wouldn't force it to relate to the sconces as a grouping.

[dr.girlfriend]

Honestly, I was going to suggest the same thing -- reframing the photo, or at least double-matting it into a bigger and darker frame.  I'm guessing the piano is just pulled out to give you room to move back there?  Otherwise I would suggest centering it on that wall.

Maybe if reframing isn't in the budget you could move the wedding photo higher and put a few objects on top of the piano to balance a little, if that's possible?

Also, I think crown molding would look great in that room as a future project! It really adds a lot.

[pierogigirl]

Susie I am somewhat local to you and I have a great framer, if you decide to reframe the picture. Send me a message if you want the name.

[Susie]

It's not so much that reframing the wedding pic is out of the budget, I think I'm hesitant because I'm just not sure it will change it enough to be worth it.  The picture is 20x30, and those might just not be the right proportions for that spot no matter how it's matted or framed.  A bummer, but I think I could get another piece for a similar price tag to reframing, and like the overall dining room better than trying to make this happen.  I get the idea of balancing it with a row of smaller pictures, but I don't think I would like how busy it would look.

For now I think I'll leave it, put up the curtains after the rods come, and think about it for a while.  Maybe rotate a few other pieces that we have, that are different sizes/proportions onto those hooks, and see what I like.  Right now this is literally the only piece of art or picture on a wall in the entire house so I have lots of choices to take from a shelf, lol.

[memenee]

I think whatever you hang there needs to be centered vertically with the sconces. Because your sconces are so high that poses a challenge. If there is no way to lower them would you consider removing them entirely?

[af1212]

Could you reframe the pic and create more of a gallery? Either with multiple frames or one frame with a gallery-style mat?

[SusanBAnthony]

Aug 22, 2021 11:40:13 GMT -5 memenee said:

I think whatever you hang there needs to be centered vertically with the sconces. Because your sconces are so high that poses a challenge. If there is no way to lower them would you consider removing them entirely?

This is what I was thinking. I have no idea if I am correct, but I think of sconces as old-people-ish. I would just remove them. I don't think they add anything to the room.

[froggy76]

I like the sconces and agree the wall looks a little off but I think it just needs some minor tweaks. I like the idea of flipping the sconces downward if you can do that. But even if not, I think a larger mat and frame for the wedding pic will make a huge difference. Plus a few accessories on the top of the piano and I think it'll look great.

[KellyEasterbrook]

The paint color looks great! I’d probably just find two small photos to frame and hang them under the lights. I think that would balance it out easily and cheaply.

[Susie]

Aug 22, 2021 17:52:45 GMT -5 froggy76 said:

I like the sconces and agree the wall looks a little off but I think it just needs some minor tweaks. I like the idea of flipping the sconces downward if you can do that. But even if not, I think a larger mat and frame for the wedding pic will make a huge difference. Plus a few accessories on the top of the piano and I think it'll look great.

We flipped them this weekend to see how it looked. I… am not sure?



It’s better in that the bulbs are lower and closer to the midpoint of the picture, and the overall height of the sconces is lower. I’d need to move the picture up less in order to achieve the appearance of vertical centering. But I am not sure if the sconces themselves look good as downlights.  I'm not sure if I like the heavier mounting plate being above (instead of below) the seeded glass globe.  

H likes them better this way from a practical perspective.  They will take the place of a piano lamp for reading sheet music, and down lights will light the music better than up lights.  For those suggesting just removing them, we're def keeping for practical reasons:  We need either sconces or a piano lamp, and since the sconces are already there, and we don't own a good piano lamp, it's kind of a no-brainer to leave them.  The chandelier light doesn't provide adequate lighting for sheet music because the player places the sheet music in shadow.

The piano is still out from the wall because we're finishing up the piece of baseboard molding behind it.  It'll go back soon.  Then we can put a few decorative items on top of it which will help in any event.

[sb]

It might help to replace the sconces with something with more vertical height. These are pretty compact and I think you need something that takes up a little more visual space.

I know this doesn't match the style of your chandelier, but just to give an idea of what I'm talking about.



I would also try to find another spot for the wedding photo and replace with something taller.

[froggy76]

Susie, oh they look kinda funny upside down! Like, droopy?

[circa1978]

I'm OK with them upside down but that the real issue is the scale of the picture. I agree reframing won't help. The scale of the mirror, while it wouldn't work for the piano being there, makes a lot more sense with the sconces and scale of the room.

FWIW, I think a wedding picture is fine in an office. I'm working in my actual at work office and I have a wedding picture on my desk.

[cosmowife]

I think that you need a large, vertical painting instead of horizontal. Right now, the horizontal painting looks off with the horizontal piano below. I always like to contrast shapes of furniture and the artwork.

[dontlook]

I would flip them back, hang the picture a little higher and then place decorative items on the piano. The picture will be a little high but so are the lights so I would just go with it. I think that will fill up the wall without being too busy.

[TBM]

I had no idea that people had such strong opinions regarding the relationship between sconces and art until this post.
I feel like it might be #regional or something. lol I don't remember people having opinions other than something being centered width-wise, not height-wise.

Or...it may just be that my commitment to hanging art at the correct viewing height supercedes the art to lighting relationships in my brain. We all have our 'things', right?

[stemmie]

I kind of feel like the sconces look like bathroom fixtures- something you'd find in a guest powder room adjacent to the dining room. It's weird because the main light fixture doesn't read that was at all. I think a switch to something more like what sb, posted would look better regardless of framing or height.

[redheadk]

I'd honestly look for new scones. Even if those are the ones that are meant to coordinate, they are visually heavier than the chandelier. Combined with that particular picture and I don't think there's a way to make it really work to your satisfaction. The scale is off. I'd look for something that has some height to it but isn't visually heavy, like the one posted above.

[darby]

I think part of what looks off is simply that real estate photos are designed to make the space look larger, so the listing photo makes that same space look much wider. I don’t mind your new sconces, but don’t really care for them flipped. I also think once the piano is up against the wall & you have other items placed everything will look much better. If you really wanted to do something then a darker frame with a wider mat would be lovely, but I actually think you’ve done a great job updating the space.