Music Room Lighting Options

When your ceilings are only eight feet high, lighting options in traffic areas of your home become very limited. I can’t even tell you how long (months?) I’ve been searching for the perfect ceiling light for my music room, and I think I’ve given up on finding a ready-made option that’s stylish, interesting, not too short, not too tall, wide enough to make a statement, the perfect color(s), and (most importantly) within my price range. Every time I find something I absolutely love, it’s ridiculously expensive.

So I’m pretty sure I’ll end up having to make something, which is perfectly fine with me because that’s a fun, challenging, artistic project that I’d love to sink my teeth into right about now. The challenge in making a DIY light fixture is ending up with a product that doesn’t look like a craft project, because who wants an obvious craft project hanging from their ceiling? I especially don’t want that in such a prominent place in my home, and the music room is the room that’s straight ahead when someone walks in my front door.

Once I switched gears and started looking at lighting as inspiration for something I would make myself, I started finding quite a bit of inspiration out there.

I really love the chandelier that John and Sherry of Young House Love used in their dining room.

via Young House Love

I’ve come across several chandeliers like that, but it’s always the same problem. They’re too tall. If I were hanging it over a dining table like they did, it wouldn’t be a problem. But since I’m hanging it right in the middle of the main traffic area in my home, it’s a problem. (Well, not for me since I’m only 5 feet tall, but it might make some guests feel like they’re visiting a Hobbit house. 😀 )

But I could make something like that in the exact height and width that I need. I’d probably use glass from the craft glass section of Michael’s or Hobby Lobby (the stuff they have for stained glass artists) to create a similar look. But that sounds awfully tedious and time-consuming.

I also really like this chandelier that Jana Bek used in her breakfast nook.

via Jana Bek Design

Again, that’s way too tall for my room, but I could replicate the look using various sizes of wood beads. They could also be used to replicate a design like this one used over the dining table in this room designed by Katie Rosenfeld Interior Design.

via Katie Rosenfeld Interior Design

And here’s a similar light with a striped design in this room by Tobi Fairley.

via Tobi Fairley

I could also use that same wood bead idea, but do a completely different shape like this drum shape beaded chandelier from Urban Nester.

That could be done in one solid color, or random multi-colored beads, or stripes, or alternating rows of color. So many options!

So obviously beaded chandeliers have caught my eye. Most of the lighting ideas that I’ve saved to my “music room ideas” folder have been beaded, which kind of surprised me when I looked though that folder last night. But then there’s amazing light from Coleen and Company, and I think this one has edged out all of the other options as my absolute favorite.

via Coleen & Company

The irony here is that this semi-flush light is already the perfect size (it actually comes in three sizes) and height, and it can come in literally any color you want because you can send them any paint brand and color you want on the fixture. But the price…well, that’s a different story. The large size (which is what I would want for my music room) in a custom color costs $2832.00. I think it’s safe to say that that’s just a tad bit out of my price range. 😀

But I would definitely be up for making my own inspired by this design. And if I make my own, I could customize the design of the cutouts. One thing that makes the light look so unique, in my opinion, is the rectangular link chain that they used. Just regular oval link lamp chain that you buy at Home Depot wouldn’t have nearly the impact, so that’s a part of the design I couldn’t skimp on.

So we’ll see what I can come up with. The only thing I’m sure about is that I don’t want a craft project hanging from my ceiling. 🙂