Design Dilemma: Another Kitchen Lighting Question

This new Design Dilemma series has been a really fun addition to the blog this year, and I hope you all have found it helpful and inspiring as well.  I’m certainly no expert.  I’m just a design obsessed girl with a passion for creating stylish, livable spaces, but I love brainstorming design ideas to help you find decorating solutions.  If you’re new to this series, you can get caught up with the very first one here –> decorating above a cabinet.  It seems lighting is a tricky area in the kitchen as this is now the third dilemma dealing with lighting issues.  Be sure to check out the two previous lighting dilemmas that have been covered:  1. Should you add pendant lights over the kitchen island? and 2. How to coordinate kitchen island and breakfast nook lighting.  Today’s kitchen lighting dilemma comes from Amanda whose open-concept kitchen and dining area has presented a bit of a conundrum.

Amanda and her husband bought a spec home, which means it’s a brand new build where they were able to choose finishes but not make any changes to the layout.  As you can see from the above photo there’s no way she could fit a dining table, no matter how small, under the chandelier where the dining space “should be”.  The only way a table and chairs would fit centered in this space under the chandelier would be if Amanda removed the bar stools.  However, Amanda and her husband both love having the barstools pulled up to the island and use them all the time.

Since a dining table won’t fit in the “dining area”, she’s carved out a little breakfast nook in front of the window.  While she loves this furniture layout, she’s not crazy about how the chandy looks hanging in the middle while the dining table is over by the window.  She’s not sure what to do here, but she knows she wants to make the breakfast area she’s carved out by the window look more intentional and less like an afterthought.

My initial thought when she sent in her query was “what a builder miss” this is.  If the builder had just allowed for a bit more space here Amanda wouldn’t have an issue at all.  But that kind of thinking certainly isn’t going to solve Amanda’s issue.

I think the dining furniture layout Amanda has created in her kitchen works perfectly.  This layout not only looks great, but it functions well for her family which is key.  Having a little dining area over by the window keeps the kitchen traffic flow nice and open.  Plus I’m always team barstool.

Option #1 – In terms of what do about the chandelier the quickest, simplest and least expensive fix would be to add a hook in the ceiling area centered above the table by the window and swag the light fixture.  A chain extension will be needed, and it’s highly possible that the wiring will need to be replaced as the current wire is probably too short to extend that far.  But even with these little tweaks, this is still the least expensive and simplest to execute option.

Option #2 – Since Amanda mentioned in her email that she and her husband are thinking of adding a window seat to make this dining area look more intentional, I would go ahead and hire an electrician and have the junction box moved and really commit to this window dining area.  So long as the new location for the junction box is between the same joists as the current fixture there shouldn’t be any issue relocating the junction box.  Obviously, I’m not an electrician but I’ve had fixtures moved in rooms with vaulted ceilings and this is what I’ve learned from those experiences.  It looks from the pictures that this would be a straight shot over to the left, so I don’t think moving it would be an issue.   This option is a bit more expensive as she’d be hiring an electrician and dealing with a little drywall repair, but this one I think will prove to be the best looking in the end and will yield the result she’s really looking to achieve.

With either option I would recommend adding lamps to the other end of the space to balance the lighting.  I think open concept kitchen and dining spaces are best lit with multiple lighting options and bringing in some task lighting will create a nice glow in the evenings.  Since Amanda mentioned that she wasn’t super crazy about the chandelier the builder chose but didn’t want to invest in replacing it right now, I would suggest removing the glass shades and changing the bulbs to Edisons.  Most fixtures like this one have a white ring that screws off allowing you to replace or remove the shade for cleaning.  Removing them and bringing in edison bulbs would be an easy, inexpensive way to change up the look of the fixture.  I created a little mock-up to give her an idea of how things would look.  Apologies for my lack of photo editing skills, but this at least makes it a little easier to envision what things would like.

I’d also paint the table and chairs white to match the window seat they’ll eventually be building as this will help to keep the kitchen area looking open and spacious.  Color and pattern can be brought in with a bench cushion and a couple of throw pillows.  Just for fun here’s a design board.

turquoise fabric, buffalo check, lamp, shade, chandy, chair, table, console, barstool

So that’s how I’d solve this little lighting issue.  What do you all think?  Would you move the chandy?  Or do you think she should part with the bar stools?

If you’ve got a design dilemma and you’d like some help brainstorming decorating solutions, shoot me an email over at —-> Carmel@ourfifthhouse.com.  I’d love to help!