Hanging lighting fixtures such as chandeliers add a resplendent and unique glow to any room. While once reserved to the dining halls or ballrooms of palaces and estates of the wealthy in Europe, consumers can find these fixtures today in many home décor and lighting shops across the United States.
These ornate and elegant lighting pieces are currently making a comeback, and are offering consumers with a wider variety of designs, styles, finishes. The most popular chandelier designs today include elegant crystal chandeliers for dining rooms, traditional brass chandeliers with candlestick lights, which are good for foyers, country-style antler chandeliers with leather shades for offices or dens, and wrought iron chandeliers .
A chandelier’s many dazzling lights add a distinctive feel and look that will grateful enhance and complement any room where it is hung. Whether these fixtures are candlestick lights, hand molded crystal shades or Tiffany-type pendant shades, the fixture’s lights need to be well-crafted and durable.
Where To Find Second-Hand Chandeliers
For those who are looking to purchase second-hand, or previously-owned chandeliers, you could find a lot of these in antique shops; second-hand shops as well as specialty shops. Sometimes, you could get good finds and much cheaper designs at garage sales, junkyards and markets.
Buyers of these lighting fixtures today have a much wider appreciation for authentic designs, as well as keen attention to detail in both the construction and finish of a lighting fixture. Makers of these chandeliers ensure that they maintain a high-quality of construction, by ensuring meticulous quality-control processes and testing, to fashion out a fixture that meets customer satisfaction levels, and stays in good shape for years.
Choosing Good-Quality Second-Hand Lighting Fixtures
When checking out the condition of a chandelier’s lights, whether these be hand-molded crystals, candlestick lights or pendant shades, a lighting fixture’s lights should be made of durable and long-lasting materials.
In verifying a lighting fixture’s finish, brushed metal finishes and painted finishes have been popular lately and currently rank as top-sellers. Buyers of second-hand lighting fixtures need to check for any slight chips, bubble, imperfections or scratches that may indicate lesser attention to detail, and poor craftsmanship.
Also, chandeliers that have crystal parts need to be assessed for their quality. The crystals used in these elegant lighting pieces may be hand-cut, gem-cut or molded. The crystal’s high lead content may not represent good quality, as lead is often included as a softener to properly facilitate the crystal’s cutting and polishing. Good-quality lighting crystals generally contain little or absolutely no lead.
In addition, you need to determine whether a second-hand lighting piece utilizes specialty bulbs or standard bulbs, as specialty bulbs may be quite hard to find and are somehow costly. If possible, consult with a Certified Lighting Specialist first, who could assist you with both the style and functionality of a second-hand lighting fixture.
Lastly, you need to remember that a chandelier, whether a new or previously-owned one, is a potential dust magnet, and that any dust settling on its parts, or crystal pieces can be seen when light passes through them. You need to check potential second-hand chandelier purchases for ease of cleaning, and take note that buying simpler designs are good, because it would be much easier to clean them.
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