Foyer Lighting Ideas

There are several ways to enhance the foyer lighting with various light fixtures and below are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing. Some of the lamps used for the hallway are:

Chandeliers

Drop ceiling lights

Chinese paper lanterns

Mission style table lamps

Recessed lights

Desk lamps

If you like chandeliers, this is a perfect place to add one or two, depending on how long is your hallway. The chandelier tends to add a spark of great light that illuminates the entire area and also adds to the ambient of the narrow room.

You can add a wrought-iron chandelier if you like a rustic ambient, or you can go with the classic crystal chandeliers if you have enough space for it to hang from the ceiling.

Before installing your chandelier, however, you need to know the right width for the foyer, which is easily determined by adding together the width and length of the hallway. So if your foyer is 10 feet by 20 feet, then the total dimension will be 30 feet, and this is the max chandelier's width that you can add.

As for its height, there is a single consideration that I can think of. Basically the chandelier bottom should be around 7 feet up from the floor. This means that depending on how tall the foyer is, you might either go with a two or three tiered chandelier (for a taller hallway) or you might have to do with a flush mount chandelier, which is pretty close to the ceiling.

(photo credit: morguefile)

Desk lamps are mostly popular in bedrooms to use as reading lights, however they make in fact quite elegant foyer lighting options, especially in a wider foyer.

For example you can add a small table that holds two desk lamps, a phone and some ornamental accessories and a place to drop your keys. Between the two lamps you can add an elegant wall mirror that will reflect the light from the lamp.

Such settings can really create a homey and magical entry for when you come back from work.

(photo credits: morguefile)