Covers to Transform Chandelier Lighting

Chandeliers make a dramatic statement in entryways, dining rooms, and other living spaces. However, these fixtures can be expensive to replace. Replacing just the glass covers is an affordable way to update a chandelier's look. With some new covers, you can give your existing chandelier a whole new style while protecting it from dust and damage.

We'll also cover where to buy covers, how to make your own, style ideas and inspiration, and factors to consider before purchasing. Read on to learn how switching out glass covers can transform the look of your chandelier lighting.

Reasons to Use Chandelier Covers

Using covers on your chandelier offers many advantages:

• Protect fine crystals, strings of beads, wrought ironwork, and other delicate elements from dust, dirt, and damage.
• Change the look of your lighting fixture for a fraction of the cost of buying a new chandelier.
• Easy to switch out covers to create a different style when you redecorate a room.
• Diffuse light in a soft, flattering way with fabric covers.
• Hide ugly or dated chandelier elements while keeping the overall fixture.

With chandelier covers, you can customize your lighting to perfectly complement your room's decor. They make an excellent temporary update if you want to experiment with different color palettes and textures before committing to a permanent chandelier replacement.

Protect Investment in Valuable Lighting

An intricate crystal chandelier represents a significant investment. Protecting it from dust, dirt, grease, and grime will help preserve its beauty. Covers form a barrier between fragile decorative elements and environmental contaminants. They are especially useful if a chandelier hangs over a kitchen island or dining table where smoke, grease, and food particles get released into the air.

Cost Savings Over New Fixture

A high-end chandelier can cost several thousand dollars to purchase and install. Custom-made fixtures with rare crystals or other premium elements grow even more expensive. If you have champagne tastes but a beer budget, updating just the covers allows you to inexpensively change the whole look.

Chandelier covers range from $20 to $500 depending on their material and complexity. But even luxury coverings with crystal drops or cascades of beads cost far less than buying an entirely new lighting fixture. And they install in minutes without any electrical work required.

Materials for Chandelier Covers

Chandelier covers today come in diverse materials, from classic fabrics to innovative acrylics and glass options:

Fabric Covers

Soft, flexible fabrics like cotton, lace, velvet, burlap, and linen cover a chandelier's form in a delicate cocoon. They have an ethereal, romantic quality and work with formal or casual decor. Light shines through softly, creating a diffused glow. Fabric covers also help muffle noise from crystal prisms colliding in a draft.

Paper and Acrylic Covers

For a crisp, modern look, try paper or acrylic covers. These materials add definition and structure. Acrylic morphs into contemporary shapes like rectangles and sharp-edged polygons that play beautifully with pendant lights. Printed paper covers also introduce colorful patterns and schemas.

Glass Covers

The glass cover offers a traditional material with untraditional forms. Look for scalloped edge detailing, ombre effects, pearlized finishes, and custom shapes to update the look of your chandelier. Colored glass transforms the fixture's light quality, warming it up or cooling it down.

Wire and Beaded Covers

Some cover options combine materials for extra dimension. Wire frames hold cascades of lustrous faux pearls or iridescent beads. Strategic open spaces allow underlying chandelier elements to peek through attractively. The beading catches and reflects light in shimmery, jewel-like ways no solid cover can achieve.

Where to Buy Covers for Chandeliers

Many retailers sell chandelier covers to fit common lighting fixture sizes and configurations:

• Online retailers like Amazon, Wayfair, Overstock, and lighting specialty shops carry ready-made covers in diverse styles.
• Craft and fabric stores sell materials to sew DIY covers plus some finished options.
• Check out estate sales and antique shops for vintage chandelier covers.
• Work with specialty artisans online or locally to commission custom covers tailored to your unique chandelier.

Bring your chandelier's measurements when shopping so you choose covers guaranteed to fit properly. Lowes also stocks replacement glass covers suitable for many household chandelier models.

Online Retailers Offer Convenience

Shopping online provides exceptional convenience plus the widest selection of covers. Retailers like Wayfair allow you to filter by size, shape, color, material, and style to zero in on options suiting your lighting fixture. See product images showing covers on chandeliers help envisage how different materials and patterns will look once installed.

Many online stores also make returns easy if the covers don't fit or flatter your chandelier the way you hoped. Just make sure to carefully check sizing info before ordering.

Estate Sales Unearth Vintage Finds

For a glamorous Hollywood regency or indicative Victorian style cover, visit estate sales and vintage shops. Period lighting fixtures often came with custom glass covers introducing gorgeous colors and detailing. Search for covers usable on modern lighting fixtures hiding dimensional diamantes, etched floral motifs, or hand-painted scenic details.

Collections liquidating large historical homes offer the best chance of finding high-quality vintage chandelier covers. Usually, only the chandelier itself goes to auction, while accompanying glass pieces sell for a song in box lots.

Making Your Own Chandelier Covers

Crafty types can create DIY chandelier covers exactly suiting their decor vision. Follow these steps for custom covers with an artisanal touch.

Taking Measurements

First, carefully measure cover diameter and length needed. For the widest part of a chandelier's body, wrap a soft measuring tape around, excluding dangling ornamentation. Measure covers for hanging crystal drops individually from top to bottom for proper length.

Choosing Fabrics and Materials

Consider factors like light filtration, visibility of chandelier elements, and the desired look when selecting cover materials. Sheer organzas, glittery lame, and gossamer silk gauzes allow more light through. Embellished trims, layered tulle, ribbons, and bows create opaque areas for a play of reveal and conceal.

Attaching Covers

Attach covers using creative gluing, sewing, ribbon ties, wreath rings, and decorative straight pins. Bind ribbon or trim edges for a professional finish. Most materials can attach directly to chandelier frames using hot glue or clear drying craft glues. Take care not to glue over openings for wiring or chain links.

Embellishing Your Design

Consider embroidering or beading cover fabric or painting designs onto paper lampshades. Outline shaped chandelier elements like candle bobeches in metallic paint before wrapping frames in fabric. Adding tulle ruffles, lace appliques, ribbon roses and bows creates a further custom treatment.

Style Ideas and Inspiration

Chandelier covers introduce gorgeous style possibilities, from vintage Hollywood glam to beachy cottage charm:

Modern and Minimalist

For contemporary interiors, graphic materials like metal mesh, perforated metal, polished stone tiles, etched glass, and patterned acrylic covers work beautifully. Keep shapes clean and geometric.

Vintage and Romantic

Floral cotton, faded velvets, time-softened lace, pearl bead strands, and chrome nailheads craft a vintage ambiance. Go bold with layers of filmy fabric or metallic netting for a romantic Goth look.

Coastal and Nautical Themes

Bring beach house style with natural jute, nubby linen, fisherman's netting, braided rope or seashell trims. Delicate white lighting pairs perfectly with weathered blue and tan color schemes.

Glamorous Hollywood Regency

Recall the dramatic era of 1930s silver screen with layered sheer fabrics, marabou feathers, sparkling rhinestone chain fringe, and metallic cording. Push the opulent factor with Austrian crystals and faux pearl accents.

Traditional Elegant Styles

Preserve traditionalism with lace overlays, cap-sleeve shapes on candle bobeches, tailored bow and ruffle details, and regal trims like bead fringe and ornate metallic galloons. Contrast the softness with graphic damask and tapestry prints or elegant damasks.

Mixing and Matching Chandelier Covers

Collect an assortment of covers in varied colors, prints, and textures to ring frequent changes. Or match covers between multiple fixtures in one space for a pulled-together designer look.

Coordinating Covers Room-wide

Tie together a living room, entryway, or bedroom with complementing covers. Repetition of color, pattern, texture, or embellishments makes the lighting cohesive. For example, use coral and navy linen covers on matching six-arm chandeliers over a bed, with matching sconces around the room sporting solid navy covers.

Changing Covers Seasonally

Rotate covers to echo the seasons or holidays. Spring for floral or leaf patterns, summer for nautical stripes and solids, fall for plaids, winter for red and green prints. Halloween lighting can glow orange and purple, while frosty blue and silver covers say Christmas.

Color and Pattern Combinations

Don't be afraid to mix colors, metallic sheens, multiple patterns, and combines textures for an eclectic look. Contrasting and coordinating covers on a single large chandelier creates visual interest. All types of materials combine beautifully, so try juxtaposing modern and traditional elements.

Features to Consider When Buying

Keep these factors in mind when selecting replacement chandelier covers:

• Size and shape should precisely fit your lighting fixture with no gapping or excess material.
• Light filtration : Diffused glow through fabric or opaque blocking from wood or metal tiles.
• Durability and stain resistance for covers hanging over kitchens or dining spaces.
• Easy installation with hidden adhesive strips, discreet pins, ribbon ties or wreath hangers.

Measure carefully rather than guessing at needed dimensions. Materials like washable faux silk or acrylic withstand heat, grease, and moisture better than delicate textiles. Double check attachment mechanisms to ensure covers easily secure without damage to the chandelier.

Get an Exact Fit

Precision sizing prevents unsightly gapping between covers and chandelier elements. Measure both the diameter of candle bobeches and length stem to tip. Covers hanging too long overwhelm delicate dangling crystals and beads. Outsized covers also fail to hugged frame details tightly.

For chandeliers with multiple tiers of dangling crystals, take measurements for the upper treetop layer separate from lower lines. Size each cover individually for the most elegant result.

Mind the Light

Test light shining through sheer fabric covers before finalizing choices. Thin materials like silk illuminate beautifully, while dense tweeds or brocades block more light. Balance visibility of attractive chandelier elements against softening bright bulbs.

Dangling prisms covered in opaque fabrics lose their brilliance. But strategically placed translucent covers create magical filtered light effects. Experiment with mixing materials and leaving some areas uncovered.

Choose Durable Materials

Delicate silk taffetas suit sheltered formal dining rooms. But where smoke, humidity, or grease exist, take hardier cottons, synthetics like rayon or nylon, vinyls, or acrylic. Washable faux silk mimics the beauty of natural fabrics while resisting spills and stains.

If humidity might damage lacquered paper or warp wood veneers, seek out reinforced laminates or moisture-resistant wood tiles. Where covers hang over kitchen islands, durability matters.

Care and Maintenance

Follow these guidelines to keep chandelier covers looking their best:

• Gently vacuum fabric covers using a soft brush attachment or wipe carefully with a dry microfiber cloth.
• Spot clean stains on fabric with gentle laundry detergent and a soft brush.
• Check for dust buildup inside acrylic or glass covers and clean carefully as needed.
• Use extreme care when lifting or removing chandelier covers to prevent damage.
• Allow covers to fully dry before reinstalling if cleaning while detached from the chandelier.
• Store covers neatly when not in use to prevent creasing, dust buildup, or warping.

Prevent Dust and Grime Buildup

Dirt not only detracts visually but also holds oil that can slowly stain fabric covers. Gently vacuum inside covers every few months using a soft brush nozzle. Wipe acrylic and glass gently with microfiber cloths to prevent scratching.

If covers grow too dirty, detach them from the chandelier frame carefully to launder or deep clean. Avoid harsh chemicals that may strip embellishments or dissolve adhesives.

Address Stains Quickly

Treat spots and minor stains on fabric covers as soon as possible before they have time to set. Mix mild laundry detergent with cool water and gently dab the spot using a soft lint-free cloth. Rinse thoroughly. Repeat if needed, then allow the cover to fully air dry before reinstalling.

Check for Signs of Damage

Inspect covers regularly for tears, missing embellishments, loosening adhesive, visible dust lurking inside glass or acrylic shades, and other signs of wear. Address any issues quickly to maintain an attractive appearance and prevent further deterioration.

Replace damaged covers as soon as possible. Leaving compromised covers in place not only looks bad but lets in more dust and moisture to damage your lighting fixture.

Common Questions and Concerns

Chandelier covers spark lots of common questions for first-time buyers. We'll tackle the most frequent queries here:

Will Covers Be a Fire Hazard?

Properly installed non-combustible covers do not pose fire risks. Avoid fabrics containing synthetic fibers like nylon, polyester, acrylic or metallic threads nearest the bulbs. Stick with fire-retardant cotton, linen, silk or rayon closest to the warmth source. Ensure wires and vents remain uncovered and open.

Do Covers Work With All Chandelier Types?

While covers come in standard sizes fitting common chandeliers, unusually shaped vintage or custom fixtures may need custom covers. Measure carefully rather than guessing at dimensions needed when shopping for unconventionally shaped lighting.

Is Installation Difficult?

Most covers designed for easy DIY attachment without wiring alterations. Check product descriptions for clear instructions. Adhesive strips, discreet straight pins, ribbon ties, and wreath attachment rings handle securely fastening covers without clips marring fixture finishes.

Get Inspired with Room Photos

Seeing covers beautifully incorporated into real-world rooms provides helpful visual inspiration. Here we'll look at several spaces perfectly showcasing gorgeous chandelier cover treatments: