How To Choose A Chandelier Based On Style

Chandelier Style Guide

If you are building your dream home or renovating an existing one and want to add a chandelier, this guide will offer information on the different styles to help you make the right decision for your home. In today?s marketplace, you have a myriad of options when it comes to chandeliers. In fact, with so many options available it is very easy for the consumer to get confused or frustrated in the process.

Assuming you are not sure which style of chandelier you want, here are some of the many styles on the market today.

Mission Chandeliers

Mission chandeliers have a clean straight edge and simplistic appeal. Mission style chandeliers are made with stained glass, mica or other light diffusing material to produce a warm glow.

Wrought Iron Chandeliers

Not all wrought iron chandeliers are created equal. Some are powder coated to appear like they are the? real thing?. These are much less expensive than their genuine wrought iron counterparts.

Tiffany Chandeliers

Tiffany chandeliers come in multiple shapes, sizes and prices. They can be made with stained glass in a variety of colors.

Rustic Chandeliers

Rustic chandeliers are made with a more traditional lodge appeal. They incorporate metal and various colors of mica for the shade. Rustic chandeliers can also be made in copper, bronze and steel.

Antler Chandeliers

For those who prefer antler chandeliers, there are two choices: faux or authentic. Authentic antler chandeliers require the task of locating shed antlers and incorporating their varying shapes into the design. This results in a much more expensive price than the faux chandeliers, which can easily be manufactured and replicated with the same design.

Custom Chandeliers

Many chandelier manufacturers are able to create pieces to suit each individual. Chain lengths can be adjusted to hang from every type of ceiling. Chandeliers can even be constructed from your unique design. Always ask your dealer about this if you need something that isn?t on the shelf. A good example would be if you need more or less light in an area. You can request that the manufacturer build the chandelier to accommodate the wattage that you need. Another example is that chandeliers can be built from your unique design with images or text laser cut in. Custom chandeliers will be more expensive depending upon the amount of work required.

Chandeliers that are thoughtfully chosen can make a drastic difference in your home. With options from pre-made to custom, you are certain to find a chandelier to compliment your home d?cor.

Visit http://www.BlueRidgeLighting.com for a complete selection of home lighting, chandeliers, pendant lights and table lamps

The End of Call Center Entrepreneurship:

The End of Call Center Entrepreneurship: And the Flowering of Offshore Outsourcing

CFA President, World Outsourcing Providers Association

There have been few entrepreneurial ventures in business history as rewarding as the offshore call center. Within Asia, there are numerous tales of entrepreneurs who made tons of money for themselves by creating substantial value for their customers and employees.

A recent one is Ambergris Solutions Inc. in Manila. The company was started a few years ago by three young entrepreneurs with little money of their own and even less call center experience. They had a lot to learn about running a call center, and it took 18 money-losing months before they stumbled upon their first paying customer. But over the two and a half years that followed, their business grew explosively to almost 3,000 employees serving a roster of blue-chip clients. A couple of months ago, controlling interest of the thriving enterprise was sold to a large Canadian IT organization called Telus International in a deal valued at $43.5 million. Many would agree this was an adequate paycheck for just a few years of work.

This story gives the impression that starting a call center in Asia is an easy path to fast riches. However, just a week or so after the announcement of the Ambergris deal, Gartner Inc. released an astonishing report that said, "As many as 70% of the top 15 Indian business process outsourcing start-ups will cease to exist in the coming months." Gartner added scathingly that "despite the hype, only a small fraction of customer service outsourcing will be done at offshore locations."

Dropping Like Flies

The two situations might seem contradictory, but they aren't. Margins in the call center sector have declined steadily over the past couple of years as customers demand lower bill rates and agents insist on higher salaries. The result has been a squeezing out of the smaller (and often newer) operators, which are unable to spread their fixed costs over a larger base of revenue producing agents. Throughout India and the Philippines, there has already been significant rationalization (i.e. closings, buyouts, mergers, etc.) in the call center industry, and Gartner is probably right to say that more are to come.

The Telus purchase of Ambergris, like IBM's purchase of Daksh eServices Pvt. Ltd. in India and numerous others, shows that the call center sector is now exclusively a game for big-boys -- it has become a "mature industry," as they say in MBA school. The days when someone could start a little call center of his own and learn the business along the way are finished.

So what's a greedy young entrepreneur to do now?

The pioneering efforts of the call center sector have proved that the concept of offshore outsourcing can succeed exceedingly well. (Actually, manufacturing proved this years ago, but let's not go into that.) In most large companies, however, answering telephone inquiries is a microscopic part of their overall business. The big opportunities in business process outsourcing are still to be realized.

This fact is shown in the diversity of the services offered by the current batch of outsourcing entrepreneurs. Here are a few examples of companies operating just in the Manila area: XMG Global IT Research and Advisory Inc. prepares high-end IT research, YellowAsp Corp. creates layout designs for printed circuit boards, Forssman Asia Pacific prepares construction design drawings, Key-In Data Solutions does claims processing, Primesoft develops advanced Web applications, VinciWorks designs online training programs, and Pulse DesignTech offers electronics design services. The list goes on and on.

The large IT services firms and the call center companies are jumping on the business process outsourcing bandwagon too. CapGemini has large facilities in three locations in China providing accounting and human resources outsourcing services. IBM's non-IT outsourcing operations are quickly becoming larger than those of IT in the Philippines.

A quick look at the Web site of IT consulting giant Accenture Ltd. reveals an astounding diversity of services. Under "Outsourcing" in the "Services Offered" section, there are Accenture Finance Solutions, Accenture HR Services, Accenture Learning, Accenture Procurement Solutions, Accenture Business Services for Utilities, Accenture eDemocracy Services, Navitaire Inc. and Accenture Insurance Services. By comparison, only two IT-related services are listed in the entire section.

Two of the world's five largest call center companies don't even call themselves call center companies anymore. ClientLogic Corp. is now an "international business process outsourcing provider." StarTek Inc. says it's a "global provider of business process outsourcing services."

It's clear that the difference between outsourcing today and outsourcing yesterday is significant. Whereas before, just a few business segments were growing rapidly (say, call centers and IT), now there are multitudes in the same situation, with countless more sure to follow. Some business leaders I have spoken to have used the phrase "tipping point" to describe the current life-cycle stage of services outsourcing. One fellow I spoke to thought the phrase "business process outsourcing" wasn't descriptive enough to express the vast diversity of the current environment. He felt a better phrase was something along the lines of "everything-anyone-can-possibly-imagine-as-being-outsourced outsourcing."

So, we shouldn't be overly concerned about missing the gold rush in offshore call center outsourcing. The business process outsourcing mother lode is just around the corner, and the opportunities are wide open. Greedy entrepreneurs everywhere should rejoice.

Richard Mills CFA is President of the World Outsourcing Providers Association (WOPA). The organization serves providers and customers of offshore outsourcing services. WOPA aims to improve the probability success of offshore outsourcing ventures by sharing best practices across organizations and countries.

e: info@outsourcingproviders.org w: www.outsourcingproviders.org

Richard is considered the leading expert on Asia-Pacific outsourcing by ComputerWorld magazine. His regular column called "View from Offshore" is a feature of the publication. Richard has also been called "guru on outsourcing"

Chandelier Guidelines

Available in every decorative style, chandeliers add both presence and weight to a room. They bring the glow of candlelight to any setting.

To determine the proper size of a chandelier for a dining room based on the room size, add the length and width of the room in feet and substitute inches for feet, giving you the width of an appropriately-sized chandelier for the room. (A 10'x13' dining room, for example, would take approximately a 23" wide fixture.)

For determining the size of a chandelier based on your table size, the chandelier should be at least 12" smaller in width than the width of the dining table. The perfect chandelier will be a happy medium between these two measurements. Hanging fixtures can be smaller in scale when used in hallways and other rooms for general lighting. In dining rooms with 8' ceilings, hang chandeliers about 30" above the table. (Add 3" for each foot of ceiling height over 8'.)

Remember to order extra chain for higher ceilings. Most people don't realize that the wattage maximum of a chandelier is determined by the lampshades used on it! Smaller shades limit wattage. Chandelier shades reduce glare and help to direct light down where it’s needed. The mood and intensity of a chandelier is best controlled by a dimmer.

Ashton Harrison has a bachelor of science degree from UVA and a masters in business administration from the University of Richmond. Ashton was the V.P. of Operations for This End Up Furniture before opening the first Shades of Light retail store in 1986. She started Shades of Light national catalog operation in 1995 and launched the Shades of Light web site in 1997. Shades of Light specializes in the highest quality lighting, lamp shades, chandeliers, rugs, and silk curtains for every lifestyle. For more information please visit the Shades of Light web site and sign up for a free curtain catalog.

Candle Chandeliers - A Warming Welcome to Your Guests

t is a common saying that candles enchant their surroundings with good fortune. It makes your room look more luxurious with candles mounted on an attractive chandelier candleholder. They come in various designs and shapes and can generally be used in bedrooms, dining rooms and of course living rooms, though any place that you feel cozy in – or want to “cozify” – will probably do just as well. You can really use them to your advantage to create a romantic or homely, warm and inviting environment to surround and envelop your family and friends.

The basic design of chandeliers is that they have their main trunk or body, the branches or arms, and then their leaves and fruit, or ornamentation design. You normally can move any chandelier candleholder that may be fitted into the chandelier so changing the glow, direction or focus of the light. There are different types of chandeliers each having their own specific and different designs to create the ambiance of your desire or just to suit your own individual style. There are candle chandeliers with a center bowl, or with crystals of all the hues you could ever dream of. Then there are crystal center bowls with shaded candles, with or without shades, glass shades and so it goes.

Candle chandeliers come in various styles so offering a wide range to fulfill the wishes of whosoever can dream up their particular needs. A spin around any of the chandelier online market stalls will give you a good insight into the colossal variety. They describe Crystal, Wrought Iron, Italian, Chinese, Glass, Antique, Modern, Contemporary, Traditional, Victorian, Oriental, and alabaster.

Whilst your fully blown, spectacular crystal chandeliers just have to be the most stupendous and exquisite centerpiece works of art, there are still a view things one has to bear in mind if you really are serious about installing a crystal candle chandelier.

Consider the size of chandelier to space available ratio, particularly the height of the room and where it will hang.

The candleholders do require some cleaning and maintenance, even polishing the silver or metal parts – so go for gold if polishing isn’t quite your cup of tea! The dripping wax will give the chandeliers an appearance that some will think of as quaint and homely, but may not impress all your guests. Then the fumes from the candles will blacken any and all of the upper parts, even the ceiling.

If you can put up with cleaning your chandelier every now and then to maintain its beauty and cleanliness you will certainly have an object of real beauty and the admiration of all who visit.

Julian Pollock is a publisher who has side interests in his family and air looms, crystal chandeliers, silver candelabra and the like. He has recently revealed the path to a site of blazing radiance and matchless illumination: http://www.chandelier-mall.com May inner illumination be the good fortune of all wishful visitors!