A Thrifted Chandelier Upcycled

For five years I loathed our chandelier.  In 1967 when our house was built there were many fine, attractive, modern lighting options available, and then there was ours.  Of course, I only had to look at it every time I entered our house, every time I ate at the table under that wretched thing, and every time I walked from one part of the house to the other - since our dining area is centrally located.

For the first three years I dithered about, first liking one type of chandelier and then another.  But, for the past two years I have faithfully adored this chandelier, from Sears (Canada).

While I neglected to take pictures of our former dining area chandelier, rest assured that it did not resemble this.  But then again, it also did not cost $169.99 plus tax! While I do recognise that this is reasonably priced for a chandelier, it is still out of my price range, alas and alack.

However, this is not the end of the story, for one day at the Salvation Army Thrift Store, I spied something marvellous.  Something marvellous with a price tag of $6.00 - and no tax!

Shiny!!!  Perhaps of an eighties vingtage?  (One of these days I will take it upon myself to learn about photography, but until then...well, what you see is what you get.)  My long suffering husband, John, obligingly displayed the brassy treasure, in our unfinished basement.  The label indicates that it was made by "Luminaire", or at least some component of it was.  I haven't investigated too much, but I do know that the chandelier has nice lines to it, and I am quite fond of its overall shape.  But it very much needs to be black!
 

 

So new to blogging am I, that I neglected to take photos of the spray painting festivities that followed.  Indeed, I am also new to spray painting. And home decorating...

This part of Ontario gets a lot of humidity in the summer months, but there was one afternoon that promised to be not too humid, and not too hot or too cold for spray painting, as dictated by my research.  So I went for it, out in the back yard under a Maple tree.  I will leave the images of the plastic sheet (that I had put down under the chandelier to protect the grass) being blown about onto my freshly painted piece and me running about willy nilly replacing the plastic with cardboard (as had been suggested by my long suffering husband in the first place) to your own vivid imagination.  Trust me.  At this point it is black, with only one small drip, which I am too lazy and/or inept to fix adds character. 

Next I looked about online for some shades for my chandelier.  And I found that they abound - for a price. A price that is above and beyond my budget.  There are so many lovely ones to choose from, particularly from Ballard Designs.  A couple of them are my favourites:

Seagrass Chandelier Shade - Woven Chandelier Shade

Jute Twine Chandelier Shade | Ballard Designs

Jute, you say?  I bought several balls of jute twine when the garden centre at my local grocery store closed up at the end of the season, and I paid only 25 per cent of the regular price.  Also, I was able to purchase the 5 required chandelier shades at my local Lens Mills Store, for $3.00 each.

Next I ripped off the original fabric from the frames, and came up with design for a crocheted cover based on a tutorial over at Pickles.  My shades are smaller than the one shown there, and also curvier, so I began with fewer stitches and increased the number of stitches at a higher rate as I reached the bottom of the shade.

 Each cover took about an afternoon for me to complete (I am the slowest crocheter of all time.)  I look at it as one afternoon well spent for each of the years that I endured the former chandelier.  

Finally, the big reveal!

John is quite amused, I think, at how much I adore our upcycled chandelier.  He is also quite glad that I spent just a shade (pun intended) under $35.00 all told to put this together.  Credit goes to my long suffering brother, Glenn, who installed it.  I gave him a huge bear hug. And dinner.

Speaking of dinner, now when we enjoy a meal we can also enjoy the view above the table.  My 9-year-old daughter particularly likes the design on the ceiling that the light creates through the crocheted shades:

As do I.
 

Lighting up my Life

My sister knows that if there is an item that she would never want in her home, I'll probably love it!  So, when she spied this beauty going out to the trash, she grabbed it for me, and I found it on my front step upon arriving home that afternoon:

 You really need to see the details close up:

 I happened to have a lonely lamp shade lying around, from a project previously abandoned:

 Hmm...better...but not really great...Hmmmmm...what if...

 I just made it shorter!  I actually did like the amber glass section.  Now it is reminding me of something from somewhere like Morocco.

 Using inspiration from Pottery Barn, I measured, measured, measured then made a template of this shape.

 All sketched out and ready for 17 metres of edging and a glue gun!

And here she is!

I spray painted the fancy parts on the lamp with matte black paint, and bought trim that is mainly black with some sparkle (amber and pink).  I did not intend for the design on the shade to be perfect - and I succeeded in making it imperfect!  It still is in need of rewiring...perhaps I'll manage a better photo of it when it is actually functional.

I'm not holding my breath, but I think even my sister might approve of this transformation.  And rest assured that the original shade will be put to use in another project!  (I feel her cringing as I type.  Hee Hee)