Chandelier makeover

Every time I move into a house, I start seeing things to improve. I just can't help myself!

So when we moved into our first house, the first thing I noticed was the terrible chandelier above the kitchen table:

This thing was brass and some sort of alabaster/marble looking thing. 

So my living room/kitchen is mostly simple, sandy, earthy tones, like the African Savannah (which I love).

I decided I wanted to go with an Oil Rubbed Bronze (ORB) spray paint, and to wrap jute around my chandelier for my textural African thing, and so off to Lowe's I went!

Here's the how-to

I used:

Rustoleum ORB primer and spray paint

A roll of heavy duty natural twisted jute

Blue Painter's tape

Dropcloth (I used an old sheet)

Hot Glue Gun

You first have to take the chandelier off the ceiling. (you don't need wire strippers, though the link suggests it.)

The only thing I'd add is take a pic of how the wires look before you separate them from each other, that way you know what goes where when it's time to put the light back up.

Take it apart and CLEAN IT WELL. I scratched up the surface with some old sandpaper, and then I windexed it to get rid of any oils.

Use the blue painter's tape to tape off all the electrical parts. If any of these are exposed, you'll get spray paint on them and then they might not work well when you put it back together. 

Set up the parts on your dropcloth, but hang the actual fixture (I used rope and a tree). You can see where I taped off the electrical in the candle sockets and at the top of the fixture. Use a grocery bag to cover big bundles of wires.

Apply the first coat of oil rubbed bronze. I thought that I needed a black primer, but now that I am more experience, I would say you do not need to do primer. 

Spray paint the parts:  

I was doing some bathroom hardware here as well for my bathroom makeover

...And wait the recommended amount of time before your second coat.

Do your second coat. 

I sprayed the chain, the wire going through the chain, everything (except exposed wires). 

Let this cure and harden for a day.

Break out the Jute and a hot glue gun.

I decided to wrap the jute around the candle-looking bits, and the base of the fixture. Just set down a line of hot glue (about an inch long at a time) and wrap the jute fast before it dries! (this was also an idea I got as I was DIY-ing my Jute Wrapped Vase!)

Doesn't it look good!

I also thought it would be cool to make the ring at the bottom into a knob and wrap that in jute too. I glued in a jingle bell in the ring and wrapped it. (It looked like crap, so I got rid of it).

Hello, Crap

So I took it off and did a quick coat of the ORB to make it nice again.

I replaced the flame shaped bulbs with cool looking soft white globes.

Then I rewired it and hung it up!!!

(I had to edit the brightness and illumination in this picture because the bulbs were so glowy.)

As this was the first project I did when we moved in. So it doesn't even match the rest of the house yet (which is still brass and has awful pink-toned wall paint - and see those Victorian corner braces? Gah.)

No need to go buy yourself a new chandelier! You just spent $28 on a DIY refurb. And I think mine looks great! YAY!

Dear Husband also prefers $28 to a new $150+ light fixture.