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Yard Sale Chandelier Makeover

I'm so excited to share my latest project with you because I'm thrilled with how it turned out, and with how little it cost me. When we moved into our house, we had a ceiling fan over our dining table. Our house is old, and that means it's one big trash to treasure project in action.
 This is now the fixture looked when we were moving in 4 years ago. The whole room eventually got a paint and curtain makeover too.

It was quite dated, with an antique brass finish, yellowed fluted glass, and woven cane blades. So I gave it a makeover with new globes, a coat of paint, and fan blades that I picked up at a thrift sale. But I never really liked having it over the table. You know, the wind cooling our hot food, the dust...So, I suggested to my husband that we move it to the living room side of the area where the lighting was always dim due to an absence of a ceiling fixture.

But before I could move the fan, I had to find something to replace the light over the dining table. I solved that problem a few weeks ago while I was at the Woodbury, MN city wide sales. Towards the end of the shopping day on Saturday, sellers were slashing prices and giving away goodies when I spotted a chandelier at a sale. I couldn't find the price tag, so I asked the owner for the price and she said, "It's yours if you want to just take it." I restrained myself from doing any cartwheels right there and hauled my treasure to the van.

I thought the shiny gold was outdated, at least for my taste, but I figured I could solve that with some paint. (My apologies to any readers who LOVE shiny gold). It was heavy duty with good detail on the scrolling, so I knew it was the perfect fit.

To refinish the light, I first removed the plastic parts that looked like candle stems. They just slid off the top and I set them aside.


I coated the whole thing in dark primer, just to be sure I had a good bond. After that, I coated it all in black spray paint. Nothing fancy, just the cheapest I could find. Then, I got creative.

In the past, I've done some faux patina or bronze looking finishes with metallic craft paints. But this time, I hunted through my stash of spray paints and found some copper and one that looked like platinum. Both were metallic finishes. I used those to airbrush some highlights onto the black finish.


I kept spritzing with the spray paint until I was satisfied with the finish. Actually, the word "satisfied" doesn't describe it well. I was ecstatic!

The metallic paint reflects light, which is why it looks silver in the picture above and darker in the one below.
Close-up of the platinum/coppery finish.


Once it all dried, my hubby hooked it up to the wiring over my table and secured it to the ceiling. I just love the transformation. And since I already owned all but one can of paint, and one electrical junction box, the whole project cost under $5. My hubby had the wiring on hand left over from other projects to wire in the fan.

Now that's a transformation I can live with!

As you can see, the entire dining area has undergone some transforming over the past 4 years. Below, you can see how the fan fits in its new location over the seating area.

 
I guess the glow from all those lights makes it a little difficult to see the finish of the fan.

I'm glad it was a rainy day and my hubby had some time to do an indoor project! And I'm so glad we were able to do it with almost no cost. Another point on the yard sale treasure scoreboard.

I'm linking up this week to these fabulous blogs:
The Girl Creative
 Just Something I Whipped Up at DillyDally And Flitter

Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog
 Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
 Anti-Procrastination Tuesday on New Nostalgia  
 Transform Tuesday at the Pumpkin Patch


  Letting the Creative Juices Flow Linky Party
The Project Parade at the DIY Showoff
Trash to Treasure Tuesday at Reinvented

16 comments:

  1. That is amazing. A very nice change.

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  2. Wow, absolutely gorgeous!

    Mary Ellen

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  3. oh wow! huge transformation! I love the new look.
    gail

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  4. That is my favorite "painting brass transformation" that I have seen on anybody's blog. I would have been ecstatic also.

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  5. This project is a perfect 10! I love everything about it...
    Keep up the nifty thrifty work!


    Deb~

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  6. That came out great! We have that same light in our dining room. I'm planning on moving it to our breakfast room and painting it red.

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  7. Oh my goodness, that doesn't even look like the same light fixture!! You did an amazing job!

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  8. Great job on the light. The multiple colors adds depth to the finish. Love that the painted paneling now looks like bead board on the ceiling!

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  9. Wow, this is amazing. I just spray painted a chandelier too. I hope to get it hung today and then I can post it next week. Yours really looks great!

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  10. Your post is a prime example of why I L-O-V-E spray paint. Good job on this amazing transformation.

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  11. It looks fabulous! I did the same thing to a fixture for our breakfast room! It is amazing what a few cans of spray paint can do!

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  12. Do you think I could do this on a "shiny" brass fireplce insert? Ilove the way your chandelier turned out!

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  13. I would think you could do it to the fireplace however you want to check how hot it gets in that spot and how much heat your paint can handle.

    Michelle

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  14. Hi! I'm new to your blog. Love what you did to this light fixture. It came out amazing! Now I will not pass another one up at a yard sale. Can't beat free, you really scored!

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  15. I have a question for you on the chandelier. I am doing something similar to a similar looking chandelier. Did you paint the chain and wire that runs with the chain from the ceiling too? Also, my chain isn't long enough for the space I need it in, any suggestions? Thanks.

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  16. Virginia, Yes I did paint the chain and wire. If your chain is too short, you can probably buy chain at your local home improvement or hardware store. However, you may also need to have someone add a longer electrical cord to your light fixture and that threads through the chain.

    Michelle

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