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I thought the shiny gold was outdated, at least for my taste, but I figured I could solve that with some paint.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:

 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