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Hey everyone!!
Raise your hand(s) if you have/ have ever had contractor grade light fixtures in your home (*obnoxiously raises own hand*). We've all come across the retro chandeliers with too much bling (they are making a comeback, btw), the Tuscan fixtures of the early 2000s, the bare-bones, basic lights every house on your block was built with, etc. Fun Halloween Fact: those lights are actually Dementors. If you don't get that reference Google it and then I'll take a formal apology at any time. #teamGryffindor.
Anywho, those lights are a major buzzkill; however, I recognize not everyone can afford to just go out and replace them with the latest and greatest. You can decorate around them, or you can find some creative ways to up-cycle what you have!
My sissy-boo's house was built in 2007 and has one of these above mentioned Tuscan light fixtures. See:
It doesn't really mesh well with her more Organic modern vibe, and it does hurt everyone's eye balls. So after much deliberation about what to put in its place and her not being able to find anything that looked nice for a great price, I put my thinking cap on and got to work with little (ehem, no) permission.
My inspiration:
As you can see they are all brass, or brushed gold, with white shades. They have cleaner lines than the chandelier I'll be working with, but I'm not looking for perfection. These chandeliers run anywhere from $400-$1800 and my material cost to flip this chandelier was $60 (only because I didn't have ANY supplies with me).
What you'll need:
Gold Spray Paint. This is what I prefer, although I just grabbed whatever they had at the small True Value near my sister's house.
An artist's paint brush for detail.
White Socket Covers. It's important to look at your chandelier, and assess what size covers you'll need. This depends on the base of your bulbs. Are they fat, skinny, etc.? I'll talk more about my drama with that later.
Decorative Light Bulbs. I opted for these chandelier bulbs.
Clip on lamp shades. To mirror the look of my inspiration pics I went with white linen; however, you could add a pop of color for a fun traditional look. This is what I'm talking about:
Now let's get started!
I opted to just keep the chandelier hung, but it might be easier/better for some of you to take it down and paint it outside. I used garbage bags to tent the chandelier so I could spray it. Here is what I did!
Prep: First I removed the existing glass covers and light bulbs. I then tented the area. This is sort of trial and error, but I used black garbage bags and painter's tape and it worked out just fine. This way I was able to spin the chandelier and paint it quickly.
Spray Paint: I used a can of spray paint because I only needed a light coat. I made sure not to cover every bit of the original light because I wanted some variation in the gold. Make sure to cover the areas you won't be able to hit with your artist's brush, and then removed the tape and bags.
This is what it looked like after I lightly sprayed:
You can see its a sort of uniform, boring gold, a little splotchy, but all of the tricky spots are well covered.
Rub n' Buff: this next step is what makes the paint not look so "I bought a can of spray paint and soaked my contractor grade light fixture with it." This will antique your chandelier and give it that brassy look that's so in now.
Assemble: Once your paint is dry it's time to put everything back together. First, I attached the socket covers. If you want these to be the same color as the chandelier you can set up a drop cloth in a well ventilated space and follow steps 2 and 3. Otherwise, simply cover those ugly sockets with them! Screw in your light bulbs, and then clip on your pretty new shades and you're done!
**My drama: of course this old light fixture had giant plastic ring-thingies that no socket cover would fit over. I kept the socket covers I ordered, cut them length-way down the middle, and then cut them in half. I first slipped one of the halves over the socket so thr gap faced outward, and then I placed the other half over the socket so the gap faced inward. You can't even tell!
Here is a picture so you can see what I mean:
**Drama number two: I was vacuuming the light and a piece of the vacuum popped out and smashed a light bulb into 10 million pieces. Awesome!
Et Voila!
These are unedited pictures so you can really see what this sucker looks like in person. The gold is dimensional, and warm. I love it!
Tips:
Have some ceiling paint on hand in case of overspray! I had to paint my sister's faux plaster molding anyway so I didn't really worry about it.
Use painters tape to tape anything off in case you're not surgical with a brush.
You can add feathers, beads, garland, etc. to give your chandelier a more eclectic look.
What do you think of the results? Could you live with this version of the chandelier until you can cough up a mortgage payment for a new fixture?! It's so much easier on the eyes than the original. If you try this tutorial at home, PLEASE private message me or tag me in your results! I would love to see what dated light you used and how it turned out.
Thanks so much for stopping by today, friends! Happy DIYing.
xoxo
Alyssa
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