One cold night in December I was driving home from the post office when I spotted this by the side of the road:
Beside it was lying a perfectly good ceiling medallion. It was garbage night but I still looked around and waited for a minute to make sure the owners hadn't accidentally left their chandelier lying in a snowbank. Once I decided they meant to throw it out I collected it and brought it home. My sweet husband was not even that surprised, I think he may be used to me bringing home other people's garbage.
At first I wasn't sure what to do with it. At Christmas I made a garland out of the crystals and hung it on our tree. I loved Maria's chandelier over her farm table at Dreamy Whites (http://dreamywhites.blogspot.com/) She is so talented and her chandeliers are gorgeous! I decided I would attempt to paint the brass. I took the entire chandelier apart to access the inner metal piece so I could paint it. (If anyone ever tries something like this I would recommend an excellent before picture that shows in detail where all the tiny pieces are supposed to go!) It was impossible to spray paint with all the glass so I just used a brush and some regular latex primer followed by paint. Since we do not have wiring for a light I converted it into a candle chandelier by removing all the wiring. I'm pretty sure our house was built during the Depression because they seemed to have considered things like an overhead light in the dining room an unnecessary luxury.
Here is the final product:
Here is the final product:
I think my husband did a great job hanging it. It is so nice to have someone who supports your crazy ideas.
I really love the medallion piece at the top too. One of our next projects is going to be installing faux tin ceiling tiles, and I think they will look so pretty with the molding.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!