Well hello again! On this rainy day I figured I finally had some time to sit down and write about something I've been dying to share! I know a few of my friends have been waiting on this post too. This has to be my favorite project we've completed so far at our new house and we did this about a year ago. I love how it turned out and the best part of all- it was practically FREE! Yes I scored big on this one!
This is a tutorial on how I re-purposed an old chandelier into a beautiful new focal point for our dining room! If you are in need of a new light fixture but don't have the money to spend on one, consider re-purposing an old one! Don't know where to start? Keep reading and I'll tell you more!
Alright, so the reason this was free is because it came from our neighbors house. Our new neighbors were just moving in and one morning on my way to work I saw this chandelier sitting out on the street for trash. Of course I stop and throw it in my trunk! We had just recently moved into our house at the time and we didn't have a working dining room light. I didn't want anything shiny, sparkly, or blingy- I wanted rustic and simple. At that time Lowe's and Home Depot didn't have a good selection of what I was looking for. I was at the point of dropping $600-$700 on a chandelier I wanted from Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Market. But when I saw this one sitting on the street, I knew it was just what I was looking for. I wasn't sure if it was going to work or not but I figured hey, for being free it was worth a shot! All it needed was a little sprucing up.
After I had it all sanded down, I used this Americana paint in a CHALK FINISH that you can see in the picture above. I painted 2 or 3 coats on with a sponge brush until everything was covered evenly. If your trying to get that farmhouse look you want to make sure to get a chalk paint like this! You can get this at Lowes or Home Depot at the paint counter. For this project I used the beige/tan color and I love how it turned out with the brown underneath! I only ended up using about 1/2 of the container, if that, so 1 container would be plenty for a small project like this. I believe I spent about $4 on this paint at Home Depot.
After my last coat of paint was dry, I sanded down the fixture again. I used my rough grit first around all the edges and anywhere where I wanted it to look worn. I then used my fine grit to smooth everything out and create some smaller scratches. This part is a personal preference and the great thing about this is- if you feel that you sanded too much, you can always apply more paint! I did this several times. I would sand a spot then paint it again if I didn't like it. I went back and forth until I was happy with it.
Once I had my chandelier looking pretty, it was time for the hard part. This is what we had to work with (in the picture shown above). Neither Cody or I have much knowledge about electric and at this point we were still taking a gamble as to if the light even worked! Since all I picked up off the street was the Chandelier itself, we had to purchase a ceiling light mount at Lowes. You can find the exact one we got here, except we got ours in a bronze finish. It took us a few hours between taking the old fixture down and figuring out how to install the new chandelier. We finally got it all hooked up and it was time to see if our new masterpiece worked or not. I crossed my fingers to PLEASE TURN ON.
And wala! I was SO incredibly happy that this project had turned out! I still can't believe that our stunning new dining room chandelier came off the rainy wet street from our neighbors house! We spent about $10 and maybe 6 hours total to put into this project, and it was so EASY.
Not to brag, but I really think this could pass for something JoJo would have on her Magnolia line anyway. So I just saved myself hundreds of dollars on a light fixture, and I got to make it myself!
This is such an easy way to save you a ton of money on a light! Shop around at flea markets, ask friends, family, and neighbors, check on your local yard sale Facebook pages, or you could go look through people's trash like I did! Hahah. This project turned out 100x better than what I originally thought it would. Just this light fixture has added a huge statement to our home. It's the first thing you see when you walk in our front door and we constantly get compliments on it!
I hope I can help you save money like I did. All this project takes is a little time looking around for the right piece in the beginning. I gave you all the steps I used to turn something OLD into something NEW. I hope you can put this to use in your home too! Let me know if you use this tutorial and how your project turns out! I would love to hear comments and suggestions below. Thanks for reading some Farmhouse Flare today! Talk to you soon.
Sincerely,
{Lauren Taylor}
