The Chandelier Page 2

 

After moving into a new apartment last year, I could not get past the hideous faux rusted chandelier in the dining room. Overall it had a decent shape with cute little paper shades, nothing more special than what you could buy at Home Depot.

I thought it would be cute to paint the metal fixture gold and glue beading around each of the little shades. All in all, this project took me about an hour.

Here's what you will need to complete this project:
* 1 Hideous hanging light fixture with potential.
* Enough paper shades to clip to each light bulb (if you don't have them already).
* 1 Bottle of metallic paint suitable to paint on metal.
* 1 Cheap paintbrush.
* Enough trimming to encircle each shade.
* Hot glue gun or regular white glue for attaching trim.
* Binder clips to hold the trim in place.

To start:
Turn off the light. Take out all of the bulbs and put aside. Dust all of the metal surfaces of the fixture.

Paint: Take your metallic paint and brush. Paint all of the metal surfaces (fig.1). (If you do not want to see any brush strokes, ask your brother if you can borrow his air-brush he still has from doing Duran Duran t-shirts in the '80s. Oh, he still has it. But take the whole fixture outside to paint.)
	Pick your trimming: For my trimming, I went to MJ Trimmings in the Garment District of New York City. Every imaginable kind of trim with tassels was available. I originally thought of using a beaded trim, but at $20 a yard, I had to think less expensively. For $3 a yard, I found some beige tassel trimming that I liked (fig.2). Buy enough trim to encircle each of the shades. Measure one shade and then multiply that by the number of shades you have. I needed 2 yards for 6 shades. **TIP: Take the paper shade to the trimming store to see what the trim will look like on your shade. Buy extra if you are not so crafty.**
Glue the trimming on the shades: The gluing is pretty straight forward. I used enough glue so that the the trimming would stay flat and then used a binder clip to keep it in place while it dried (fig.3). Don't worry if the glue job isn't perfect, the shades will be above everyone's head. Let the shades dry then put 'em on the light bulbs.

Variations:

If you can't deal with glue and tassles, there are other less crafty ways of transforming an offensive light fixture.

• Take a bunch of costume beads from the thrift store and drape them around the fixture. Instant gaudy glamour!
• Hang a pretty Chinese paper lantern from the center of the fixture -- add multiple lanterns or different sizes and camouflage the whole ugly thing!
• I remember seeing a bare chandelier (much like my own monstrosity) where someone had hung doll parts on the chandelier arms like so many crystal pieces. I mention this only to inspire you to get creative with what you hang from the ceiling.

   

Turn on the lights and you have yourself a new chandelier! Now, don't try to swing from it, you animal!

 

 

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