Master Makeover: A DIY Chandelier Transformation

How's this for a Transformation Thursday?

Best $45 ever spent... I can't stop staring at it!

This fixture was originally hanging in my current studio when we bought the house (it's probably the one thing we were actually able to salvage from the home, woohoo!)

I neglected to take an installed Before photo but you can see it at the top of this one when we first stepped inside this house:

After removing the glass shades I saw some potential.

It sat in storage until a couple weeks ago when I started to formulate my plan. If ever there was a place to add some romance and sparkle, a master bedroom is it. We've added a lot of architecture and hard surfaces to the space so far—now it's time to balance that with some softness and set the mood.

The recessed lighting has completely transformed the feel of this room (I could go on forever about on how important lighting is), so this is yet another way to control the atmosphere, and why not also make it a focal point in the room?

Once the plan was set in motion, I headed to Pinterest to find tutorials as I had no idea where to began. Pinterest fell pretty short here... I only found a few and they weren't that detailed, leaving me to mostly try and figure it out on my own.

I did find a great online source for inexpensive crystals—Cristalier.com.

After sketching out a rough idea and using string to lay out my strands, I placed my order:

15 feet of glass beads and 5 crystal pendants (and I found a Facebook code online) for under $40 shipped, not too shabby.

Before I could think about hanging them, I decided to spray paint the metal in a satin black. Just wasn't feeling the hammered silver.

I hung it from the garage door for easy paint application...

After painting & letting it dry for a day, I disassembled it and removed the chain and rod so we could mount it directly to the beam. 

Now, how to attach these crystals to it? With these little clasps called jewelry bails:

I can't find a closeup of the ones I used but they were the only ones Joann's carried. And they were kind of a pain.

At first I tried attaching them with hot glue, which was a total joke. It didn't bond at all. Then I used Epoxy and it worked.

Each bulb housing had to have two (one on the inside and one on the bottom).

I also added five on the top plate.

The key is to use a big 'ol blob of glue to cover it completely so it stays secure.

After letting it cure for a few hours (just to be safe) I added some weight and they stayed on!

To make them blend in, I sprayed a couple more coats of paint so there was no visible silver.

Because we had removed the chain and modified the top, there had to be a way to secure the chandelier to the wood beam, so we drilled some holes into the top plate and drove long screws into the beam. 

Then came the fun part... dressing it up! I started by adding the hanging crystals.

Then I split my 15 feet of chain into one foot sections to connect between each post (luckily the wire loops connecting the beads bend pretty easily to take them apart.

I draped five sections up to the top piece (ignore the bulbs, they were temps.)

Then five sections from the bottom of each post to the bottom center.

Then I used the last five sections to go between each post.

I grabbed up another small hanging crystal at Joann's for the bottom center (I just thought it needed one more there).

Lastly, I picked up some Candelabra bulbs from Lowe's (around $1/ea):

And boom, instant romance.

It emits such a gorgeous glow.

Especially at night.

Just what this room needed.

Sorry, I couldn't stop taking pictures (ignore the unfinished parts, please!)

One more...

The room is starting to feel less like a construction zone and more like a Master Bedroom. Except there's still dust and screws and nails everywhere, and it will be like that until we're done (next month!)

Just for fun, can we look back to what this room looked like not too long ago?

So glad we're over that phase! But there's still a long way to go, and I'm happy to report that I scored my greatest find ever this week... my vintage dream dresser. It's currently in the garage getting a makeover so it should be ready to show off on Monday. Check back then for the results, or if you can't wait, follow my instagram for real-time updates :)