Let There be Light!

I have finally finished my dining room chandelier. I wanted a large crystal chandelier but after looking at them for a longtime I just couldn't afford to put out $500 plus. I just had too many other places to use my money.

I went to e-bay and kept looking at the offerings there. I finally found this chandelier. It was

brass and very colonial looking but the price was right. Just $25.00 plus shipping. I painted it white, took the big colonial looking ball off the bottom and then looked for crystals. I found a

combination of old and new crystals, again from e-bay. I also added a fair amount of the crystals from my finds from the Michael's wedding section (like on my kitchen chandelier.)

Additionally, I added shades to all the lights. I got some basic shades from Lowe's and even at

3.00 for each shade, it added up. I didn't like them plain so I covered them with cream colored

lace cut from the edge of lace that I have in my bedroom. My Mom originally had this fabric in her bedroom in a previous bedroom and when she moved from there, there was enough for her to use as well as me. It is a beautiful creme lace that is embroidered panels with a sheer netting in the middle. She bought it at a mill ends place in Arizona for just $5.00 a yard.

I glued the fabric to the shades and added a trim to the top edge. Then to bring the blue up to it

I added a gauzy blue wired ribbon. I think it turned out lovely and the lace really shows up beautifully when the light is t urned on. I put 25watt bulbs in all the lower 8 bulbs and 40 watt in the top 4 that way it doesn't look like I am setting the room on fire. It also has a rheostat to softenwhen needed.

It took me a while to get all the shades covered but now I love the look and the total cost was about $200.00. I think it lends some presence to the dining room.