DIY Chandelier Light Fixture

My husband and I (ok, mostly my husband) tackled a fun DIY project a few weekends ago that I wanted to share!

We’ve been in our house for over three years now and have had the same “cookie cutter” foyer chandelier that came with the house.  Nothing wrong with it really…except the lamp shades.  The sunlight literally started to disintegrate the lamp shades, and they were collecting dust like it was its job.  So, we started looking for new ones.  Problem was– we couldn’t find any that were A- the right size or B-had clips on them.  (Thinking back, I believe we did find one…but each shade was at least $25…at that price, we could buy a new chandelier!)

   

So…we were on a mission to find a new one!  We quickly found one that caught our eye:

But the price tag on this bad boy is…wait for it….$1,725!  HOLY CRAP!  Not gonna happen.  So instead, we decided to use that chandelier as more of an inspiration photo and make it ourselves!

First, we gathered up the items we needed. (FYI- there are a few things missing like the pipe we used for the column, plywood for the top circular piece, wiring, etc.)

Then we got down to business!

We had a lot of veneer edging to cut length wise.  So my husband made this sweet apparatus to guide the veneer through a blade, making everything uniform!

Next, we cut these strips down to the proper length.  The vertical pieces were about 32 inches and the horizontal pieces were roughly 75 inches.

Then it came time to weave and place little dots of hot glue at the intersections to hold it all together. We attached the standard size veneer (uncut) bands at the edges so it was a little thicker.

Once everything was set and dry, we rolled the weaving into its circular shape and measured it to determine the size of the supporting wooden piece at the top.  Then, we spray painted all the pieces with a couple coats of paint.

Then my husband did some basic wiring (black to black, white to white, etc.) with the bulbs and the sockets and then attached the sockets to a column, which we also spray painted.

Then it was time to hang it!  (And let me say…taking down the old one and putting up the new one was probably the hardest part of this whole project.)  It is pretty tricky to do all this in an open area foyer, but somehow we managed…I’ll spare you those details!

Ta da!!  We are so pleased with how it turned out!

  

Such a neat statement piece!  SO much better than the standard chandelier we had before!  And no lamp shades to replace- score!

 

I love the shadows it casts on the walls at night!  And if we decide to soften the light coming from the fixture, we can always interweave burlap pieces throughout for a totally different look based on the suggestion from the site of our inspiration chandelier.

  

And the total cost?  Just under $125.  MUCH better than that $1,725 price tag!

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