Wednesday, July 25, 2007

a face lift

Finally! My inherited ugly gold chandelier looks brand new, and something I'm not so embarrassed to say is mine!

This is the "before" picture of it. An outdated, tarnished, ugly, ugly, ugly chandelier. Did I mention it was ugly?

A few years ago, I hosted a fundraiser for a co-worker dying of cancer. As co-workers and friends dropped off car loads of donations, all I asked is if the items didn't sell, that they return to pick them up. Most people did. I was left, however, with this gem of a chandelier. Not so pretty; no wonder no one bought it. And I knew it wasn't something Salvation Army would want. My options were to pay to take it to the dump.... or keep it.... I opted to keep it. Maybe I saw potential in it.... maybe I was just too cheap to pay to get rid of another person's trash! Regardless of why I kept it.... I did, and my son hung it outside over our deck table.


During the year, I'd wrap different vines and flowers around it to camouflage it some. I'm not certain it worked. I found these Martha Stewart candles that I laid on them, but that didn't work either as the Blue Jays would knock them off. I've seen some really cute ideas emerge with chandeliers from your blogs and that gave me hope for this one.


Today, it finally got a much needed face lift and I love it! It's amazing what a can of spray paint can do! It still needs something to jazz it up some, but I'm not certain what.... Any ideas? Keep in mind it's very damp here; a lot of rain; a lot of snow; and not enough sunny, dry days. But I'd welcome any suggestions.

This project has been hanging over my head for years now, and it feels good to finally have it done.


Earlier this morning I went for a brisk 3.5 mile hike along the Wetlands. This is a protected area along our airport runway and you can see all kinds of birds, like this heron. It was a beautiful morning for a walk. Then I visited Home Depot and got handles for my bathroom-cupboards-soon-to-be-trays, AND weeded. It's been a pretty productive day.

7 comments:

Connie said...

Your chandelier looks great! and what a beautiful place to walk....very serene.

Unknown said...

I love it! I think it needs a mix of vintage chandelier crystals, shells and beads hanging from it on fishing line. Very fairy-earthy.

tracy @mamacreates said...

looks cute! although, I don't think it was nearly as ugly as you think it was.

Cindy said...

That looks great! You could glue some votive holders to each arm to hold candles but I guess that would be hard to clean though.

Julie said...

I enjoyed your blog. Cindy beat me to the votive holder idea. That is what we did on an outdoor candleabra. Without those the candles would never stay lit...but are you going to use it outside?

Julie said...

OM gosh, I love your blog! I work for an airline and lets just say that your story about the free cabnet doors had everyone in my office in stitches!

Anonymous said...

Looks so pretty painted! I would add some crystals for a bit of sparkle. You can buy all different types of shapes and colors on eBay.

Manuela