Chandelier Makeover

I have always wanted a chandelier. I think they are a fun and gorgeous way to light a room. I have personally never had one before. My house, growing up, was never the type of house to have fancy things. We had nice things, mostly hand-me-downs and inexpensive yard sale finds(my favorite), but never anything shiny and bright. I love the way my parent's house looks. It is rustic, country, comfy and cozy. It is filled with all of their favorite things which makes it perfect for them. I love the simplicity of it so I have decided to go for the same look in my home. I don't think I ever consciously made that decision, I just started filling my house with the things I love and it has just evolved into the same type of space. It's also very comforting creating a sanctuary like this that reminds me so much of my life growing up since I rarely get to see my family. I feel closer to home being surrounded by these things. I know money doesn't buy happiness, and I am a firm, firm believer in that, but these materialistic things really do make me extremely happy! One of the huge reasons I love my things so much is because more and more of them are things that I have made or redone to be exactly the way I want them.

This Chandelier is one of those special projects. I was lucky enough to get the chandelier for FREE! It was brass and had electrical hook ups. The wiring was questionable, and we rent our home so hooking up a chandelier to the ceiling light was more work than we wanted to deal with so we converted it to a candle chandelier. I definitely prefer this look to the lightbulbs.

My husband first removed all wiring and bulbs. I started by washing and spray painting it pink. I actually had a lot of spray cans of light pink that I was going to use for another project that I never started. I was honestly very hesitant to paint it pink. I had other ideas...light yellow or green, or even trying a different metallic color. I only chose the pink because those cans were staring me in the face and I had to try it. (If you don't like it, you can always repaint it!) To my surprise I fell in love with the color and it works for my kitchen perfectly. After the paint dried I placed the glass pieces back on and glued them with hot glue. I also filled in any hollow areas inside the glass with the hot glue. This created a foundation for the tea light candles. We purchased a decorative chain from Lowes for about $5. The total for the project came to a total of $10 once I purchased the candles because I already had the paint.

The chandelier creates a nice focal point in my dining area. I never really enjoyed being in my kitchen before. It has a tile countertop that I hate. You would be amazed at how much I dislike my kitchen just because of that tile. Now I love it! 

I may not have a shiny sparkling home full of jewels, crystal, and gold, but I love my country accents. Now I have a beautiful chandelier that works perfectly with my rustic decor.

(Overhead view)

(the awful, awful tile countertop-and note the rose artwork 

on the far wall. The pink in the drawings are brought out with the pink chandelier.)

(another view)

Besides the pink chandelier I also have a few other DIY pieces in my dining area. The large farmhouse table was made by my husband and dad. I kept pinning many different farmhouse table tutorials on pinterest in hopes that one day someone would make me one. My dad was visiting last month (June) and I showed him a picture on my computer and told him he could make me one for his father's day gift "if he wanted to"(with a huge grin on my face). My sweet dad spent all of father's day making me this table. I am the luckiest girl on earth!

This photo shows the brilliant color and structure of it better than the other photos. I plan to take some more photos in the morning in the natural sunlight to show off the whole kitchen together.

Along with the table we found 6 folding metal chairs and painted them. I love that they are a totally different material than the table. We were able to find three folding chairs at the Salvation Army for $2 each. The other three we purchased for $10 each brand new. After buying paint the chairs cost less than $50. 

My kitchen is finally becoming a place I love. Now it's time to tackle the living room!

Happy DIYing!