I've always wanted a chandelier in my home. They're so beautiful and make such a statement. They're also very expensive. I'm just not willing to pay the price for one so I was trying to find a way to make one. I looked out at my back porch and saw the red hanging baskets my friend gave to me last year. I had been using them as a bird feeder... It instantly hit me that I could make a chandelier out of it! I told Taylor in my usual fashion "OMG I HAVE AN IDEA!" he rolls his eyes every time I say that and sometimes the eye roll is followed by an "oh no..." I went online and purchased some craft crystals off of Amazon you can buy the strand of crystals here and the drop crystals here. I had to wait a while before they came in but once they did I got started! I had no plan on how to make this. I just decided to wing it. Here is how I made my shabby little chandelier...
You'll need some spray paint. I already had this one and it held up well on the metal. And you'll need some sort of wire baskets. Preferably two different sizes. And some crystals or beads. There are several possibilities with this. I wanted mine elegant and sparkly so I bought a strand of round crystals and a bag of 10 drop crystals.
You'll need a light fixture. I'm sure you could find a prettier one but this is what I had to work with.
First I wiped the baskets off because it had been outside for a while, I then spray painted it. (I recommend taking it apart and getting the shape you want before painting... I had to do a little touch up paint) I then took the middle basket off and used the loops already attached to it to attach it to the bottom big basket.
I found it was easier to work with while still hanging up so I left the top part on until I was ready to hang it up on the ceiling.
While my paint was drying, I started taking the crystals apart. I measured the baskets from top to the center of the bottom basket and came up with the length I needed to trim down the strand of round crystals. I laid them out and took them off of the rings leaving one ring at one end to attach to the top of the basket.
Once I had them all laid out, I took the end with no ring on it and hooked them together with an extra ring I had (I had a strand that was a little smaller than the others but that was good because I could use those rings for the other crystals that didn't come with anything to hang them with)
I hooked them all together and it should start to look something like this...
I spaced the strands out around the basket and attached them. I did four at first to line them up with the ones across from the others and then filled in the gaps with the rest.
Say hello to my little (not so much) helpers :D
By now it should look something like this....
Here are the extra rings I had after taking the short strand apart.
I put a ring on all of the drop crystals.
And attached them evenly spaced between the strands. I had to do every other one but I plan on purchasing more so I can fill it all in. I put 5 along the top of the top basket and 5 along the top of the bottom basket making sure to stagger them.
Here is a view looking up into it :) Pretty eh??
I decided that instead of leaving it hanging, I wanted to attach the strands to the bottom. You don't have to do this but I liked how it looked better.
To do this I put two rings on the center ring holding all the strands together then attached them to the bottom of the bottom basket. This part is a little difficult and two sets of hands would have been helpful... You can see more of what I mean by the picture below...
After that I took the large basket off of the chains and placed it where I wanted it on the ceiling. I marked where the hooks should go on the ceiling and hung it up!!
I do plan on painting the hooks and getting more crystals to fill it in more but in the mean time this is what it looks like in our dining room.
I hope you enjoyed and maybe get some inspiration to make something beautiful out of something not so beautiful!! Have a great week my sweet friends!!
xo- Savanna
Let's be friends!!