Way back when we first started planning for the kitchen we stumbled upon this chandelier for $40 at the Habitat Restore. I had no vision whatsoever with this thing. I just knew that it was big and bulky and boring.
Al on the other hand immediately started envisioning what we could do with it. So we gave it a shot.
We got it home and took the whole thing apart, which was fairly easy. It was just screwed together not welded or anything. The shade part of it just slid out which made it easy to work with.
I picked up a colorful fabric since the rest of the kitchen was so neutral. I recovered the shade using the fabric and my hot glue gun. It was pretty simple – hardest part was keeping the fabric pattern straight and lining up the seams to match.
Once the long metal arms and that bulky thing over the glass were removed it was a lot less intense of a light fixture for a small kitchen. And the new fabric brightened it up quite a bit. We shortened the chain to the height we wanted and then Al hung it. Well hold on. I tried to help, but I was like 7 months pregnant and really was not much help balancing on a ladder holding this thing above my head. So Al hung it.
It added just the color and pattern we needed and we’ve gotten so many compliments on it. I also really love how large it is. So many light fixtures are tiny little things, but a small kitchen doesn’t need to have a small light fixture as well.
I was skeptical but Al knew it would work and he was absolutely right. I love projects like these when you don’t fully agree, but are willing to give it a shot.
In the end we spent $40 on the chandelier and $5 on the fabric. Totally worth it for the size of the fixture.
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