And Ryan Said, "Let There Be Light!"

Over the weekend, Ryan and I finally got around to one of the projects we've been talking about for months but have never actually gotten around to doing anything about it. I gave you a quick sneak peak, but now for the whole story.

We had a chandelier from the previous owners hanging above our dining room table. It wasn't amazing but it was functional. It stayed hanging up for a while but we eventually removed it with the intentions of updating it, thinking that taking it down would prompt us to make the moves.

Months went by and we lived in a dark shadow in that area. After contemplating purchasing a new chandelier and even going as far as looking at prices (holy expensive!), we ended up FINALLY getting around to it this weekend and for less than $35.00.

We purchased two cans of spray paint, 8 light bulbs, 8 tube thingies to go over the sockets, and a cap for where it all meets.


We first hung the old chandelier outside on a tree and gave it a really good cleaning, followed by covering the socket thingies with tin-foil.

hanging up light fixtures on trees is a normal thing to do, right?

the layers of caked on dirt and grime were NASTY

When we bought the spray paint, we were really going for a textured type of look and decided on the hammer -effect. The actual color looks nothing like the bronze we were picturing but it's still fine. It's more of a pewter-grey-ish stone color.

don't be fooled by the "dark bronze" label

Time to paint!

Hi Ryan! 

After a couple coats of spray paint, it had to dry overnight.

We hung it up on the pull-up bar so it could dry inside

Then, Ryan spent a few hours on Sunday wiring the new light fixture and doing all the fun electrical work that goes along with it.

went from this crazy thing....

...to this

All the lighting for the kitchen/dining/living room on separate switches with dimmers

And I just realized how dirty the walls look. Ignore that please!

I am so happy with how it came out. It is soooo nice to be able to see in that area again. I have been working on my puzzle for months in darkness, so it really makes it so much better to be able to see what I am doing and not strain my eyes.

making VERY SLOW progress

It's hard to see the difference in the pictures, but it makes a big difference. Spray paint is amazing!

Despite living with a licensed electrician, we had some crappy lighting going on on our house for a while! (We still need to do something about a lamp in the bedroom and are still in the process of lights for the living room-more on that another time though)

I have today off due to elections so I am going to get working on some stuff around the house, some Thanksgiving prep stuff, and maybe even some paperwork (maybe)

Question for you:

What do you do with a "random" day off from work?