I’m thinking I may have been a little hard on our old dining room light in my last post. I may have given you the impression that I hated its copper-wired, frosted-glass, brushed-nickel guts.
That’s not entirely the case.
I just hated them in the dining room.
I actually thought the light might work in the basement.
We’ve had one persistent pigtail hanging around in the basement since we finished the reno down there (almost, ahem, two years ago, ahem). I always have a hard time finding lighting that I like. But then it occurred to me that with a little bit of help, the dining room light might work just fine.
The help came in the form of bright silver spray paint.
I spy with my little eye a chandelier hanging in a tree (and a finial stuck on a stick).
I’ve used bright polished silver lighting in other areas of the basement, so I wanted to stick with that theme. The spray paint isn’t quite as shiny as I’d like, but it’s close.
I’ve not yet found a way to photograph the basement that doesn’t come out with it looking horrendous. So just trust that this light is an improvement over the pigtail, okay?
Focus on the giant pink ape playing crokinole under the new chandelier.
This chandelier is a win on two fronts:
- It came in well under my $100 lighting budget.
- Our house is now pigtail free–for a few weeks at least.
Have you ever made over a light fixture? What’s your favourite metal finish?
Home on 129 Acres 
When I moved into my last house, it had cheap 80’s style chandeliers all through the house. All made of brass and cheap wood. I had a very strict budget so I bought a couple cans of iron cast gray spraypaint and painted everything but the bulbs! Not a perfect fix but way better than what I had and very cheap!
As for finishes, I really liked oil-rubbed bronze when it became popular, but I am afraid it is already losing it’s popularity! I just wish my house had similar cohesive finishes throughout, we have quite an ecclectic blend. 😦
What is crokinole???
I’ve gone the ORB route a lot too.
I don’t really know how to describe crokinole. It’s like mini shuffleboard in the round? (Not that I’ve ever played shuffleboard). You have to flick the little pucks and try and land them in the centre and/or knock other players pucks off the board. I played it with my grandfather, and this is actually his board.
The chandelier looks really good there. Good idea to reuse it!
I like ORB as well. Someday I’d like to do one of those brightly coloured chandeliers that used to be all brass and crystal-ly. That would be fun 🙂
I’ve seen some really neat colours that people use on chandeliers. I’m not sure I’m brave enough to try that!