How To Makeover a Brass/Gold Chandelier – To A Bronze Crystal Beauty

This article is about one of my favorite home décor projects. The makeover and revamp of a large gaudy gold chandelier. A chandelier is such a statement piece in your house and can set the tone for the look and feel for the entire room. This huge chandelier was the first thing you see the second you set foot into our home.

Step 1: Take Your Chandelier Down

You want to spray paint your chandelier outside. You might be able to hang your chandelier from a tree or in this case I hung it from our patio pergola structure with some rope so it was free standing and I could easily rotate it and spin it.

Step 2: Prep and Supplies!

Prepping is always an important step with any home project. You will want the following supplies at your finger tips.

Supplies:

• Dust Rags (chances are your light fixture is going to be dusty)

• Dust Mask/Respirator Mask – so you are not breathing in paint fumes

• Gloves – I just used rubber dishwashing gloves that I happened to have lying around

• Painters Plastic (lay down on the ground and cover anything you don’t want paint to get on)

• Painters Tape (to cover up the light bulb sockets)

• Drill and small metal bit (optional – if you need to physically drill holes to attach crystals)

• Rust-Oleum Spray Paint

I used about 5 cans of Rust-Oleum Forged Hammered Paint & Primer in One in the color Burnished Amber

I love this spray paint, it is around $7-$8 per can, but the end result looks very high-end

• Light Bulbs if needed (this might be a good time to switch to LED bulbs or more energy efficient bulbs)

• Crystals: I ordered these Teardrop Crystals from Amazon. They are around $7 for a pack of 10. I ordered 6 packs of these.

I also ordered a roll of Crystal Beading. This is a 99 foot roll of crystal beading strands for $12

Prep:

1. Dust and clean your light fixture – you don’t want any dust and dirt getting under your new coat of paint

2. Remove all light bulbs and any removable parts you don’t want to paint. My chandelier had little white tubes that were removable that I wanted to keep white.

3. Use your painters tape to cover up the light bulb sockets

4. Lay down your painters plastic (or drop cloth or old sheet) to cover areas you don’t want paint on

5. Put on your gloves and mask and get ready to paint!

Step 3: The Fun Part! Paint

• Grab your Rustoleum paint can and start spraying.

• Start with a light coat, you don’t need to cover up all the gold with the first coat

• Let it dry and then continue coating the fixture

Step 4: Attach the Crystals

Use your drill and drill tiny holes into the base of the candelabra holders. You can now use those tiny holes to attached your pendant crystals to the chandelier.

Now you can use the roll of crystal beads to drape across the chandelier. I wanted my chandelier to sparkle, but not have an overload of crystals, so I draped it from light bulb to light bulb. I secured the strands by tucking them underneath the white tubes underneath the bulbs.

Now you are ready to hang it back up! Beautiful!

https://youtu.be/ueKIAO0d8zs