I spotted a chandelier at a local lighting shop a couple years ago that I absolutely fell in love with. Here's a picture:
I know, right?! It's beautiful! It's also over $3,000.00!!! I am a frugal shopper and my budget most certainly does not include an extra three grand for a light fixture. So I decided to be happy with the chandelier I had and just admire the beauty of this masterpiece from afar.
That worked well. For a while. Then my chandelier decided to go crazy. Literally. It started blowing bulbs every few days (these bulbs were $6 each to replace might I add!). Then came the fuse blowing. Eventually my husband (it could have been me but I'm blaming it on him) lost the fuse box holder during one of our attempts to buy more fuses at our local Home Depot. So now we have a chandelier that doesn't work. At all. Here it is:
I complained about my non-working chandelier for over two years. Yes, TWO YEARS!! We tried everything we could to fix it. We talked to experts at Home Depot, electric stores, lighting stores, the chandelier manufacturer, even local electricians. It just was not meant to be for us to fix this chandelier because every route turned into a dead end.
I'm not sure exactly what changed or how I convinced my husband, but I got it in my head about a month ago that I could make my dream chandelier for much less than $3,000.00. So I did!
Shopping List for My Inspiration:
glass balls
plywood
metal flashing
fishing line
metal hooks (I ended up using paperclips)
some sort of light fixture
various craft supplies (like glue, wire cutters, etc.)
a handyman (or husband)
Here are a few photos of the construction process:
*DISCLAIMER: It appears as though my husband is doing all of the work, but rest assured this is only an illusion. (I was the only one who would take any photos therefore I am not in any of them.)
At this point, we have the base for the light completed and wired. You can see the fishing line hanging through all those little holes in the metal flashing. Now for the really fun part. Hanging all the glass balls!
*SECOND DISCLAIMER: My husband hung two glass balls. Literally, two. I did the rest because "my hands were smaller". Good thing I'm not afraid of heights.
Here's the finished product!!! (from a couple angles) Final tally: $170.00 (plus hours upon hours of manual labor)
So my end result is a one of a kind custom chandelier designed and built by ME (with my wonderful husband's help, of course). It was definitely inspired by the one I found several years ago, but I LOVE mine way more than I did that fancy schmancy one for three grand.
