Quick Chandelier Update

After Seth took down the old tarnished brass lighting fixture in our entryway, I started thinking about re-using it somewhere in the house.  We had already purchased new lights for the dining room, office, kitchen, entry hall, and our master bedroom so saving some money was in order.  I liked the lines of the fixture and decided it might look pretty good with a coat of spray paint in a fun color.  Spray-painted chandeliers are all over the internet - such a quick, cheap, easy update!

 http://mstetsondesign.blogspot.com

 http://vickiehowell.blogspot.com/2009/02/i-love-to-create-chandelier-make-over.html

 http://deardaisycottage.typepad.com

http://www.centsationalgirl.com/2010/09/brassy-to-classy-my-free-chandelier/

Our walk-in closet won the fight for old brassy's new home.  Since we had painted our accent wall navy blue and had decided to paint our closet the same very light gray that we had painted the other bedroom walls, I decided to find some navy spray paint and get to it.  I chose the darkest blue color that I could find at Lowe's.  

Not quite as dark as the Hale Navy on our accent wall, but maybe it wouldn't matter since it would be inside the walk-in closet.  (I considered using the Hale Navy to paint the chandelier but I was afraid of visible brush strokes so I went with the spray paint.)  

Here is the crappy before shot.  I forgot to get a real one prior to starting the project (because I was so excited about painting it!) so this pic is cropped from the before shot of our entry hallway when we first moved in.  You may notice that it is missing one of the candle covers (see on the left side of the pic?).  You can purchase these cheaply at your local home improvement store.  The one I purchased was about an inch too tall so I just cut it down with some scissors and put the jagged/uneven edge (created because of my poor scissor skills - I really wanted to put a "z" at the end of skills just then but I suppressed the urge) at the bottom.  It's not noticeable at all.  

Here are some "during" pics.  

I found this spray painting tip on Pinterest.  It worked pretty well except that the chandelier was so heavy it always sunk to the bottom of the box instead of hanging within it.  I was still able to spin it around from the top and spray all the sides at once though.  I just had to retouch where the bottom tip got stuck to the cardboard.  Oh, well.  Learn from my mistake: Even if you use the cardboard box trick, spray paint "drift" will still get on the driveway so best to move it into the grass where the paint will get cut off as the grass grows.  I have now invested in a wire brush and special cleaner meant to get rid of graffiti in order to fix my mistake.  :(

And here is the finished project with new, cute, round light bulbs instead of the "fake-flame" bent tip ones.  I haven't yet decided if I will put the crystals back on it.  Any suggestions?

I like the way it turned out except I do wish it was darker and matched the Hale Navy better.  This is another one of my "issues" - matching.  I still have a very very difficult time wearing silver and gold or black and brown together.  Silly, I know.  Maybe I can move past it one day with some professional help.

I'll post some pics once it's in place and I'll let you know if I decide to try brushing on the Hale Navy over the spray paint.  I'll probably just make Seth stand in the closet on a step stool holding it up for 20 minutes while I compare it to the accent wall.  Maybe since the closet is so enclosed, the chandelier will appear darker.  We'll see.