apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

It's a wonderful and CHEAP way to update a thrift-shop piece and make it cool and funky.

This is an easy way to update a tired old brass chandelier and or give some pomp to an inexpensive fixture.

This is actually on my to do list. The previous owner of my place left behind several fug Hampton Bays (read: home depot specials..) brass chandeliers.

I love this idea. LOVEEEEEEEE!

I spray painted mine red and I love it. I did it last summer and it's held up fine. Only tricky thing was installing it without scratching all the paint off.

I love glossy bright paint on just about anything! I think it's a great way to modernize a stodgy piece.

A huge improvement over a tired brass finish.

so this question is a little off topic but i went into a true value the other day to pick up some supplies and wanted to buy spray paint... is it really true that Spray paint is illegal to sell in the city of chicago? when the guy told me i was like huh? anyway..... the chanderlier idea is cute too! :)

HOT and why not? It's unexpected, quirky and costs practically nothing.

Fantastic. I love the turquoise one.

Just like I love upstate, I inherited the fug brass fixtures. I just need to decide on a color!

I spray-painted an old chandelier John Deere Yellow and put it out on my porch - I love it! I stuck some test tubes where candles would normally go and use them as little flower vases.

EMH - yes, it's illegal to sell spray paint in the city of Chicago. You've gotta get your fix outside city limits.

HOT and I wish someone would post a how to! How do you get it super glossy? and how do you add those jewels?

I love the bright colored ones! They're such a great way to add color to a room. However, I don't really see much point in spray-painting them black. It'd probably look better with the original finish or some sort of antiquing method.

And, bumblebeechicago, that's a fantastic idea to put flower vases into them. I'd love to see a picture of that.

totally hot.

of course its hot... give something old a new look.

i'm surprised AT had to ask!

How-to is simple. Rough it up a bit w/fine sand paper or steel wool. Tape off the parts you don't want sprayed. Spray on a primer that works for metals. Let it dry and spray on a gloss in any color-hang it outside and keep turning it while you spray. Make sure to look underneath and above to make sure you didn't miss spots.

Love it! I painted some ugly sconces that I can't really afford to replace right now, and they are much more bearable for the time being. I just spray primed and used craft paint.

Caliente!

I liked them for awhile ,but they are way outta control trendy!
They are everywhere like owls,elk heads and silkscreened blackbirds.

Looks cheap and poorly done. Light fixtures are not THAT expensive, and you potentially damage something of greater value. I'm just glad none of the previous owners of my home took this cheap and cheerless approach.

EW EW EW EW!!!!

I'm sorry but I foresee that in less than five years this will seem as tacky as vomit-green wallpaper from the 70's.

I'm not one really for chandeliers to begin with. I like my lighting to be unobtrusive to the point that you don't even really think of the fixtures: you flip a switch and there's light. Having said that, however, chandeliers are great because of the classic and opulent look they can give a space. Brass and other metals give that look. Spray paint doesn't. If you want to change the look of your fixture, another alternative might be to oxidize the metal. Instead of spray painting brass black, you might want to artificially age it instead. If you're lucky enough to have something that's copper, you can give it a more natural verdigris coat with a bit of acid.

Whatever you do, PLEASE step away from the cans of spray paint.

I need a very small, red chandelier for my kitchen. This is how I'm going to get one. I don't mind if it's sad 5 years from now.

Phew, two less people I have to invite over for cocktails.

nothing wrong with this idea...but nothing new either. a standard of every budget design tv show of the last eight years (if not longer). kind of hard to call anything this exposed "hot".

Haha, I'm with upstate. I think it works well, and really, if you love it, who cares if it's overexposed? Are we all going to start hating owls now because they're everywhere? That's as silly as loving them for the same reason. The trick though is to pick your paint and your chandelier carefully. For example, I think the first yellow chandelier looks way better-- the clean lines make it look higher-quality, and the yellow is warm and glossy. The second seems too ornate and the yellow is unpleasantly greenish. The first black chandelier is just a beautiful chandelier; it would be hard to make it look too bad, whereas the first red one has, um, a lot going on.

I love the look in fact if you check out my blog, just last week I spray painted my daughter's chandelier. All her friends think its totally cool, and a 10 year old girl is harder to please then most adults!!

http://laurieandsloan.blogspot.com/

judging from geminigirl's blog, she did the look correctly: paint the chandelier, but leave the crystals alone. Painted crystals, besides looking a littel silly, makes the painted chandelier look like you kind of just threw strings of cheap crystals all over the thing. Not very neat or graceful, just turd-y. It also defeats the purpose of putting crystals on chandeliers.

Done to death.

Yes. Spray paint is illegal to buy/sell within Chicago city limits. Totally stupid, right?

FUGLY

geminigirl, great re-do on your daughter's room! I would actually like that room for myself!

I don't care if something is "overdone" or not. If I like it, that's all that matters.

Thank you very much for the compliment jooly, it was a fun room to re-do! I agree with you about not caring if things are overdone, people take decorating so seriously and if the room makes you feel great that's honestly all that matters!

Hot if and only if you aren't ruining an investment-grade antique. If you are, show some effing respect and put the spraypaint down, genius. The pleasures of a Kryloned anything are fleeting indeed and you can expect this will look very of-the-moment in a few years.

They sell the red 'crystal' chandelier at Home Depot on 23rd St. The 'look' is now no longer special.

Seeing as how that's my yellow chandy up there - I'd say hot! ;-)