Before and After: How To Redo a Chandelier

AT:SF Reader John Clarke Mills is just beginning to restore his 1890 San Francisco Victorian. One of his first projects was to redo this old chandelier and the AFTER is fantastic. Jump below to check out the finished project and a mini how to:

From John's blog post on the project: When my housemate and I moved into our new place we weren’t thrilled with the victorian-style knockoff chandelier that was in our living room. Our friend recommended we paint it and see if we still wanted to throw it out. So, I took the idea and ran with it. Needless to say, it’s definitely not getting thrown out any time soon.

Plain white lamp shades from LampsPlus.com.

Make sure to try and line up the fabric seam with the seam thats already on the lamp shade. First I glued one side down where I wanted it, then I would take out all the slack and wrinkles and fold the over the other side. Dont worry about making this perfect. Once you fold over the top and button around the lamp shade rim you can deal with the rest of the slack.

Ta-da!

Thanks for sharing the project, John!

Comments (22)

thanks for the inspiration - on our local Kijiji, i found a chandelier for $10 that needs rewiring. since Minka Lavery isn't sold in Canada, this might be what i need to do!

posted by rouquinne on November 24th 2008 at 10:05pm
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It glows! Nice job.

posted by wig3000 on November 24th 2008 at 10:39pm
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I love your sofa! What is it?

posted by session on November 25th 2008 at 12:28am
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oh you've got to be kidding me!

i've just spent the last three months stripping paint off all the brass hardware in my little apartment...and while the archaeological trip through the colors of the 30's, 60's, 70's, and 80's has been interesting, it's a total pain to restore! (which, i suppose, i could've done by drilling a core sample from the plaster.)

now, maybe it was because of my upbringing (never nail into wood, never tape onto paint, and never paint over wallpaper), that i consider in houses older than me, i'm just its steward.

so, never ever paint over wood, brass, or old-timey plastic (especially bakelite).

posted by deleted_account on November 25th 2008 at 12:30am
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You're in for some shocks around here Darwin! At-ers are big paint-anything-old-bright-or-white proponents. I myself try to avoid both the 'never' and 'always' camps.

posted by amed studio on November 25th 2008 at 1:01am
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The poster made it clear that this chandelier was a Victorian-style knock-off, not an antique or valuable metal or even Bakelite. Come on Darwin, keep up! Here at AT we only paint tired old junk. John, the chandelier is beeeyootiful!

posted by aweekinparis on November 25th 2008 at 1:27am
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I have also done this, but it was attached so high up I couldn't take it down. I held up a sheet and spray painted it! It worked and looks a gazillion times better. These are tough times, so anything we can do to save a little coin is good.

posted by jlg on November 25th 2008 at 7:00am
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Every time I see a posting on renovating a chandelier I will gently remind everyone of a less painful, time-consuming solution- kaarsKoker. These are decorative replacement candle sleeves I designed and are available at www.kaarskoker.com. No paint, no glue. Fun colors, patterns and leaving the fixture with its 'charming' patina.

posted by apallison on November 25th 2008 at 8:17am
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Love it. Love the color and goes well with the green/cream walls!

posted by lyla on November 25th 2008 at 10:22am
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I like it better before.

posted by Mr. Dangerous on November 25th 2008 at 10:28am
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I think it's ugly.

posted by Subboss85 on November 25th 2008 at 10:39am
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Sorry, it just looks cheap. The flowers don't help.

posted by mmepatty on November 25th 2008 at 10:43am
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I dig it - the flower pattern brings more life to the fixture - which is usually missing from modern painted pieces.

More important to me though is where did he get that couch - WOW! love it

posted by excentric on November 25th 2008 at 11:53am
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it's fabulous!

posted by j_wild on November 25th 2008 at 12:33pm
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YES!! Please, where did you get the sectional?? Love it! Anyone know?..

posted by Matthew K. on November 25th 2008 at 12:52pm
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Thanks all for your kind comments, well some of you at least ;). As I mentioned in my post, I hated the thing and it was going to get trashed. Opposed to some of the original chandeliers in the house that are over 100 years old, this was probably added later in the 20th century. So, rather than throwing it out I decided to do this.

Oh, and the couch is from Room & Board.

posted by johnclarkemills on November 25th 2008 at 1:02pm
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This is a great redo - and the fabric on the shades is a fabulous choice - Congrats!

posted by bepsf on November 25th 2008 at 1:31pm
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fun :-D and definitely an improvement. i am not always fond of painting stuff, but in this case i am in total agreement.

posted by maike on November 25th 2008 at 5:06pm
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Not particularly fond of the fabric over here, but the paint brightens it up, and the colors are just what it needed!

posted by Geno B. on November 29th 2008 at 6:41pm
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That's not my style, but I love it anyway! Go orange, or go home.

posted by SeattleMama on March 26th 2009 at 12:21am
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To me, it's garish. But to each his own.

posted by romateamo on September 25th 2009 at 6:02am
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This isn't a 'victorian-style knockoff chandelier', it is a victorian chandelier!

There are so many crappy, new chandeliers available for painting, why ruin the real thing?

posted by lella on September 25th 2009 at 2:22pm
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