Are you getting tired of hearing about my dining room makeover yet? I might be… Lol. For the last month, I’ve been working super hard on revamping my dining room. The project I have been anticipating the most is my chandelier! Plus, it ended up being one of the cheapest decor item, costing only $30. No lie!
My vision for the chandelier actually was born almost 2 years ago when Ethan went to a Shaw/HGTV event and designed a room along with our friend, Carmen at The Decorating Diva. He and Carmen came up with this fabulous drum pendant light with Capiz shells cascading from the bottom. Ever since then, I have been OBSESSED with having one of my own in our dining room.
But as you can imagine, a chandelier like that isn’t cheap! So, I’ve held off for the last two years and lived with my very standard, very boring, not very pretty chandelier.
As we started to makeover the dining room, I planned to paint the old chandelier white and buy some chandelier crystals from Second Chance. But my cousin recently moved into a new house and in her dining room was a big ‘ole crystal chandelier that she hated!
As is, I couldn’t say I loved it either. But I saw the potential and made a few suggestions of how she could keep the chandelier but make it a better fit for her style and space.
As I got excited about some of these ideas, my cousin suggested we swap chandeliers. Obviously, I couldn’t say “yes” fast enough!
From there, the biggest hurdle was finding a drum shade big enough and cheap enough. Seriously, you can spend A LOT of money on shades!
But I didn’t give up on my vision, knowing that IKEA would not let me down. So me and Kim headed to Ikea with 5 of our 7 combined kids (Thank you IKEA for your kid’s zone). Along with several other items I didn’t need but love, I walked away with a 22″ white drum shade for $30! WHAT??!? Yes, only thirty dollars!
Ethan was such a good sport about all this. In one evening, he went to my cousin’s and disconnected the chandelier, came home and helped dismantle the whole chandelier, reassemble it with the shade (minus one tier of crystals), then hung the new chandelier in our dining room, and still had to work on his own blog post the rest of the night. That is love!
I was worried the shade might be a little too big for the room, but I really love that it makes a statement. Plus it was only $30 and I didn’t want to drive all the way back to IKEA (about 40 minutes away).
What do you think? What solutions for cheaper lighting have you used?
Thanks so much for reading along about my fabulous new drum shade and crystal chandelier!
That is so clever!! I never would of thought of doing that! No, the lace look is cool….don’t take off any more!
We have nearly that exact chandelier (your old one) in our dining room. We opted to paint ours black and it helped a lot, but it is still rather boring. Your solution is much nicer for sure. 🙂
Well, needless to say, you have outdone yourself again! So glad that your 2 years of waiting have come to an end :O) BEAUTIFUL!!!
Jocie, at first I didn’t understand why you didn’t take off everything but the bottom part that hung down. Then I saw the effect with the light on!! Oh my! So beautiful! I love it! You really had an eye for that project for sure!
So glad you like it, Dani! I was really unsure about keeping the one upper layer, but at this point I am deterred by the extra work from taking it off. lol! 🙂
That is just brilliant, Who would have thunk it?! I love the pattern when the light is on, so pretty.
It’ is perfect girl! I love it and it and it’s so unique, wow!!!
Yay for swapping chandeliers! I love what you have done.
Since you have such a colorful wall with those pretty plates, how about adding a ribbon to the shade to punch up its color?
I thought about adding some ribbon, too (great idea!) but was concerned that with the lace effect with the lights are on that it would be to busy. 🙂
A ribbon could be hard to lay flat since your shade isn’t a drum shade too.
That looks great! My kind of diy goodness! I can get behind free and $30! I love this look, but alas, my husband does not, so it wouldn’t fly in my humble abode.
I am fortunate to have a very understanding husband who is kind enough to allow such girly things! 🙂
That is so cool! I love the shadow of the crystals on the shade… it’s beautiful!
Keep it like it is. Looks great sizewise, although with pictures it can be hard to tell sometimes. I really like it.
Awesome!!
I absolutely LOVE the silhouette once the light is on … you are so creative, girl!!
Totally luv it Jocie – clever way to update this chandy! I imagine it looks so pretty at night!
Dream and you shall find what you need. Awesome luck you had on this one Jocie even if it was a long wait. Very pretty.
I love your whole dining room!! That new chandy is so cool, and for $30! Can’t beat it!
*tweak* Shift the table over juuuuuust a bit so it is centered under the chandelier. Haha!
Oh my gosh I lov t his chandelier and what you did with it! Leave it just the way it is, it’s perfect! Isn’t IKEA grand?????
I love this idea! I actually just purchased a chandelier online and it came smaller than expected and I immediately thought of doing this, adding a drum shade. I just wasn’t sure how. You didn’t give any instructions on how you attached it. I think yours looks amazing and the laciness under the shade looks great. Love it!
Wow, genius! I love this look. You should link this up to our party, Give Me The Goods Monday! {1 party, 5 blogs}
http://www.somuchbetterwithage.com/2013/04/give-me-goods-party-4.html
Jamie @ somuchbetterwithage.com
Wow, I’ve never seen anything like this before, what a wonderful transformation! I love it, and I love the look of lace when the lights are on…don’t take out another tier!! What a sweetheart you have for a husband to do all that for you.
I saw you sharing at Project Inspire{d} Linky Party.
Debbie 🙂
I love it. I have been wanting to do that type of light for my daughter’s room
I featured you today here! http://www.settingforfour.com/2013/04/10-indoor-and-outdoor-home-projects.html I also pinned it to my linky party pinboard! Thanks for sharing at Project Inspired Linky Party!
And she does it again! Simple and elegant. I think even my husband could be swayed that a chandelier like this, is perfect in a home.