Chandelier Makeover

Our dining room chandelier didn’t go with anything else in our house.  I liked the idea of having a simple, classic, grown up light fixture in the dining room... but the brass finish clashed with everything.  The more we finished the room, the worse it looked.  But new chandeliers are expensive, and I liked the simple silhouette of the one we already had.

The old brass chandelier

The solution?  Spray paint in oil rubbed bronze!  I took the color from a candle-only chandelier we have stored in the basement that would be perfect... if it only had wiring.  The painting process was easy.  Mike detached the fixture from the ceiling (after turning off the power of course) and took it outside.  I removed all the bulbs and covered the wires with painters tape.  I sprayed the piece in several sessions at different angles, opting for multiple thin even coats to prevent drips.  We let it fully cure for 24 hours before re-hanging it, and I couldn’t be happier with the result.

Now it blends so much better with the house.  We have oil rubbed bronze finishes all over - our front doorknob and lock, the mirrors in the living and dining rooms, the hardware on the dining room hutch cabinets...  it even blends with the curtain rods.