Wooden bead chandeliers are SO GORGEOUS but goodness, they can be pricey!  I had seen a few DIY wooden bead chandeliers on Pinterest, but I couldn’t find a specific tutorial so most of this project was trial and error.  Gold chandeliers like the one I used are actually pretty common to thrift or buy second hand.  Thankfully all of our hard work paid off and it turned out amazing!  My budget was $70 for the chandelier makeover and I actually ended up under budget!  Some of the supplies were leftover from other projects.

Here are the supplies I used:

(Almost everything here is linked as well)

Thrifted chandelier

Rust-oleum chalk paint in aged gray 

Valspar antiquing wax 

Folk Art Pickling Wash in Champignon

Assorted wooden beads

Fishing line

Twine

Painters tape

To begin, I removed the light bulbs and candle tubes from the chandelier.  I taped off the openings for the bulbs then sprayed the entire chandelier with 2 coats of the Rust-oleum chalk paint.  I really wanted some dimension on the chandelier and to make it look authentically antique, so I covered it with a thin coat of Valspar antiquing wax.  It’s important to make sure this is 100% dry before you continue to avoid a huge mess.  Once the wax was dry, I added an extra thick coat on the arms of the chandelier but kept the candle cups with only one light coat.  I let the second coat dry overnight to make sure it was completely finished.

The beads I found from Kirklands on clearance and Amazon.  I loved the raw wood, but I wanted this to look antiqued so I added some dimension with the pickling wash that I picked it up at my local Michaels for a few dollars.  This was a super easy process.  I placed the pickling wash in a bowl and dropped the wooden beads in.  I moved them around in the wash until they were almost covered, then set them on a paper plate to dry; this took about 10 minutes.

The last portion was actually the most tricky.  If I ever do another chandelier I would probably use a thicker and stronger fishing line.  My advice is to use monofilament fishing line (6lb test) and can be found here.  I did four strands that I attached from the top canopy to the candle cups.  I wrapped a few knots of the clear fishing wire around it to attach it. Another great option would be to drill holes in the cup holders and attach it there.  Curt didn’t have a drill bit that small but just tying it to the cup holders worked for us.

The final touch I added were some wood hanging beads as well – these were a bit tedious, thankfully I only needed 6.   I took small pieces of thin twine and made a small knot then attached them to fishing line.  Once these were assembled, I tied them onto every other chandelier arm so it didn’t look too uniformed.

I absolutely love how this project turned out!  If you love this and decide to tackle it, please tag me @ourgatheredcottage

Thank you for reading today’s blog post!

XO, Amy