Slightly Steampunk Lighting Project

We all have those times when stress amps up to the point that we need a distraction.  For me, this past month has been one of those weeks.  So, last week I needed something different to do.  As timing would have it, my sweet husband had just bought this chandelier, from an "antique" dealer, for our anniversary.  Someone had spray painted it flat white for a shabby chic look.  We wanted steampunk...   My de-stressing project was provided.

My youngest little creative and I started off by painting it metallic black (along with a vintage style globe stand to match).  The surfaces had been prepped with steel wool.  I had also done a small repair to the metal on the globe stand, and had pealed off much of the annoying band of astrology stuff from the metal strip surrounding the globe (In the end, this ripped texture added a corroded look to the the finished piece that I love).

We actually just used cheap craft paint for both pieces, so the whole project only cost about 5 bucks. The paint colors we used were as follows: Sequin Black, gun metal grey and sterling silver; all of them metallic.

After painstakingly getting the black into all of the nooks and crannies, we followed with a quick brushing of the metallic gunmetal grey.  We were carefully not careful with this step, so that the black would show through in the low spots.  As you can see, the globe stand took extra coats of paint.  Finally I added some silver to the high spots in strategic places, and used it for the candle stick tubes as well.  I'm thinking that eventually we'll cover the plastic tubes with old fashioned style pipes, painted to match. (much more steampunk).

After all of the painting was finished, I spent about 5 hours or so rewiring and cleaning every single crystal.  The old ones looked awful, so it was well worth the blisters.  One day, when we buy our long term home, we plan on putting this chandelier in our multimedia studio.  Until then, we grin whenever we look at our little piece of obnoxious elegance in our living room.

Stress always passes, and I believe that all things work together for my good, so I'm thankful that I have lovely things to focus my mind on when life threatens to derail my brain.

Go find something good to do!