Farm Fabulous Chandi

Ok, So when we bought our place the house was in pretty bad shape.   

We bought our place for the land and location not the house.  

 Over the past 2 years I have been able to make our house a home that we love.  

 But that being said there are still things we don’t love about our place.   

For instance, the living room has a suspended ceiling 

(you know like what you find in a basement).   

I want to change it but I know it would not be easy 

because there are other issues involved 

(I’m sure I’ll post about those at some time, just not now).  

 As much as I hate this eye sore it held a hidden gem!!!

I was peaking around the suspended ceiling one day 

(trying to gauge how hard it would be to change) 

and I saw a chandelier sitting up above the ceiling. 

It was still attached to the (real) ceiling. 

Weird!!! 

We decided to take it down. 

It was still wired in and working, they just loosened the bulbs so it did not light up. 

Who does that???

Well that is just one of the many times I have asked that question 

since moving in to this house!

All the bulbs are still working…SCORE!!!!

It was a bit corroded so we took it apart and cleaned it up some. 

Nothing major just some dawn dish soap and a little sandpaper.

Then I spray painted it red. 

I originally wanted it turquoise but a good turquoise spray paint color is a hard to find. 

There is one turquoise color I like but it is about $3-5 a can.

I know that’s not a lot but I did not want to spend much money on it.

BECAUSE………………………

It’s going in the barn!!!!!

 A couple weeks ago I mentioned that Dan cleaned out the back of the barn for 

“Perry the Pony”.

We are hanging the red Chandi in Perry’s room!  :)

So I decided to use a Wal-Mart brand and I picked red.   

It was only $1.50 a can and (I only used 1 can)

The price is right for a barn!!!

Free Chandi

$1.50 can of spray paint

Light bulbs all work in the chandi (those can add up)

I know it may seem a bit much to put up a chandelier in barn but for the price.

I couldn’t buy a basic ceramic pull chain light for the price.

And it would not be nearly as farm fabulous.

Spray painting it was easy. 

I laid the chandi pieces out and did 2 light coats.

This is key for a smooth finish. 

The more thin coats the better it will look. 

Many times people get in a hurry and try to cover it in one thick coat 

and then they get runs and streaks.

If you use good quality paint it dries fast and you can get 2 coats on in less than an hour. 

But I cheeped out and used the Wal-Mart band and it took HOURS for each coat to dry. 

I stuffed some toilet paper in the light bulb sockets. 

This just protects the connections.

(I usually leave the bad light bulbs in the socket when I spray them.  This way I know all the connections are protected and then once it’s dry you just unscrew the bad bulb and add a new bulb. EASY!!!!  But since the light bulbs were all working that was not an option, but TP worked fine)

Once I had 2 coats on I put the Chandelier back together.

Hung it outside on the clothes line.

Sprayed a thin coat to fix any nicks, scratched and to give an overall even coat.

Let it hang for 24 hours.

Then hung it up in the barn!!!!

I love it!

So does Perry (I think anyway)!

There are a few more things I hope to do to the room but for now I just really excited the Chandelier is up and looking FARM FABULOUS!