Crown Jewels; Lighting Redo; The Painted Hive

This methods walkthrough stays in the order the work happens.

Hi again everyone! I’m thrilled to be back for my second guest instalment here at Bekob (thanks for having me again Cassity!) and am really looking forward to hearing what you guys think of this little makeover. I’m a bit of a re-hab tragic so please feel free to stop by my blog, The Painted Hive, anytime to look at some of my other projects. Now, down to business…. Question: What do you get when you take…. one kinda very ugly old light fixture, a can of black spray paint, some blingy old necklaces you wore once to a wedding three years ago and an al-cheapo drum shade from Target? Answer: A pretty solid ‘new’ glamorous ceiling light for under $20 – score! To make this transformation I first took the light apart and sprayed all the really lovely (eww) polished brass with the flat black spray paint: I chose black because I wanted the finished product to have a chic, parisian edge. I then divided out my beads into even lengths and used the wire out of some bread ties (hey, that was all I had on hand!) to create little rings in each of the holes you can see in the light above (the holes were previously for the screws holding on the lovely – again, eww – frilly glass shades). Next I attached the ends of my bead strips to the wire rings to create chandelier-like loops. Once re-attached to the ceiling and encased in the drum shade it makes for a pretty impressive and very thrifty addition to my parent’s sitting room. It’s hard to tell from the pics though it looks pretty solid lit up. The light bounces off the crystal-cut beads and creates some real sparkle.   So again, just for comparisons sake, from this tired out-dated old thang: To this chic style statement: I know I’m probably not alone in thinking that new ceiling lighting can be pretty excessively expensive so hopefully this little post has inspired you to look at ways of improving what you might already have – no matter how ugly they may seem to begin with! Kristine The Painted Hive xx