West Elm Hack: 3 Jar Chandelier

As I noted in an earlier post, we have been humming and hawing over lighting decisions for most of the rooms in the house. The search came to an end of the dining room and kitchen a few weeks ago, and I am proud to say we have new lights hanging above the island and dining table!

For the dining table chandelier, we took advantage of the West Elm 20% off lighting sale and purchased their 3 Jar Chandelier.

Photo from West Elm

They didn't have any in stock, so I ordered over the phone and opted for store delivery to save the shipping and duty charges. After making the scary drive downtown (which included an Ikea pitstop for hotdogs and an As-Is visit), I made it to West Elm and picked up our light.

When my dad was here last week, he had installation on his project list. Chris saw it before me and told my dad I wasn't going to like it. He was right, it looked too modern in our space, the pewter coloured metal didn't match the bronze pendants hanging over my island and the silver cord didn't match anything. We thought about taking it down and selling on kijiji, but having been without a proper light for so long, and the fact that it had so much potential, I decided to give it a makeover.

Before the makeover when Chris took it down.

So I used a Sherry Petersik trick and bought a can of oil rubbed bronze spray-paint. After taping the light sockets, all of the metal parts got a few healthy coats of spray (multiple light coats works best). Although it doesn't match my bronze pendants exactly, it's much better.

The cord still had to be improved, so taking a cue from our wedding Boutonniers, I decided I would trying wrapping jute twine around the cord. I was able to get away with only gluing the top and bottom of the cord making it easy to change in the future if need be.

I love the way it turned out. It fits the vibe of our old house so much better than the original version.