We were recently searching for an inexpensive / easy to transport / chic chandelier for a friend’s out of town wedding…and as you can imagine there wasn’t a lot to choose from.  The bride wanted a fixture to bring an ambience to their barn reception…not necessarily using it as “light” but more as a design element within the space.  Finally, about 5 days before the wedding, we decided to just make our own!

We did some internet research on do it yourself chandeliers and eventually decided upon a beaded chandelier (see link below).  We quickly headed to our local Lowes for a hanging wire basket and spray paint, and also to the local dollar store for an insane quantity of beaded necklaces.

If you try to make your own, I highly recommend purchasing necklaces close to the color you are spray painting.  For our chandelier, we wanted it to be a mix of off-white and khaki, so we used silver and gold colored necklaces.  This will save you time in the end…you won’t need to paint coat upon coat for coverage.

http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2010/05/make-a-beaded-chandelier/

image from tutorial…fun color!

We’re considering repainting our chandelier to a bright color now that the wedding is over and we don’t need it to be white anymore…maybe a bright yellow or blue like in the image shown above.  Here are some shots of the one we made…we’ll post the pictures from the wedding photographer once we have them [udpated photo below]!