Spindle Chandelier

A couple of weeks back I had the fantastic opportunity to join a group of other bloggers for a summer at home tour.

I don’t like summer!

We live in Arizona.

Enough said!

I can’t complain too much because we do live in the mountains and….

we have a large shaded front porch to spend summer.

I made the spindle chandelier above for the summer tour and love it so much I made one for the inside.

You know…inside with something called air conditioning!

For the red spindle chandelier I bought a wall sconce with three arms for $12 at a local thrift store.

Which I promptly…

took apart! 🙂

Love taking things apart!

I drilled three holes at an angle into the sides of the spindle. I had to drill at an angle because the sconce arms were at an angle and I wanted the candles to be sorta upright.

A dab of glue holds the turquoise spray painted arms in place. A hook on top and a piece of rope to hang it and within 30 minutes it was hanging.

The spindle chandelier for the inside was a little bit of a bigger project. I had trouble finding the perfect ugly chandelier. I wanted arms that would hold the candles straight. So I ended up with the one above for $15.

I stripped it down and realize the top {or bottom} didn’t have a large hole.

I was hoping for a band about like a thick bracelet. Wonder Woman bracelet!

So I used a rotating cut off tool and cut the top.

Now to pick a spindle from my collection.

This is the one!

I spray painted the chandelier…a couple of times! Couldn’t decide what color I wanted. :/

I also cut down the side of the “bracelet” to give room for a fatter spindle. Then screwed it in place. It will hang in a corner so this spindle chandelier can have a “back.”

I hung the spindle chandelier in double chain, just for fun and added some chunky votive flameless candles.

This was still an easy chandelier to make even with cutting the metal. This spindle was the broken leg from our old coffee table.

Repurposing chandeliers is a blast! Have you tried it? I did several for shops along the central coast of California years ago. Anything from stripping the wiring, repainting and adding loads of crystals, think shabby chic, to completely destroying them and turning them into something totaling different.

If you’ve never tried, I suggest finding an inexpensive one at the thrift shop or yard sale and go to it.

This one from Restoration Hardware was my inspiration for the spindle chandelier. It’s stunningly beautiful and at $595 stunningly priced.