Repurposing a Candle Holder as Chandelier

Posted by Cate

As you may have gathered, Chelsea's Garage is growing and I am honored to be a new member of the family - not only on the blog but also in life!  Chelsea and I met because I was dating her brother Caleb.  We hit it off right away and over our mutual love of design, do-it-yourself projects, and turning trash to treasures.  I didn't realize that with Caleb came such a steal of a family!  I stuck around and I guess Caleb thought I was a good fit and proposed this past spring ;)  Now I'm to be a permanent fixture as the new sister-in-law.

So let's start with a thinking-out-of-the-box project.  I found this guy at a thrift store for $5.  Loved the branch motif but it was just a little too big to put anywhere.  He needed a flat surface to be functional as a candle holder but in my tiny apartment, flat table real estate is hard to find.  So what to do?  Hang it on the wall and sacrifice it's only function as a candle holder?  Yes I could call it art but free wall space was also sparse...

Boom! I knew.  What's one of the most underutilized decorating spaces in your home?  The ceiling.  And it just so happened that I had the perfect spot of ceiling over a bland window bench that could use some pizzazz.

To get started I needed:

1} Sturdy Chain

2} 2 Ceiling Hooks

3} Large Jump Rings

4} Needle-Nose Pliers

I attached the jump rings onto the candle holder where they wouldn't slide off and would be balanced when hung on the chain.

When I liked the placement, I attached the chain and held it up to the ceiling to measure the length I wanted it to hang down.  Didn't want it too close to the ceiling that it would cause fire hazard problems and didn't want it too low that it would be in the way of any day-to-day life.

After installing the hooks in the ceiling, my out-of-the-box project was ready to hang!

Now it's your turn to think-outside-the-box ;)

~ Cate