One Room Challenge – Week 3: DIY Chandelier

Week 3! We are half-way through!

One major win this week is my DIY chandelier makeover. With this project I’m determined to use as many items I already have as I can so when I found this old chandelier in our garage, I started thinking about all the things I wanted to change about it to make it work for the guest bedroom.

Here are some items I found myself googling:

Can you change a medium base light bulb to a candelabra bulb?

Is there an extender for a candelabra bulb?

Will spray paint stick to metal?

With a little research I was able to find a solution to each one of my questions.

First questions was the most critical because in order to change the look of the chandelier I had to get rid of the sconces and the medium base bulb which is the standard bulb size. Turns out you can buy this adapter that will switch your medium base to a candelabra C17 base! I don’t know why I doubted this option with all the technological advanced, but we digress.

My second question was mainly for esthetics.  I needed the light to look like a candle and without some kind of extender the candelabra base on its own will not make the chandelier look like this.

After some research I found one company that actually makes the socket extenders long enough were they would actually make my base look like the candle-like like the image above. The extenders fit a E26 which is a medium base bulb but with the adapter notes above, I was able to fit my C17 Candelabra bulb. You can get the extenders here.

My last question did not need to be researched much because I found my spray paint can by Rust-Oleum that notes it covers any surface including metal, wood, plastic and masonry. I highly recommend this spray paint as I have used it in multiple projects and it worked really well. You can get the spray here.

Before I sprayed my chandelier, I wiped it down completely removing any dirt or dust. I removed the sconces and attached the extender and adapter. Then I taped the top opening of where the candelabra bulb would go to avoid any paint getting in there. When I took of the sconces there were groves visible (see left picture). To smooth out the unfinished look of grooves I wrapped leftover wallpaper (right picture).

Then I sprayed the whole chandelier with all the pieces in tact. This is what the finished and installed chandelier looks like now.

Another win this week has been finally choosing a paint color for the wall. As you can see in the picture above, I chose green.

You may have read in my previous blog post (here), I found a bedroom that really inspired me to change my mind about wall color.  Initial I was going to go with white and bright but after seeing the moody green bedroom I had to try it out.

I found two colors that I really like. Narragansett Green and Salamander Green both by Benjamin Moore. After some testing, I decided the go with Salamander green because the Narragansett has a lot of blue undertones that I wanted to avoid.

Ironically the image that inspired my change in paint color used the Narragansett green but the different lighting in the bedroom was not showing clearly the way it was with other photos that was taken of the same room.

My next big task for this upcoming week is to stencil the design I have chosen onto the accent wall that I just painted green. Since the stencil color that I’m using if fairly light, I think I can get away with painting the remaining three walls the Salamander green without it making the room too dark.

While I have accomplished a lot this week I will feel much better about my progress once I have completed the stencil part of the room update. Without having the stencil completed sourcing for art, curtain and various other decor items makes it extremely difficult.

Thanks so much for reading and following. Your support and encouragement means so much! Be sure to tune in next week for more progress and follow along on Instagram @design.playbook

Don’t forget to head to the One Room Challenge to see the progress of the featured designers and the guest participants! There is so much inspiration and amazing style out there.