DIY Garden Chandelier

A Garden Chandelier Upcycle

A few months ago I was out for a walk in my neighborhood when I spotted an old rusty chimenea at the curbside. There was something captivating about it but I didn't have a clue what I was drawn to, so I kept on walking. Half a block later and I was struck with an inspiration, I swung back around and picked up the lid and took it home with me. I kept it tucked under my arm because I didn't want to seem like a complete lunatic carrying around a large chimenea lid. Admittedly, it even felt a bit weird taking it in the first place! But I knew exactly what I was going to do with it: I wanted to take this innocuous, rusty chimenea lid and turn it into a glamorous chandelier.

Ever since we bought our house I have wanted a garden chandelier. Unfortunately I could never find one that was affordable or looked the way that I had envisioned. I wanted glamour but what I found was more akin to kid's bedroom décor or something you should be able to buy at the dollar store. The prices were outlandish too, $150 CAD for a 10" garden chandelier made with plastic beads. Yikes! I knew I would have to make my own eventually but I never had a concrete plan on how I was going to accomplish it. That's where the chimenea lid came in. I have seen some chandeliers on Pinterest (in fact you can see a few examples on my garden diy board). They're usually made from upcycled lamp components, often ones that already had holes for chandelier crystals. In the case of my chimenea lid, I knew I would have to make the holes myself and source the chandelier beads and crystals online.

This was my departure point. I started bookmarking several Amazon listings for replacement beaded chandelier chains and crystals. Prices varied considerably based on length and quality. Most listings are actually acrylic and cost a lot of money. You can imagine how thrilled I was when I found one claiming to be glass and for significantly less cost. I didn't know exactly how many I would need so I went for the most footage I could find, knowing I'd rather have excess and left over materials than run short. I ended up buying something like 25 feet of chain, which came with teardrop cyrstals, for under $25 CAD.

After ordering my chandelier making supplies, I started to prep my chimenea lid. It was in fairly good condition minus some rust spots. I went over the lid using a fine steel wool to remove rust and dislodge any yucky build up. Before I moved on to painting the lid, I needed to map out and mark my chandelier holes. I had divided the circumference of the lid into an even number because this is the easiest way to design the chandelier (my crystals came in multiples of four) there were sixteen holes in total. Because the chimenea lid is thin metal, I used a metal drill bit to drill the holes into the lip. Do not use anything but the appropriate drill bit for projects! A good once over with the steel wool cleans excess metal shavings after drilling. Once this was complete I could move on to painting the lid. I spray painted it using a heat resistant spray paint by Rustoleum - the only reason I did this is because I already had the paint and it matched the lid given it was, after all, apart of a fireplace. I then chose to seal it using a gloss enamel varnish to hopefully prevent it from rusting any further and making it a little easier to wipe clean.

The chandelier design itself was the hardest part. My initial idea was to create a kind of cascading spiral motif like this chandelier but on a smaller and simplified scale. It turned out my beaded chains weren't close enough together to create the proper effect, so I had to start over and restring a completely new design. Surprisingly, I made it all up as I went. I started by hanging a first row of swag beginning and ending on every fourth hole. I then overlapped it by a smaller swag in between the previous row. Then I added an additional swag row beneath that, and a column down the center of the chandelier. I then attached my teardrop crystals. It's difficult to see the design completely in the photos since there's so much competing light, but it looks gorgeous in person. It isn't hard to make either, maybe a little time consuming to put together so set aside a couple of hours if you want to try your hand at making your own. You can really make any design that pleases your eye but of course symmetry usually is the best foundation.

The effect is, as you can see, pretty spectacular. These glass crystals shine beautifully and cast rainbow prisms in the sunlight (unfortunately they came scratched and chipped but that's difficult to see and it is after all only a garden ornament). I have hung it form a shephard's hook in my sun bed and it absolutely radiates. Every time I step into the garden I'm entranced by it. Who would've thought something so seemingly useless as an abandoned chimenea lid could turn into something so opulent?

If you make one of your own I'd love to see it, hit me up on Pinterest! And if you have any questions feel free to use my contact form in the side bar (or below on mobile).

Happy Gardening!