For the past two years I have been looking for the perfect chandelier for my dining room. I wanted it to be vintage, have hundreds of little crystals, and big! This was not so easy to find in my price range. Most of them are a zero too many over my budget. The search continued and in the meantime I kept up the basic builder grade one that came with my new house.
About three weeks ago my mom called to tell me that she found a chandelier for me. Her neighbor’s house was up for sale and they were in need of money, so everything needed to go. She never saw the light but as soon as she heard the word “old” she thought of me. And, the best part, it was only going to cost me forty dollars. That’s not a typo.
She decided to tell the friend of ours that I would take it before I even saw it. No big deal because for forty dollars I figured it was a win win situation. If I hated it I only spent forty and if I loved it, well, then I hit the jackpot.
I went over to pick up the chandelier. When I first saw it I didn’t feel love at first sight, but it was definitely the style I had been looking for. My boyfriend took it down and we went on our merry way. As we drove off I could hear little crystals clickety clanking together and falling to the floor of the car.
When I got home I did some serious observing. It was old and it needed a good cleaning. It needed some replacement crystal tear drops and some new bulbs. It was going to take minimal work at best to make this look new again. I was pleasantly surprised as my boyfriend held it in place so I could see if it fit the style of the room. It actually made the room. I was ready to rehab the chandelier and get it hung.
Two weeks went by and I finally got around to it. My boyfriend and I went to hang it. He actually did the work I just stood there helping him hold it up. Mike said, “Turn on the lights, it’s done!” No light. No grand finale. Yeah, that wasn’t good. So he took apart the base and found the problem. The wires weren’t all connected. Voila! Problem solved. Nope, not really.
As we sat in the very low lighting that was breaking through from the living room and kitchen I somehow pulled the wire all the way through the lamp and we couldn’t get it back in the metal skinny pole.
Both of us were aggravated, but remained patient. We went through a few wire hangers and many, many hours trying to pull the wire through to the top so we could connect the light. Nothing was working. We finally called it a night at one in the morning.
The next day after Mike was up at five in the morning and didn’t get home until nine at night, we tried again. This time we had the proper tool from a friend that’s an electrician. First try, no go. Second, unsuccessful. Third time is a charm!
We sat on the floor again and we just smiled and laughed. You would have thought I just gave birth! We were like two proud parents! It was such a relief. I was overwhelmed with happiness over a chandelier! I laughed out loud and said, “Man! I’m getting old if this kind of stuff makes me this happy!”
The chandelier got hung. We practiced patience, which I have none of, when putting on nearly a hundred crystals that had fallen. It was all back together! I flipped the switch and we had light…eight bright candelabra bulbs blazing in my dining room.
Again, we were proud parents of this vintage chandelier. I added some finishing touches, a few brand new bulbs, crystals, and some miniature black shades. It looks ballroom beautiful in my dining room.
I am so impressed with our teamwork, persistence, and patience. Who says old dogs can’t learn new tricks and who says old can’t be new again? I learned some patience and that old chandelier is new again. You would think I spent thousands of dollars if you saw this grand lighting fixture in my home.
If you ever want to test your patience, try putting all the tiny pieces of a chandelier all back together again.
I must admit it was forty dollars well spent. Ten hours well labored. Two smiles beaming! Eight bulbs burning bright, and with that Hallelujah! We have seen the light!
