Gorgeous DIY French Beaded Chandelier for $20

After shopping for a vintage looking beaded French Country chandelier, and seeing the astronomical cost of these beauties, I quickly decided to make my own.

 I wanted something for outdoor entertaining, so weather tolerance would be important.

I came across a couple tutorials online for chandeliers constructed from hanging plant baskets and dollar store beads. These had the look I wanted but involved lots of wire work and seemed like they would consume more time than I was willing to invest.

I thought and thought about a simple way to go about this.

Then one day I walked into Hobby Lobby and spotted the perfect hanging basket with the most wonderful patina and it all just clicked. If I was using light weight, spray painted beads, then why couldn't I simply use a high temp hot glue gun? Certainly that would bond beads to metal and that would withstand the warmth of the sun. Hot glue would also be simple and speed the process.
Yes. It was on.

What a lovely setting to enjoy a glass of white sangria with a great friend!

From spay painting the beads to constructing the chandelier, the whole process took me 3 hours! Not bad for under $20.

Here's how it breaks down:
Hobby Lobby hanging plant basket (50% off) $9
5 packs of gold/silver beads from Dollar Tree $5
1 can Ivory matte spray paint $6
Other miscellaneous supplies (hot glue, jute twine, Ball canning jar lid) I had left over from other projects Free.
Total cost $20

Wanna know how I did it? Grin

I started by separating the 5 packs of beaded necklaces (40 total), laying them all out on a big piece of cardboard in the back yard and spray painting both sides with matte ivory all weather paint. The beads will bleed a little bit and this adds to the finished vintage look.

Once dry, I cut each necklace so that it was one long strand of beads.

Next, I got my hanging plant basket and started gluing one strand of beads in each slat, placing a small amount of glue in the inside center and then a small amount on the outside rim.


I kept working my way around, allowing the extra length of beads to hang down the outside until I had glued a strand of beads in every slat.




At this stage I decided it would be easier to continue with the hanging basket actually hanging. I have a rolling wardrobe, so I used that.


I needed at top rim for my chandelier to connect my beads to. I wrapped a wide mouth Ball canning jar lid with jute twine. Then I took a wooden kabob skewer and ran it through the top chain links, trimmed it to fit under the canning lid and hot glued it in place.






Taking one stand of beads at a time, I glued them to the inside of the canning lid, trimming the extra beads off the top.


To keep the chandelier sides even and balanced, I glued one stand directly across from the other until I had worked my way around.




Since I decorate cakes (and I had extra beads), I decided to add a wedding cake looking swag detail around the middle and top, gluing each swag in place.





I ran a line of beads along the top of my canning jar rim to hide trimmed beads.


When it was finished, I sprayed the entire chandelier with an all weather matte clear coat paint to help protect it from the elements.

You could add a simple pendant light kit, found at Cost Plus or IKEA, to light this beauty up. I plan to string my trees with white twinkle lights and leave the chandelier unlit.

Sometimes I think the way the gold and silver bleed through the paint, almost make this look like a chandelier made with wooden beads. I love the look so much I'm making another one so I can hang them as a pair over my outdoor table. Whoot!

Hope you enjoyed this one!

~The Lemonista

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Savvy Southern Style - Wow us Wednesdays
Semi Homemade - Show & Share Wednesday
French Country Cottage - Feathered Nest Friday
My Romantic Home- Show and Tell Friday
Timewashed - Blissful Whites Wednesday