For most of our house , I ’ve selected unique but timeless ( at least in my thought ) get off option that fall in step with our older - meets - new approach to beautify . The ambience I need to imbibe into each room was taken into circumstance when opt each fixture . Being trapped in a tiny camper last winter afford me a fortune of time to find the right-hand fixtures at the correct price . There are heaps of sales around the holidays , so keep this in judgment if you anticipate a new lighting fixture in your home ’s not - so - remote future .
When it issue forth clip to select a lighting fixture for my son ’s room , I want something playful and bright but not too tiddler - centrical . I scoured the cyberspace for ideas , and decided it would be fun to do a brilliant - colour antler chandelier . With his commendation on the concept , I began searching for preassembled antler pendent that I could paint — a task that I assumed would be fair well-to-do to reach for an low-priced terms . I was amiss . Countless hour expend searching yielded only one finding of fact : a preassembled antler pendent was out of my budget .
Disappointed but undiscouraged , I decided to go the do - it - yourself road — after all , how hard could it be ? ( Ha ! You ’ll soon feel out . ) I found several on-line tutorial on set up and wiring antler fixture that looked pretty simple and straightforward , put a call out to all the hunters in our kin unforced to donate antlers for the labor , and started gathering material for the task .
My first hurdle was finding the right material listed in the tutorials . I never found them , so I extemporize . ( When I asked for a pendant outfit at local hardware and big - loge entrepot , I find a cervid - in - headlights look . Go physique ! )
My second vault was follow through the apparently bare and straightforward instruction . Cutting the horn with a reciprocating power saw is not as easy as it looks , and drilling into the centre of them where the bone marrow is purportedly diffused was impossible because it was hard than a rock — we destroyed three drill routine just try out .
Once I came to terms with the fact that we would n’t be hiding the wires within the horns , I move on to laying out the horns for attachment . I started with the two cock-a-hoop horns and built it up from there , work my fashion out to get a fairly even distribution . I catch them the way I wanted them , and take a picture . This is an important step , as the horns will get incite about during assembly and no matter how well you call up you remember where they ’ll go , well , you know you wo n’t .
I could n’t fathom glue hold these heavy horn in place nor did I want to chance it with my son playing around them ( not that I ’m sound out he might hurl , hit or in some way of life maim them , but he most in all probability will ) . So that brought us back to the practice session . I predrilled the holes , killing yet another bit in the process , and attach the antlers together with screws . It sounds wanton but it have me four unlike type of screws to find out one that would secure the antlers together without stripping or breaking off halfway into the cognitive process .
With the antlers securely positioned , I used a rope to freeze the chandelier from a tree while I spray painted it a glossy red . I have it air - dry before strike it with a second coat . I plan to reposition the Mexican valium and cover the vacuum it left , but before I got a chance my married man decided to surprise me by wiring and give ear it while I was running errand … oops . He screwed the chandelier sockets to the tops of the antler and strung the conducting wire back to marrow . Unfortunately , the wires are a petty on the short side , so they ’re a little more visible than I ’d like .
I plan to pull the pendant back down and eat up touching up with paint and maybe call camouflaging the wires a bit better , but overall , I ’m moderately happy with the undertaking — as is my Word , which makes it all worthwhile !
« More Restore Farmhouse Order »
