My New Baby...She's Gorgeous!

Ok, so I told you about my chandelier, right? First, let me tell you this is a long story…but oh, so worth it!!! I’ve added lots of pictures (remember those books with all the pictures when you were a kid? It was always better with the pictures!)

Chapter 1: Gem in the Junk
So, about two weeks ago my mom and I decide to venture out on a Saturday for our neighborhood garage sale (we live in a huge master planned community). It was supposed to be 90 degrees that day, so I was ready. Cash in pocket, air conditioning running in the car (too big to walk), and lot of room for goodies. So, we are about two hours in and my mom sees this chandelier sitting in a heap of cut wires and half attached crystals…totally covered in dust and grime. My mother pushed me to buy it…she knew I had been wanting one for my studio for a long time. I wasn’t very into it, I admit, but the more I looked at it I thought it might look good. I would take it apart and paint it white and then see what we had. So, for $30 I took the chandelier and a baggie of extra crystals and went on my way. My mom seemed to be much more impressed by it than I was. (By the way, the guy had two and offered them to me for $50 total for both…dang…once you read the rest of this, you’ll know why I’m now wishing I took them both). Side note…I found out that they came out of a restaurant, well known to our area, while it was being remodeled.

Chapter 2: Bath Time!
So…after a full Saturday of garage sale bargain hunting, I came home with some fun stuff… crocheted doily, some great racks for my ribbons, and this hunk of brass and glass. My husband couldn’t quite understand it. He didn’t see the potential beauty that my mother and I had. So…as he went off to work that evening, I set about putting all the extra crystal on. I realized that some were missing to I strolled over to the next neighborhood only to find the other chandelier had sold. I thought that I could at least use the extra pieces. So…I took it all apart and started the first bath of the crystals. All I can say is WOW. Even after just one bathing, these were gorgeous. Where I thought there was rust from cheap pinnings, I found that it was just grime next to brass pinnings. This was looking like a quality piece as I got farther into it. Next I grabbed a washcloth and thought I’d get the brass clean so I could paint it. Holy cow…the brass underneath was like brand new. In fact, by the time I was done, it was so pretty and gleaming. There was no way I was going to paint this one.

(pic of crystals on towel)

Chapter 3: Who Made This?
I love to know the history of an item. In fact, I think it’s incredible therapeutic to take something apart, give it some TLC and lovingly bring it back to life. Of course it appeared that I would need to rewire this. It had the old cloth covered wiring, but couldn’t be too old. My guess was 1970’s or so. As I looked at the wiring I saw the name Schonbek in the canopy. I don’t know much about chandeliers, but I did know this wasn’t on you’d get on sale at the local hardware store. So, I looked them up. Wow! These chandeliers are top of the line, in fact, the company has been in business for 130 years and was bought my Swarovski last year. I did a little more research and found that if you call their parts department they can usually provide replacements. So…now I’m really intrigued. I finish cleaning up, and decide to call Schonbek as soon as I can.

Chapter 4: The Diamond Emerges
I email Schonbek and find out that they do indeed carry the replacement wiring I need. In fact, the person I was speaking with (Brian) said if I took some photos and sent them in they could verify whether or not it was one of theirs and get me some info. So…I “dressed” it in all the crystals I had (took an hour) and then shot the pics. I emailed them that night…with a list of questions. And as if by magic I woke up the next day to find a PDF of the original paperwork for my baby. So incredibly pretty on the drawing, and too cool to see all the crystals and where they go. In fact, I found out that my chandelier is from the “Orleans” collection and debuted in March of 1979 (I was right about the 70’s!)

Chapter 5: It Cost What?
Next it was off to the parts department to speak with Shauna. What an angel she was. She did a little research and found out that if my chandelier were to sell today, it would probably be in the neighborhood of $1,400! Can you believe that? Yikes!! In fact, I found some similar to it on the web and they were more than that. I know that if I wanted to (and I don’t) I could put it up on Ebay and get at least $3-400 for it. Shauna tells me that it is indeed Orleans model #1638, seven arm brass chandelier. She then tells me how much for all the replacement crystals. So…I order the wiring first…have to rewire it. That arrives over the holiday weekend. I take it all apart and bathe the rest of the pieces on the center of the piece and put it all back together. Ok, now we’re talking…she’s coming back to life!

Chapter 6: What do I need?
So…now I take a full inventory of what crystals I have (against my paperwork) and realize I have too many of some and not enough of some (remember the other chandelier the guy had…I guess I got some extra from there and not enough too). So…I take some of the extras and see what I need. In a very McGuyver like way, I take those apart and very carefully repin and create some of the missing pieces…dang, I’m good :-)! Saved myself some cash there! So, now I place my order for new candle slips, some crystal beads and 12 crystal pieces…three of them are biggies and have three pieces to them. I actually paid 2nd day air to get them here by this Saturday…wow, I guess I’ve changed my mind on how much I thought I would originally like this. It was meant to be I think.

Chapter 7: Installing it in the Studio
My husband says he’ll install it for me, but being the very Type A, go..go..go person that I am, I can’t wait. Heck, I’ve installed lighting before. So…I take the old light down and realize really quickly that there is no way that this thing is going to hold. The junction box is not on a stud, in fact it’s attached to a funky metal bracket. The only way I know this is because I unscrewed it (which I shouldn’t have) and now I can’t get it back together. Dang it!! And, we have that icky blown in insulation so now it looks like it’s snowing all over my fabric to boot! Well…had to tell my wonderful darling husband what I did. So…he spends 20 minutes carefully finessing the thing until he gets it screwed back in…whew! Heavy sigh of relief there. Of course it still won’t hold a fully loaded chandelier that weighs a whopping 35 pounds!! Picture a light bulb going off over my head! I get a swag hook and thankfully there is a stud close enough for me to swag it over (just enough wiring) and we’re good to go. Yippee! I add the light bulbs and pray that the socket wiring is good…flip the switch and “we have light!” I LOVE IT!! Anyone who sews knows that your iron takes a good lot of wattage, so I cross my fingers, turn it on and hope that the circuit doesn’t blow. Success!!!

Chapter 8: The Home Stretch
I decide that we probably could use one more bath before my little baby gets all dressed up, so once again I wash and air dry all the crystals. Then, I get home from work and decide it’s time…let’s put it together. So…I load them all on (with the help of my handy dandy diagram). It’s already looking so lovely. Still missing a few crystals, but I’m hoping that when I get home there will be a package for me…would have to arrive a day early, but we can always hope, right? Well, they weren't there, in fact, they are delayed in transit! argh!

Chapter 9: Delicious!!
Here she is, (minus the crystals still on the road) all dressed and ready for the ball. Only one thing is missing…custom shades. I’ll be making those this weekend and will post a picture for all to see. In fact, I think I might start offering these as part of my line too. In fact, I once did a custom tropical barkcloth set for a lovely man in Miami. So…like the Mastercard commercial says:

One Chandelier: $30
Replacement Wiring and Crystals: $97
My Gorgeous Baby Hanging in the Studio: Priceless!!

Thanks for hanging in there with me through this incredibly long story. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!!