Craft Hack: DIY Rustic Chandelier

I know I'm prone to saying this, but I'm saying it again today: This is probably the coolest project I've ever done. It was really fun and surprisingly simple, and the end result is exactly as I'd hoped it would be.

I give you the Rustic Chandelier Knock-Off.

I saw a picture of something similar a few weeks ago and I thought that, while it was really cool and I totally wanted one, the price tag was just a teeeensy bit steep. I mean, it IS really interesting and unique, but dang. This chandelier from Rustic Designs costs $2,800. Yes, that's the correct number of zeros there. Two thousand, eight hundred dollars. That's almost three large for a chandelier made of branches.

Not bloody likely.

I knew I could make something similar, if not exactly the same, for a couple thousand dollars less.

See how I did it after the jump.

The first thing I needed was some dry branches. Luckily, my husband had just recently removed some big ugly shrubs from the backyard. They hadn't been hauled away yet, so I moseyed on over to the side of the house and poked around until I found a few branches that were the right size, and also interestingly shaped.

This was three branches. I lashed them together at the top with thick(ish) hemp twine and hung them from the rafters in the garage at a comfortable working height. I brushed them off carefully to get rid of the spiders and dust and then varnished them lightly with my trusty Minwax Woodsheen in Colonial Pine to make them a little darker, a little healthier looking and a little shinier. If you intend to paint your branches, do it now, at this point, before you start wiring anything.

Then came the tricky bit. See, I have NO IDEA how to build a chandelier. Aside from changing the occasional light bulb, I have never done any electrical work. But like any good blogger knows, when in doubt, ask Google.

After a few minutes of research, I ran across a chandelier building tutorial. I had to modify it a lot to accomodate my project, but fortunately the rules of electricity are pretty static. Then I set about ordering the parts I needed. This took longer than any other part of the project. I'm totally serious. I spent hours trying to find exactly what I needed, to the point I nearly gave up and wrapped the dang thing with twinkle lights.

But I perservered, and here are the parts you'll need if you want to make your own Rustic Chandelier:









I used 10 bulb sockets on mine, but the original used 8. It's up to you how many to have, of course. You'll also need to go to this website and order 25 ft. EACH of parts number 7587K126 and 7587K121. (This is black and white electrical wire; it's what you hook your sockets up to and then hook to the lamp cord.) Don't worry, this will all cost less than $20. I'm not even kidding. If you choose the free shipping option with Amazon, it'll be less than that. The black and white electrical wire is like $5 total, and you're ordering a lot of it.

PLEASE BE ADVISED: You do NOT have to buy these parts from the sellers I'm recommending. You may be able to find what you need elsewhere for less money. All I'm saying is that I looked and looked and these are the best deals I found for this project. One thing I learned from all of this is that branch chandeliers are cheap to build, but the parts are a pain in the keister to get hold of.

Alright, so when my orders came in, I spent a little time getting to know all of it. These are your candelabra sockets.

They have a removable cardboard slipcover that's paintable. I suggest you paint them to match your branches BEFORE you start assembling anything. I almost did this whole thing in antique white, but since I'm trying to hack an existing project, I decided to keep it as close to the original as I could.

The candelabra sockets are what you'll be screwing your bulbs into, so you'll want to position them on your branches in a temporary fashion while you decide on the placement you like best. I used twisty ties to hold them in place while I made my decisions.

Once you've decided on your socket placement, use a measuring tape to figure out how long your white and black electrical wire needs to be. Measure from the tippy top of your branches out to where your sockets are positioned.

 Add an extra inch to that number, just to be on the safe side, and then clip a length of black and white wire with wire clippers.

 At both ends of your black and white wires, you'll need to strip off the plastic covering. Expose about a half-inch or so of the wires.

 Then twist them between your finger and thumb so the wires stay together, and then fold them over like a candy cane.

With me so far? Cool. On your sockets, there is a silver screw and a gold screw. Loosen the screws, and then hook the white candy cane around the silver screw. Tighten the screw down and then hook the black wire to the gold screw. Tighten that down, too.

Let these wires dangle for now. Repeat this process on your remaining sockets. Then put your (painted) cardboard slipcovers back on.
When all your sockets are wired and your slipcovers back on, it's time to begin fixing the sockets and wires to your chandelier. I used a regular old glue gun.

Glue your sockets to where you've decided they should go. Once the glue sets a bit, you can start running the wires up the branch, gluing every few inches as you go. I glued the wires to the top sides of the branches, so that when people are standing below it, they won't show.

Leave several inches of free wire at the top so that you can wire them all together and then to the plug-in cord.

This next part is very important. Gather all the white wires together at the top of your branch bundle and twist the ends together so they stay in place. The end of your brown plug-in cord (I don't know the technical term) is split into two. One part of the cord is smooth, the other has a line of ridges along it. Twist the white wires together with the SMOOTH cord, and then screw on a wire nut to hold the hold thing together.

Repeat this with the black wires. Twist the ends together, then twist them with the RIDGED part of the plug-in cord. Twist a wire nut tightly onto all the wires to hold them together. When you're done, you'll have something that looks like this:

Notice that the white wires are all together with the smooth half of the cord (on the left side of the picture), and the black wires are together with the ridged half (on the right). Run your plug up through the top of your gathered branches and tuck your wire nut bundles in there carefully, so the wires don't pull out. I wrapped a little more twine down around the top of the branches to hide the wiring. You really can't see the wiring at all if you've tucked and wrapped well enough.

At this point, it behooves you to screw some bulbs in there and try plugging it in. If one or more of your bulbs doesn't work, check your wiring again to make sure everything is connected where it belongs, and check your socket screws, too. Make sure the white wires are screwed to silver, and black wires to gold.

When my chandelier lit up for the first time, I may have done a dance in the garage and texted my husband at work to brag.

The final step is to paint over your wires to camoflage them.

And that's all there is to it!!

After all's said and done, I probably spent two total hours on this project, and that includes all the mistakes I made. This is a really deceptively easy project.

And if I do say so myself, I think it's not too shabby! I've hung it out on my covered back patio for now. It's not meant to handle rain, and obviously wind will blow it around like Dorothy's house. So it'll have to come in this winter, but I'll definitely enjoy it through autumn! It is really pretty at night, sitting at my little patio table. I love!!

It's very neutral, so I'll be able to hang stars on it for the 4th of July, and when I bring it in later in the year, I'll hang little bats on it for Halloween, ornaments or tinsel for Christmas, and whatever other seasonal decorations occur to me! It would also be beautiful done with driftwood, for any of you seaside readers out there...

OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER: I am not an electrician. I don't know what I'm doing half the time, so if you're going to make a chandelier using my tutorial, please bear that in mind. Please use all the precautions you can think of to prevent zapping yourself stupid.