I recently saw this beautiful chandelier on a website and began to think about making a similar one myself, it was approximately $3,500 and that is way over my budget!

So I began looking online for a lighting that would be appropriate for me to bead but I was looking for something that had the lights on the outside of the frame so the beads wouldn’t cover the lightbulbs.

I found this one at Lowes.com and one of the local stores had it in stock so I purchased it so I could measure it to decide the number of beads I needed.  That took a lot of measuring because I wanted to make the strands graduated (smaller to larger) and after calculating numerous times I bought the beads from FireMountainGems.com.

Then I waited impatiently for my 27 lb. box of beads to arrive in the mail, they could have arrived the next day and that would have been excruciating because I was so anxious to get started! But of course it took about a week for the beads to arrive and I was so happy to see that box arrive on my doorstep…

The beads are beautiful shades of turquoise and apple green and I began to experiment with placement…

I liked this but I ended up with something a little different, more on that later.  Then the tedious stringing of the beads began.  I soon learned why that chandelier I liked costs so much, it is a lot of work!

After about 20+ hours of stringing and some really sore fingers…

I added the apple green beads to the metal bands at the top and the bottom and I realized I liked the chandelier without the beads at the bottom but I wanted to hang it up to make sure.  My wonderful husband said he could wire it …

He did a great job!  It looks great without the beads at the bottom, I can always add them later but I don’t think it would add to it’s charm.  Could be my sore fingers talking.

Can’t decide if I like it with or without the shades…

Now to choose paint color for the dining room now that the focal point is up!  I bought an antique table a few years ago that I want to dig out and dust off, I think it will look great underneath the light.

That picture was taken before I cut all the strings : )

Posted by WalkTheCreativePath in Do it Myself Tags: beaded chandelier, beads, blue and green, ceiling fixture, dining room, dining room chandelier, diy, diy lighting, lighting, lowe's lighting, turquoise lighting