I grew up watching Trading Spaces. My mom and I would tune in every week to see what sort of crazy decorating would happen. Would they glue more straw on someone’s wall? What about flowers on every inch of a bathroom? Or maybe just some sand instead of real flooring? But one thing that was consistent was that every designer hated ceiling fans. And my mom would always ask how anyone could live without one. Well, I definitely am on team ceiling fan. Especially in a bedroom. But when we were picking one out for our master, I wanted something…unique. So I made a piece to spice ours up. An Anthropologie inspired ceiling fan update.
Due to decision fatigue, we just put the same ceiling fan in our master bedroom that the other two bedrooms were getting. The plan was to replace it and then use that one in the basement bedroom once it was finished off. But then I kind of liked how it is white, our 9 foot ceilings are white, and the fan just blended in up there. It was simple and modern, without looking like those modern ceiling fans they make these days. I’m not so sure about those. Anyway, I had searched Pinterest a few times for a ceiling fan update and saw people add lamp shades to their fan. But that seemed too stuffy.
While recovering from my second surgery, I was browsing Anthropologie online for inspiration (because that’s all I can afford there) and I found the coolest chandelier. I mean, I still drool over pictures every once in a while and it’s a couple months later. This chandelier is way over my price range, and we also have no need for a chandelier anywhere. But then I thought, I could make that! I could make something like that to hang from our ceiling fan light fixture. And guess what? I did.
Originally, I thought of using a steel ring craft hoop and hanging lightweight chains from it. But I couldn’t find any chains that were lightweight and small enough for the same effect. Plus, I really loved the twist that the original chandelier chains had. Then it occurred to me to use decorative cording like we did for our unity braid. I found beads that I thought would be big enough to notice, but not so big that they would add a ton of weight or make me go broke. I couldn’t find any S hooks to hang the metal hoop from the edge of the light, but luckily Hobby Lobby already had Christmas stuff out and these ornament hooks even had a little bling too!
As much as I love the brass chains and blue glass, it just felt too dark for our white fan and ceiling. So I opted for the white cording and AB crystals to be clear but still have a little iridescence. The assembly was not hard, but it was definitely a time consuming project. I used tape to cut the cording and left the tape on so no ends would fray. To keep them all the same length, I cut half the cords shorter to allow for the length of the beads. I wrapped wire a few times around the cord, threaded the bead on, and wrapped the wire back a few more times.
To put the cords on the metal hoop, I wrapped them each twice and let both ends hang evenly. The cords were rather thick to stay tight to such a thin hoop so I ended up sewing them down. I thread a needle through one way and back and tied it off.
Most of the cords straightened out after hanging from the vases I used to hold up the chandelier as I worked on, but some need help. I put the chandelier on my drying rack I use for laundry (taller vases would have worked too) and pulled out my flat iron to help. The cords didn’t melt and I didn’t really worry about the tape on the ends. I mostly just got them warm enough for me to reshape and twist straight with my fingers.
I was so excited to get it hung up, I made the ultimate mistake of not taking a before picture! But I’m sure you can picture that just fine. Isn’t she a beaut?
