Light fixtures on the cheap

One of my early goals for our basement renovation was to use as many re-used materials as possible. One of the first things I found was this old antique brass chandelier with big glass globes on the mis-matched lights and a big antique brass ball hanging off the bottom. It was dated. And ugly. I found it sitting in a neighbor's driveway after the house had been foreclosed on. Some guys were there cleaning out the house and gladly let me take the chandelier away.

As soon as I got the chandy home (how often do you see a woman walking down the street carrying an old chandelier?), I took the big brass ball off the bottom and tossed it in the trash. I'm not a fan of those big balls -- this is the second chandelier I've owned who has lost it's ball. Haha. Then I cleaned it, taped up the electrical parts, and painted it my favorite shade of Krylon green, Celery.

This chandelier is not up to code for a bathroom -- first of all, it is not damp-location listed. Luckily, this is a seldom-used bathroom with an AMAZING ventilation fan. Second, it hangs too close to the bathtub. The electrical inspector suggested I move it over near the toilet but that really messed with the whole vision for the bathroom, which included a fancy chandelier hanging in the center of the doorway. So, for our inspections we installed an old flush-mount fixture. Once all of the inspections were passed, we traded it out for our up-cycled beauty.

The wall sconces came from the ReStore for the wallet-busting price of $4 each. They were shiny brass until I sprayed them with Krylon Celery. The shades on them came from the clearance section at Lowe's for $1.99 each. Bargain, right?

So, for the grand total of $10 plus a can of spray paint, we got ourselves three matching light fixtures with a touch of vintage-looking glam. The funny part is, it isn't like I "settled" for these fixtures. I actually did look to find something I liked as well and couldn't find anything that made me as happy as these three fixtures. I guess I'm easy to please!

Psst...you can see the rest of the basement here.