Our entire house is in need of redecorating.. or decorating really because the previous owner didn’t as far as I can tell. Most of the appliances and fixtures seem to be 70’s era at best. Take this lovely chandelier hanging over the dining room table:

(Please note that everything you see here belongs to the man we bought the house from and does not, in the least, reflect our style. Please.)

There is so much else in the house that needs updating/replacing/renovating, but for me, this chandelier is the most offensive. It has to go!

Thus began our search for the perfect chandelier. For some reason even though our decorating style up until now has been more mid-century or danish modern (ok, Ikea for the most part!) this house makes me want to go all Marie Antoinette, Brocade Home.  I’m not sure if its just my design style “maturing” with age, or the fact that our house was built in the 20’s, but I instantly knew that wanted a antique, or at the very least antique reproduction french cottage style chandelier.

I found a few online, like this cool modern-gothy-white one from Great-Chandeliers.com:

 

But it seemed a little blobby to me.. and I think I really wanted an actual antique.  So I started trolling ebay and came across Heavenly Lights, who carry both antique and repro chandeliers like this one:

While am completely in love with all of their styles collectively, there wasn’t a particular one that seemed just the right size and shape for our dining room.

The search continued at a few local antique stores where we were completely astounded by the prices and underwhelmed by the quality. Most were in the $600-$700 range and didn’t look half as good as the Heavenly Lights versions.

Then we found ourselves in Charlotte NC the day after the wedding of our good friends Mike & Tracy. One of the “points of interest” they included in their welcome basket was the Metrolina Expo, an enourmous indoor/outdoor antiques fair. 

We skimmed thousands of stalls for the right style chandelier for almost two hours. And then, just when we had given up all hope, we spotted it…

I wasn’t sure at first, its got a sort of burnished gold finish and I had my heart set on French country white.. and I was’t really sure about the shape.. or how low the crystals hang.. but something about the romatic notion of purchasing an antique while away on vacation at our friends wedding seemed to get the best of us. And before we knew it, we were the proud owners of our first purchase for our new home:

At $250, the price was right.. even if the style isn’t exactly what I had in mind. And I’m still slightly worried that it may be bad luck to buy something for a house that isn’t even officially ours yet… but we bought it anyway. And I can’t WAIT to replace the existing chandelier with this one. It may be the first project we tackle when we move in!

Filed under: decorating, furniture, renovations by ariana
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