A Small Update To The Dining Room

Happy Monday to you -- hope you had a nice weekend!  My dad finally went home from the hospital on Friday, after spending five weeks there.  I know he was so glad to get back home to his own bed, comfy chair, and his yellow lab, Gracie.  I appreciate all of you who kept us in your thoughts and prayers.

We made a little update to our dining room this weekend, and I'm sharing it today at Metamorphosis Monday.

We got a "new-to-us" chandy for the dining room.  Once again, I'm not really up-to-date with the rest of the world.  I know these probably aren't in style right now, but this style suits me, and it suits our furniture and accessories.  I think of this as just a colonial-style, brass chandelier.  The other style I would love to have is a pretty crystal chandelier, but since this one was such a bargain, I'm happy to have it.  :)

It looks really cock-eyed here, but that's just the angle of the camera, for some reason.  However, we've noticed that it's not completely straight, and I hope we can fix it without having to go back into the wiring hole; that thing was a bit of a pill to get up there.

One thing that really makes me happy about this chandelier is the price.  Do you remember when I did a Fourth of July tablescape, and I showed you some wonderful ironstone, transferware plates I got at a yard sale for a dollar apiece?

Well, the same day I got these plates, I got the chandelier at a different yard sale for $10.00.  I was so excited about this price.  You see, I've wanted a new chandelier for our dining room for several years, but I didn't want to spend two, three, or four hundred dollars for a new one.  I might have eventually, but it wasn't at the top of our priority list right now.  

My husband suggested we go to some yard sales that day in June, because he was looking for something in particular.  I happened to spot the chandelier and couldn't believe it when I saw the price.  They were probably thrilled to get ten dollars for it, wondering who in the world would want this shiny brass chandelier.  It really is true that one man's trash is another man's treasure.  ;)  I immediately asked the sellers if it worked, and they assured me it did.  It was taken down by their parents to be replaced with something different and was still working well when they took it down.  It was in excellent condition -- no dents or scratches that I could see.

Now here are some pictures of our old chandelier...

 The biggest problem with the previous fixture was that it was too small.  The people who sold us the house installed it, and they hung it too high, as well, so it just always looked dinky.  I replaced the original glass globes with these shades, which helped a lot, but it was still too small for the space.  So we went from a light fixture that was too small and situated too close to the ceiling, to one that is just the right size and style for our room.

From this...

...to this.

  By the way, my husband wired it to a plug in the basement first to make sure it really was working before we went to all the trouble to hang it from the ceiling.  We're both happy that our ten dollar investment paid off.  :)

Same photo edited with a softening effect

Now I just need to hang my two botanicals on the blank wall to the left of the china cabinet, and this room will finally look complete.  

I'm joining:

Metamorphosis Monday, hosted by Susan at BNOTP.

Thanks so much for visiting House at Forest Manor and have a great day!

Denise