After years in which brass chandeliers were consigned to attics and online firesales, they started trending again. Some love these chandeliers, and others call them brassy.
You have a brass chandelier. It is in your dining room, bedroom or kitchen. It is a family heirloom or a gift from a friend. Perhaps it came with the house. You may have bought it years back. In any case, it is here now. How can you tell if a chandelier is brassy?
Is my chandelier brassy? A brassy chandelier is overly grimy, corroded, or tarnished. It lost its shine and looks outmoded and out of step with changing styles. Think twice before getting rid of your chandelier, though. A good cleanup and a new coat of paint can do wonders.
With some creative work, your brassy chandelier can become a gem. I will show you ways to turn your brassy chandelier into a classy addition to your home in the following discussion.
Does Your Chandelier Keep Up With The Times?
The first sign that your brass chandelier is brassy is that you have had it in the same place, looking the same way, for as long as you can remember.
Other parts of your house have changed. You have painted the rooms a few times. You changed the furniture and removed or replaced items. The brass chandelier towered over the changes, immobile, unchanging, and, well, brassy.
The main rooms in your house – kitchen, dining room, lounge, bedrooms, and home-based office have been repainted and refurbished. The furniture changed or moved, and new appliances were introduced.
It is no wonder that you feel how your chandelier remained in the past while the rest of the house moved forward.
How Do You Give Your Chandelier A New Look?
Think color. Color gets old, too. You don’t have to keep your chandelier in shiny brass colors. Spray painting it could bounce it right back to the future!
Before choosing a color, you should figure out what the chandelier is made of: if it is solid brass or plated?
You aim to avoid damaging the chandelier in finding this out. Chandeliers, especially old ones, are made of bronze, wrought iron, brass, or alabaster (aka “gypsum marble”).
Finding out what the chandelier is made of is Simple. Here is how it is done: use a magnet. If the magnet sticks to the chandelier, it is not solid brass. A magnet will not attract brass because brass is a weak, non-magnetic metal.
Magnets will attract metals like iron, cobalt, and Nickel, but not brass, copper, gold, and silver. If the magnet is attracted to the chandelier, it is probably brass plated. This means that cheaper metal forms the core of the chandelier. It is then plated, or coated, in a thin layer of brass. On the other hand, if the magnet falls off, your chandelier is solid brass.
Back to color. Considering that millennial pink, tangerine, light yellow, violet, and bright red were the least attractive colors for 2022, feel free to avoid them. Instead, the leading online marketplace for extraordinary design, 1stDibs, suggests you opt for the 2022 trending colors.
According to paint brands and designers, Green is trending, including dark emerald green and light sage green. Other, warmer tones like tan and burnt orange remain popular. Use trendy colors to give your chandelier the edge.
Use any spray paint for your brass chandelier, but first, get spray paint primer. Wash and clean the chandelier thoroughly from dust, rust, and clear surface blemishes.
Use medium-strength sandpaper to clean the surface. The surface must be clean from paint or plated brass. Once clean, apply the primer. Wait for it to dry and apply it again.
Now you can spray paint the brass in any color you want. Use any spray paint you wish – even acrylic. You can use metallic paint to produce glossy colors. The primer ensures that the paint sticks to the brass surface. Apply two or more coats evenly to ensure your chandelier loses its brassy look.
What If You Do Not Want To Paint Your Brass Chandelier?
You don’t have to paint your brass chandelier to make it classy. You can do what our fore-parents did: clean and polish it until it returns to its old glory. Cleaning the chandelier will also enable you to find and fix scratches, dents, and other blemishes.
You may clean plated brass like you would clean solid brass, but you should not scrub the surface forcefully, as it might peel off. Clean your brassy chandelier with cleaning products you probably have at home. A word of warning: avoid using any abrasive cloth and steel wool, as they may scratch and damage the surface of the chandelier.
Clean your chandelier thoroughly with liquid soap and hot water, using a damp cloth. Areas that are difficult to reach may be cleaned with a toothbrush. Take your time to check the chandelier thoroughly in case you missed a spot that requires your attention.
You can get rid of stains or tarnish by covering the affected area with a thin layer of tomato ketchup or tomato sauce and leaving it on for an hour. Afterward, clean it thoroughly with hot water and soap.
Chandeliers that are too tarnished to respond to soapy water and tomato may be cleaned with a mix of salt, white vinegar, and flour, equally mixed. Cover the surface with this mix thoroughly and let it sit for an hour before rubbing it off.
Clean the chandelier with hot water and soap. Use half a lemon that you dipped in a salt plate to scrub off extremely hard-to-remove stains and tarnish.
What To Do With A Chandelier I Can’t Use?
Your chandelier may be of no use to you in lighting the room and providing it with some classy presence. You may feel terrible about throwing away this pretty old lamp. However, all is not lost. Use the chandelier to add style and beauty to other parts of your home. Here are some suggestions:
1. Use A Chandelier As A Garden Planter
Clean your chandelier before repurposing it as a garden planter. Remove the fittings that hold the light bulb, leaving only the chandelier’s ’arms’ and flat holders. Get terracotta pots and saucers, one for each ‘arm.’ Fit the saucers to the arms with waterproof glue.
Paint the chandelier and plant your choice of flowers or herbs in the terracotta pots. Finally, hook the chandelier up unto the ceiling, a beam, or the wall, using a hook kit with a bolt and metal toggles. A chandelier carrying a few terracotta pots filled with soil is quite heavy.
2. Use A Chandelier As A Party Cake Holder
Your chandelier can become a stylish party treat and cake holder. Remove the light fittings, leaving only the ‘arms’ and flat holders. Get metal or wood trays sized to fit the chandelier, a tray for each arm, and a larger tray for the top. Finally, paint the chandelier and place it on a table, using the ‘arms’ as stabilizers.
3. A Solar Light Outdoor Chandelier
Use your chandelier to add a pleasant atmosphere outside. Remove all electric wiring and go on a hunt for solar lights. Look for independent units, one for each ‘arm’ of the chandelier. Fit each light unit to an arm. Make sure the solar panels face up when attached.
Paint the chandelier and the lighting units separately. Once dry, fit the units to the chandelier using waterproof glue, and retouch with paint if necessary. Hang the chandelier on a hook or mount it on a floor lamp’s tube.
Final Thoughts
A brassy chandelier is redeemable. Adding basic materials and some creative ingenuity will give your old brass chandelier a new lease on life. Once you have identified what makes your chandelier brassy, you may opt to clean it from grime and tarnish and restore its original shine. Alternatively, you could paint your chandelier and give it a new, trendy and classy look.
If the chandelier does not fit your requirements, you can repurpose it and use its features to use it for other purposes, at home or outdoor.
