Drum Shade Chandelier Tutorial

January 12, 2012

A few months ago I revealed my Dining Room Remodel.

One of my favorite features in my new dining room is my DIY Drum Shade Chandelier.

In fact, many of you have commented or emailed asking me about the chandelier, so I thought it was about time to give you the low down on how you can make your own version of my Drum Shade Chandelier. You may remember that I started with this…

Yep…that’d be no chandelier at all, since I had moved the original chandelier into my kitchen and gave it an update. You can read about that on my How-To Paint a Chandelier post. So, I was working with a clean slate. And I was really drawn to something like this.

Source

It’s gorgeous and I love it but, but I did not love the price tag! $200.00 just for the shade! I knew there had to be a way to make my own. I searched through Lowe’s and found a pendant light kit for $19.00 that I thought might work.

The hardest part of this project was finding a fabric that I liked. I didn’t want to make a mistake and purchase fabric that I ended up hating. I finally found a fabulous and fun pattern at Hobby Lobby..and at 40% off it was a steal!

I found a plain white drum shade at Garden Ridge for $10.00 and knew we were in business!

While, I usually like oiled bronze (and have used it for my kitchen light fixtures) I wanted to be daring and try something new and exciting. I wanted…gold. gasp! I know. We’ve been led to believe gold is boring and outdated, but not the “new” gold. It’s soft and rich and pairs so beautifully with blue. I found the perfect color.

I love this metallic gold from Valspar. It sprays so smoothly and dries within seconds. I swear I could spray anything that stood still long enough with this stuff!

The light kit comes with three extension rods depending on how far you want your fixture to hang down. I determined two was plenty and rigged a contraption so that I could get a nice uniform coat on them. It’s a nail in a board. Fancy, huh?

I took apart the chandelier (it helps to take a picture of it together before you take it apart…don’t ask me how I know this. :/ ) and sprayed every piece that was originally oiled bronze.

Here you can see the completed pieces including a ceiling medallion that we ended up not using. We ended up liking the simplicity of the original fixture.

Next, I covered the shade.

You will need to roll your shade along your length of fabric on the reverse side, using the seam on the shade as a guide of wear to start and stop for the proper length. While rolling your shade you want to draw light lines about an inch wider than the shade width on each side.

Once you cut your fabric along the lines, you will end up with a shape like this. I then used spray adhesive and generously coated my shade and carefully rolled the shade along the fabric until it was securely attached, working out any wrinkles as I went.

I then trimmed off any access and neatly folded about a quarter of an inch of the overlapping fabric to make a nice finished edge and secured it with a bead of hot glue. It’s impossible to avoid a seam but if done neatly it’s fairly unnoticeable and can be placed towards the back of your chandelier.

Then using hot glue I wrapped the fabric around the edges of the top and bottom of the chandelier, making a cut where the fabric met up with the crossbars on the shade.

I knew that since this was hanging over the dining room table I would not want to look up and see the stark white of the inside of the shade, so I repeated the same step for cutting the fabric , minus leaving the additional inch of fabric, but instead wrapped it on the inside of the shade.

I trimmed off any access that I ended up with along the edges and glued them down.

Here, even though the lighting is poor…is it even possible to avoid this when working at night…sigh…you can see the shade wrapped on the outside and the inside. I then used a nice coordinating flat trim and hot glued it around both the top and bottom of the shade on the inside and outside for a nice clean finish.

Now you are ready to install your chandelier.

You will want to make sure your lighting element (the part the bulb screws in) is on the bottom of the fixture but you do not want to yet thread the cord though the extension rods or canopy and collars. Thread the cord of the light fixture through the hole of the crossbars of your shade. They will be at the top of the shade just like you would set it on a lamp harp. The part that would hold the pendant shade will be on one side of the crossbars and the cord will run through the top, with the threaded nipple running through the hole in the crossbars.

Now you can thread your extension rods over the cord and reattach the canopy following the directions included with the kit. I found that the threaded nipple that was included was long enough for my shade, but you can buy an inexpensive adapter kit if needed.

Now you will need to hardwire your light fixture to the ceiling following the directions included with your fixture and using appropriate safety precautions. It is easy to install your own light fixtures, but if you are unsure of what you are doing, please consult a professional electrician. We don’t want anyone to get a shock!

We found this was a two person job due to the shade being attached to the fixture while installing. It’s not heavy, just a bit awkward. Now install your light bulb and make sure you have power to your new chandelier. And that’s it!

So what do you think? I know it’s not exactly like the inspiration shade, but it’s definitely similar and has the same effect! Of course with my entire fixture coming in at around $45 it was quite the savings! I really do like it and I think we’ll let it hang around for awhile…..get it…hang around. yep. I went there.

Let me know if you have any questions about making your own drum shade chandelier, I’d be happy to answer them!

And as always thanks for “hanging around” with us…yep did it again…At The Picket Fence!

For more DIY Lighting Ideas see our Project Gallery!

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