A French Chandelier for the Kitchen...

Saturday ~ mid afternoon I get a call from one of my dearest friends...
The call goes something like this, "Oh, my God... Are you busy right now? I just stopped at a yard sale and I found you something. This little chandelier... What are you doing right now? We have got to go back ~ get ready and I'll meet you at my house. They have an antique vanity that might work for your purple passion room and they have other stuff you need to see!"

I take HORRIBLE pictures of lights, so bear with me...

Ok, now my heart is pounding... I'm sitting on the living room floor, in the midst of "Betty the dress form's" redo. I haven't brushed my hair. I got Mod Podge and little bits of paper pasted all over me. It's mid afternoon and I'm on about my 4th pot of coffee... What is a girl to do???

Of course I jumped up with the phone still glued to my hand ~ I dashed into the kitchen leaving a trail of coffee throughout the house... I quickly brushed my hair, thought about throwing a ball cap on - that would take too long, so I just stuck a hair stick into my mane... It took 5 min. to scrub the glue off my hands. I batted my half-mascara'd eyelashes in the mirror and just didn't care. And, I dashed out of the house in a rush. I made it about 2 miles and had to turn back, to run back home to grab my purse. Yes, I was excited...

I pulled into her driveway, got out, rushed into the garage, paused and said, "Oh, my God" to myself as I seen the little French chandelier laying there...

It was FILTHY...  

It took me 2 hours to clean it up & it was worth the time~!

And then, I knocked on the door, walked in and said, "You ready...?"

We headed to town again, to see what other treasures where hiding out at this yard sale~!

The 'antique vanity set' wasn't quite what I was looking for. There was a used set of 'bomber jacket' leather furniture my dear friend was eyeballing and ho'humming about and the rest of the stuff, I can't even remember...

My dear friend was talking with the gal about things and I was still in a daze over the chandelier I had seen laying in her garage before we went to town. I was eager to get back to her house and 'pet it'... look it over... clean it up and beg the 'Man-Child' to hang it for me...

It only had 2 lamp shades on it - 3 were missing. The lady hosting the yard sale said it was from France and that she had paid $600 for it. She had it in a home she had rented out and the tenants took a baseball bat to it and broke 3 globes ~ who in their right mind would do that to a French chandelier???

It is in fact a 'French' chandelier. Made by 'Vianne' - it has hand blown, glass shades and they are quite expensive to replace... Thank heavens the center shade was still in tact...

This is a beautiful chandelier...

And, it matches the light above my sink, so I took the sconce shades off of it to clean it and put them on the light above my sink... Perfect fit~!

And, they were safely out of the way, so the 'Man Child' couldn't break one as he was hanging the light above the kitchen table...

But... as we were leaving the yard sale, I looked up and hanging form the rafters was this beautiful, vintage, solid brass, hanging lamp - I nearly pee'd my pants... The framed print of "The Awakening of Adonis" came from another sale...

This second chandelier is HEAVY... Needed a man's help to get it off the nail at the yard sale garage...

I offered the lady $25 for the hanging lamp and she took it. I felt guilty ~~ unfair advantage because I already knew my friend had paid $20 for the French chandelier. But, the lady hosting the sale didn't seem bothered and a lot of crystals were missing on this hanging one, but I had purchased all the crystals last weekend from another sale for $3, so no big deal to me~!

<These pics were taken with my phone yesterday upstairs, in the 'un' lighted big bedroom, so their quality is poor ~ sorry...>

It has heavy detail, almost 'gothic,' or 'hollywood regency'... but it was a steal at $25... 

It will take me hours to fix all the crystals, but it will be so, so worth it. And, it will be beautiful in the big bedroom upstairs~!

And... I got home, logged online and found 5 glass shades for the kitchen chandelier on ebay. I'm not an ebay user, so my daughter bid on them for me under her account. The 24 hour wait to see if we won nearly killed me. I don't think I got any sleep. I didn't want to have any imported, because it would cost me $389 just for replacement shades... And, 24 hours later, we won the auction for the 5 shades and they're on their way to me from California, yay~!

The $20 yardsale chandelier that cost the original owner $600, will end up costing me $135 - $20 for the light, $100 for 5 replacement shades and $15 for shipping, but it is so worth it~!!!

I will update when the glass shades arrive and are 'carefully' placed on the chandelier~!

For now, I am THRILLED~!!!

How does the 'Man-Child' feel about all the latest acquisitions?

Well, he thinks I have talent~

And, we have a little 'rat hole' of cash set aside for things for the house, so he has no problem with it.

 If he didn't like the treasures I bring home, he wouldn't hang them for me~!!!

And trust me... He's a happy man that I would never pay $600 for one chandelier... 

(I'm just way too cheap!)

$135 is "doable"