Saturday, April 28, 2012

Birthday Bubble Chandelier

So I am officially 28,  my birthday was last Wednesday (April 18).  My birthday was awesome; I got to take the day off of work, go to some of my favorite places, and get an amazing birthday gift from my hubby!  A Bubble Chandelier!  

Since this project required some DIY work (and by some I mean all), I had to do a little research on the exact type of chandelier I wanted.  I used pinterest and google images to look at different bubble chandeliers that have been created out there in blog-world.  There were many impressive ones that totally left me inspired! 

After our research was finished we landed on this one from Pelle Design on Etsy.  I love how structured and ordered the design of the chandelier seems, it is whimsical appeal with the bubbles but has a more purposeful looking design.


I will start off by saying that this chandelier is far from easy to make, which is why Pelle Design can sell them for a good price on etsy.  My husband was the brains behind the planning and execution of the piece, he did all of the work.  I just researched and told him what I thought looked pretty! 

There were many steps in the process such as trying to decide the dimensions of the chandelier.  Before ordering the bubbles we decided to blow up some balloons and string them together to get an idea of the size and shape we wanted. 


We ended up adding many more balloons than pictured above.  BTW stringing balloons together is MUCH easier than the glass bubbles!

Then we placed our order with CB2 for the 4" size bubbles

Here's a list of our supplies:
-28 glass bubbles from CB2 - (we ordered 33 and had some extra)
-3 - 3" 60 watt bulbs (already owned from the bathroom light fixture)
-cotton rope (2 sizes)
-hanging lamp kit - we actually used an old light fixture from above the sink in the bathroom, it had 3 sockets and Matt rewired it to work for this lamp - YAY for saving some moolah!
-sturdy copper wire cut into 2" length for hanging the bubbles - Matt slightly varied the wire size for more visual interest
-Teak wood drilled in the center, sanded, and conditioned with coconut oil
-wood glue
-masking tape
-electrical tape

Here are a few in progress photos:



The masking tape was used to number each string so that it was a lot easier to adjust if one bubble was too low - Matt's absolutely genius idea!


 And here is the finished chandelier in the room!
















Here are some close-up, more detailed shots.





I am thrilled with my birthday gift!  I hope you like it too, please ignore the ugly popcorn ceiling.

I didn't provide a step by step tutorial but if you have any questions about the construction feel free to ask in the comments.  Have any of you completed a DIY project recently that you are absolutely in love with?  Please feel free to share!  I hope you all have a wonderful week!



2 comments:

  1. Brittany, that is BEAUTIFUL!!! Okay, now that you have such an awesome chandelier I am dying for you to move your table into the center of the room... especially because your table is round! I know that you would have to walk around it all the time but it would be so pretty!!! Eek!!! So excited about your house!

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