Today I thought I would share with you how we made the drum shade chandelier. We started with a massive chandelier with a glass shade. One advantage of a HUGE light fixture is that there are lots of parts! We were able to get everything (but one little part) out of the this fixture – hooray for not having to buy extra parts!
Below I drew a section (drawing cutting through the fixture) to explain how we put it together.
Here’s how we did it:
1. The piece that covers the electrical housing was taken from the top of the chandelier (ours was just big enough to cover the hole)
2. The long rod with treaded ends was the main brass tube that the chandelier hung from. It was simply screwed into the existing housing at the top. This piece was about 8″ long.
3. A lampshade with a spider/harp fitting was held in place
4. and a small threaded rod connector (~.5″) was screwed into place holding the lampshade. I purchased a threaded rod kit from Home Depot for the folded rope dome light and had this piece left over …
5. A shorter rod with threaded ends was taken from the top of the fixture (inside the top rounded piece to connect the chandelier to the very top of the fixture) This piece was about 5″
We then installed it in the existing electrical housing. It was a little awkward to install, so I held it in place while David connected all of the wires.
and that’s it! a definite upgrade!
I've always wondered about this.. thanks for sharing!!
I recently did this too with my dining table fixture. It is a nice budget fix that looks great!
So I found your blog while trying to find a drum shade. Where did you get the shade did you make it? I can't find any decently priced ones that I like that are big enough to fit over the chandelier, which is probably the same size as yours. I need a 18" or bigger and I'm having no luck. I thought about making one but I'm debating over materials.
Hi Krista! I purchased mine here: http://www.lampsplus.com/products/white-hardback-drum-lamp-shade-14x14x11-spider__u0946.html a few years ago, I think it was $30 then. In my experience, 18" is hard to find at a cheap price. You may want to check local lamp stores, they might have imperfect ones at a discounted price that you could repair? Hope this helps 🙂
Great post Sarah! I'm working on a DIY fixture right now and your post gave me some great inspiration 🙂
Jenn
http://julymooninspirations.com
Hi Jenn! Thank you! I'll keep a lookout for what you come up with!
This is such a great update! Last year I made a drum shade from scratch to cover a chandelier and figuring out how to attach it was the hardest part. Good job!
Thanks Jennifer! Large drum shades can be so costly, I'll have to find your tutorial! We got lucky that we had a lot of parts to choose from to make it work! 🙂