A few have asked about my chandeliers and if I’m selling any of them. The chandeliers are going to convey to the house, but we did decide to keep the one in the dining room. It is my favorite and even Jeff said it was worth the trouble of taking it down and replacing it before we even listed the house.
This chandelier has been with me for a long time. I bought it when we lived in my in-law’s basement as Jeff was finishing school and I was working in the corporate world. I came across it at a yard sale, dismantled and packed up in a small box with “chandelier $5.00” written in marker on the top. I peeked into the box and caught a glimpse of the brass arms and bags of crystals. I lived in a basement, but I couldn’t pass it up. I can’t believe I actually asked, “Will you take $4.00 for it?” The seller said yes and I happily took my chandelier home.
It stayed in a box for four years…through living in the basement and in a small townhouse until my father-in-law put it back together and wired it to hang in the dining room of our PA house.
We replaced several chandeliers, including the one in the dining room, so we could take them with us when we moved to our current home in Minnesota.
When getting the house ready to list, I decided that I wouldn’t take any chandeliers with us. I would just let them all convey and find new lighting options for whatever house we end up in. Maybe that house will already have great fixtures! But, when I thought about the dining room chandelier being taken to ReStore or sold on Craigslist, I just couldn’t stomach that. I would cheer them on for making this house their own, but I would politely ask if they could just give the chandelier back to me. Of course, that kind of conversation isn’t going to happen, so I decided to head it off before it happened and replace the chandelier.
Let me tell you…looking at chandeliers at local home stores was depressing. There wasn’t anything I remotely liked or would work with the style of the room. It didn’t have to be perfect, but I didn’t want some manufactured version of a vintage-style light fixture and I definitely didn’t want something that would look oddly modern and out of place. So, I turned to Facebook marketplace to see what secondhand chandeliers were available. I found this simple, traditional chandelier for $10. Sold.
Now, at twice the price of my previous dining chandelier, this is quite an upgrade and a splurge in comparison! It’s not the greatest of chandeliers in the world, but it looks nice and isn’t offensive. I gave it a good cleaning, added a linen cord cover, and hung it up. That’ll do. I can live with that in photos of my house. It would look so sweet with little pleated shades, but that seemed like overkill given that it just might end up back on Facebook Marketplace!
I did also take down my Opa’s chandelier that we hung in the basement. That wasn’t a natural place for a chandelier, so we just took it down and covered the box with a white plate. The new owners can decide if they want to put a lighting fixture there and select a style that will work.
There you go…a tale of two chandeliers. One, a $4.00 bargain, and one a $10.00 splurge.
If you’re interested in acquiring a chandelier similar to the one I have in my dining room, I have bought several over the years. They are called “pineapple chandeliers” or “Spanish chandeliers”, but not everyone will label them as such. If I’m looking online, I’ll usually search for vintage fixtures that are brass and crystal and then weed them out visually from there. I think I’ve only bought one online, though. The majority of them have been purchased at antique markets and shops. I don’t think I’ve ever paid more than $175 for one, either. I did a search online and most of them are $300-500, which is pretty high. I would suggest looking locally in the hopes of getting a better price. They are not very old, mostly mid-century, so the value comes from their decorative appeal. They are such a pretty style and definitely a favorite.
This has nothing to do with the chandelier, but our church lost their youth minister last week. I don’t know if it even pays enough to support your family, but he may want to give a call to Walker at Rappahannock Church of Christ in Warsaw Virginia. It is about 3 hours from where you used to live before. Real estate is still affordable, and the style of architecture will thrill you in many of our h ones. Even a house on the rivers is affordable! Look up The Northern Neck of Virginia. the River Realm Instagram page is helpful too. I thought of you last night when I saw you all were coming back and the fact that we lost a youth pastor. Contact me if you would like to hear more of this wonderful area.
WOW, that is serendipity at its finest. Wouldn’t that be something? Very kind of you to share that for Marian.
Glad you are taking your Opa’s and your “bargain” chandelier from the dining room. Look forward to seeing the spaces they light up next. Hopefully, because I’m hoping with you, in an old home.
I second your point of looking locally – I had a pineapple chandelier with matching sconces, and when I was ready to rehome it, no antique stores or barn sale locations were interested – so, we ended up putting it in with a bunch of other stuff in an auction, and it went for $10. That was fine with me; I just wanted it to go to someone who truly wanted it – so my tip is, go to the (non-fancy) auction sites too!
You were wise to take the “keeper” chandelier down and replace it before you put the house on the market. My husband and I almost lost a real estate sale over our kitchen chandelier. We wanted to take it and the new owners wanted it to convey…the realtor solved the problem by purchasing a lovely fixture for the new owners. After that incident, I always take anything down that does not convey to avoid any conflict.
We sold our house a year ago. Imagine my surprise when my daughter in law purchased a small chandy I had left in the home because I was unable to figure out how to get it down.
Can’t wait to find out where you land.
So glad you are keeping your dining room chandelier and your Opa’s stunning chandelier. It is truly irreplaceable. I am looking forward to following along on this next journey in your life.
I certainly understand. I have a few ceiling light fixtures that will definitely go with me, should I ever move. One is our dining room chandelier, the others are our master bedroom ceiling light, and my hall ceiling light. I had a difficult time finding just the right fixtures, but unlike you, I paid an arm and a leg for them.
Well I learned a new word… ‘convey’. I’ve never seen it in this context
I LOVE your chandeliers and I was wondering what you’d do with them in the move.
I’m always on the lookout for one for my dining room. Hoping I’ll get lucky and get a great bargain.
I have two gorgeous Italian chandeliers. They have gone to every house we have moved to. We always took the chandeliers down before the house went on the market. No way were we going to have to worry about someone saying, no chandelier, no sale.
I, like so many others, can’t wait to see where you move to. Fingers crossed it is Raleigh!!!
I was looking on line for chandeliers and decided they were way to expensive! I managed to find one locally for $35. It didn’t have the prisms any more. Luckily I had been buying them to use for different projects and had enough left over to fill it up. Score! Not $4. but not bad!
I’m so glad you are keeping these two. They are so beautiful. I’m excited to see where you end up and follow on that journey.
Yes, some chandeliers are worth taking along through life. 🙂 I love the colorful stained glass tiffany lights. There is a town here in PA called Mount Gretna…an old town right on a lake, and all the houses are like beach cottages. Many of them have the stained glass tiffany lights and white Christmas lights hanging around the porches. We would go to the lake and swim as teenagers and then walk around the houses at dusk and I remember thinking that, someday, I was going to have colorful tiffany lamps all through my house the way those cottages did and white Christmas lights that I could leave up all year….so I bought a few large hanging Tiffany lights (second hand, of course) in the style and colors I wanted after searching for those specific colors, and they add that cozy colorful glow I love. Definitely not the trend, not very vintage or antique in a classy, elegant sense…I guess more cottage style, but I absolutely love them. Finding “that perfect lighting” can be a lot harder and very expensive, so definitely worth it.
I hope you find the perfect house for your next journey. Many blessings to you as God leads you on your next adventure! Happy for you all that you are moving closer to family. I felt disappointed when you moved away. Nothing can replace family, good family. They can be an irreplacable joy and security to us and to our kids in this life, as well as us to them as they get older. So happy for you all and for your parents. I have followed you a long time, back when I had a blog that I kept up with, and when you had Furniture Feature day or that type of linky party. Such a fun time that was. Maybe someday I will get back to blogging as my kids are growing up. 🙂 I love your style, your beautiful murals. You always inspire. Thanks for sticking with blogging and being an encouraging inspiration for all these years. <3
Our current house came with a very similar chandelier but it needs some TLC. Our house has a lot of black and white, and we have black lampshades on it courtesy of the previous owner. I think I am going to lighten it up for summer by taking them down! And you’ve inspired me to order replacement crystals. Plus I’m realizing that we are putting a super similar table in our eat in kitchen. It’s helpful to see ours to imagine what it could look like minus the orange poly. I just have to figure out how to make it more Victorian meets modern and not farmhouse or French country! Thanks for all you do! ❤️
My mom had that same chandelier. After she passed her house was remodeled for my niece who had different taste for decorating and the chandelier ended up in the shed. I came across it again several years later and lots of the crystals were missing. I took the remaining ones and made Christmas ornaments using fishing line to string them together. I love hanging them on my tree every year – reminds me of my mom and her love of beautiful things.
So glad it worked out for you! These things always do have a way of working themselves out, don’t they? Years ago, I had a similar situation of not wanting to leave my custom brass DR chandelier when I sold my house, so I purchased a lovely, creamy porcelain replacement fixture (think Lenox color) at the Junior League sale and installed it prior to showing. As it turned out, I liked the replacement even more than the brass one, but of course I took the brass one with me. It taught me a valuable lesson! I still think about that pretty fixture with my charming blue and cream custom shades on it. BTW, as it happens, I never did use that solid brass chandelier again. It sat boxed in the garage until we sold it!
PS…I never regretted holding on to it for so long, even though we never found a place for it in our new house. 🙂