DIY School House Electric Chandelier

I have a thing for lighting, all lighting. My husband would call it a problem probably because I swap out lights like most people swap out throw pillows. So I knew he wasn’t going to go for the $600 price tag on my latest light obsession. Now I don’t take “NO” as an answer I see it as a challenge (great as an entrepreneurial adult really terrifying for my parents during the teenage years). After a lot of brainstorming and a few false starts I figured it out, its not terribly difficult but it is time consuming.

Heres what you will need (these are not affilate links)

– Drill with

– Coping Saw

– Electrical Neutral Pigtail

– Large (23″) Emboridery Hoop

– Rustoleum Brass Spray Paint

– Flat Light Canopy (Brass or Black)

– Twisted Electric Cord

– 6 Brass Light Sockets

– 6 Decorative Light Bulbs

– Small Wood Disc (mine were from Hobby Lobby in a smaller quantity this is just an example)

– E-6000

– Super handy electrically minded better half or electrician

Once you have everything you need its pretty easy. I started by taking the screw closure attachment on the outer embroidery hoop off and used the coping saw to cut about an inch out of the hoop. This doesn’t have to be perfect since you are taking the outer hoop and placing it inside the inner embroidery hoop. No need to use an adhesive here since the cords will end up keeping them together.

Next use the brass spray paint and paint the embroidery hoop, you will probably need about 3 full coats. I also did a light spray on the canopy (after I drilled the holes) and sockets as well just to make everything really cohesive.

While the hoop dries you can drill your canopy and cut your cord. I drilled 6 holes about 3″ apart around the canopy about 1/2″ away from the outside. Once that is done take your wood disc and use the E-6000 to attach it to the center hole so that it covers it. Now is when you can do a few light coats of the brass spray paint (or black if you went that route).

Your ceiling height will determine the length of cord you will need. We have 12′ ceilings so I cut mine at 90″ each. This allowed for a 42″ drop from the ceiling and left my longest dangling bulb at 26″. Keep in mind you need a little extra cord to wire your sockets and canopy, we lost about 8″ total for both.

This is the part where the handy electrically inclined person comes in (or if your smart just hire an electrician). My husband wired the sockets first then threaded the wires through the holes of the canopy taking all the black wires (hot wire) and connecting them to the corresponding black wire in the pigtail and then all the white wires (neutral wire) to the corresponding white wire in the pigtail. Then take the pigtail and connect it to the electrical box in your ceiling. Another disclaimer: this is how my husband and I did it because we have a ton of experience hanging lights (refer back to the light obsession part of this post) I would highly recommend you hire an electrician to do this if you don’t know exactly what you are doing. If you burn your house down trying I am not responsible!

Now comes the fun part, take the embroidery hoop and place it at whatever length from your ceiling you want it to be and start wrapping the wires around the hoop. I did about 2 turns on each just to hold the hoop in place while I fiddle with the exact look I wanted. Each wire should be wrapped different amounts so that you get staggered lengths hanging down.

Finally screw in your bulbs and tada you are done!!