DIY Gold Spray Painted Chandelier

Today I’m letting y’all in on a little secret about my dining room chandelier. Although you probably already guessed it by the name of this blog post ; )

That’s right. My gold dining room chandelier – the chandelier that I get asked about more than any other light fixture in my home – is spray painted!

Dining Room Chandelier: The Before

Here’s a look at the dining room the day we moved in and the pitiful chandelier that came standard in our home. I can’t decide if that chandelier makes me want to laugh or cry. Maybe a little of both.

We opted for the standard builder-grade lighting when we built our new home, knowing that we would replace the light fixtures ourselves. We either replaced or painted all of the light fixtures in our first home as well, so this was nothing new to us.

Hanging a light fixture is actually fairly straight forward and anyone can learn to do it. We had a lot of practice in our first foreclosure fixer upper, so replacing the light fixtures in our new home was a breeze. Hubby and I have installed every single light fixture in our home and it has been a big money saver.

I lucked out in my dining room because Mother and Daddy were making room for a playroom in their house by getting rid of their existing dining room furniture (oh the things Grandparents do) and I so graciously offered to take it off their hands : ) It’s so special to me because it was their first dining room set. Stay tuned for the dining room furniture makeover!

Mother also happened to have an old chandelier in the basement that she needed to get rid of and she asked me if I wanted it. She used to have an antique booth at Queen of Hearts Antiques in Alpharetta, Georgia so her basement usually became my favorite go-to shopping spot 🙂

At first I wasn’t sure what in the world I was going to do with it. I wasn’t in love with the color (you can’t tell from the photo but it was actually a dark green). But I loved the shape and size of it. It reminded me of this popular chandelier from Ballard Designs (one of my very favorite places!) so I was determined to make it work.

The Best Gold Spray Paint

The easy, inexpensive solution? Spray paint!

However, all spray paint is not created equal. Especially gold spray paint. It can look really bad, really fast.

I wanted the chandelier to pair with my Great-Grandmother’s gorgeous antique gold mirror. So cheap, plastic-looking spray paint was not exactly the look I was going for.

I did a ton of research on Pinterest in order to find the best gold spray paint out there. I ultimately bought three different brands of gold spray paint and brought them home in order to test them for myself.

This Rustoleum Metallic gold spray paint was the CLEAR winner. If you’re looking for the perfect gold spray paint, look no further. This is it. It goes on flawlessly, does not look at all “plastic-y,” and it so closely resembles the antique gold on my great-Grandmother’s mirror that has stood the test of time for many years.

Gold Spray Painted Chandelier: The Before and After

I took the chandelier out in the backyard, gave it a few light coats of gold spray paint, and oh my gosh the difference it made!

Gold Spray Painted Dining Room Chandelier

I love the classic elegance it adds to the room and how it so perfectly complements my Great-Grandmother’s mirror.

The chandelier itself is very large and makes quite a statement, but on it’s own I thought it was lacking something to balance it out on top.

We bought a ceiling medallion from Lowe’s, gave it a coat of spray paint, and viola! It adds instant elegance and balances out the large chandelier.

Overall, not bad for my hand-me-down gold dining room chandelier, huh? : )

Here is one last look at where we started and where we are now. Such an improvement!

As I’m always saying, it just goes to show that you don’t need to spend a fortune to create a home you love! Get creative and think outside the box.

If your Mother doesn’t happen to have chandelier inventory in her basement 😉 , look to some of my favorite places to score your own budget-friendly chandelier: thrift stores, antique stores, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, garage sales and estate sales. You just may find your own diamond in the rough that is calling for a coat of spray paint!