We've been very busy lately, with all of the wall paper removal and painting. And now, we've moved into Phase II of home renovation. You know, the stage when you get so fed up with everything that you cave and decide to pay someone else to do the stuff. So, a painter comes on Thursday! Hooray!
Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that the DIY home projects are finished. We've just changed gears. In several places in the house we have lovely antique light fixtures. They might even be original to the home, which would date them around 1930. However, they are in serious need of cleaning. It's entirely possible that they haven't been cleaned, well, ever. That's 82 years of dust, people. The one in the dining room is big and needs lots of TLC, so I decided to start with the one in our bedroom, which we were planning to move to the foyer.
As you can see, it looks a little dingy. We SOB got it down from the ceiling, and then my work began. First, I took off each individual crystal, which is actually two crystals connected with a thin wire. Once the crystals were off, I scrubbed the brass with SOB's tooth brush. Don't worry, he was in need of a new one anyway. As I scrubbed, the crystals soaked in a vinegar/water bath. After I was done scrubbing, I rinsed the crystals and then dipped them into a water/alcohol solution to make them dry without spots. I laid them on a towel for a few minutes while I looked for some needle nose pliers, and then I got to work on re-assembling.
After an hour, I had everything back together and nice and secure. SOB got to work removing the old light fixture, and a few hours (and one trip to Home Depot) later, it was up and shining gloriously in our foyer.
I am so pleased with our work, but then I think about how this project took us AN ENTIRE DAY to complete. And then I cry a little bit thinking about the dining room chandelier.
And I haven't even mentioned the MAJOR KITCHEN DEMOLITION/RENOVATION OF 2013!
2 comments:
Dave's aunt just cleaned her mother-in-law's dining room chandelier and it took her nearly a month of working a couple hours per day to do. Mind you, they are all South Philly Italians, so you can only imagine how monstrous this thing is. But, it now hangs in her dining room and it's gorgeous. In a South Philly Italian kind of way...
I got rid of the 1960s chandeliers in our place. When checking ebay to see if I could sell them I suddenyl came upon the fact that you are meant to clean your chandelier annually. They even make spray on, drip off stuff to do it! Who knew?
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