Let’s Restore an Antique Brass & Crystal Chandelier!

I have been searching for an antique brass & crystal chandelier for ages! We live out West and, unlike the rest of the Nation, do not have a lot of antiques around here. I had also browsed online and the few I found on Ebay were above what I wanted to pay, so I kept looking.

When I finally found locally, it was on Facebook Marketplace and listed for $400. That was way more than I had wanted to pay so I kept looking. After a few weeks, the price on Marketplace had dropped to $300…still more than I wanted to pay, but I hadn’t found any others, so I contacted the seller. The photo on the post was similar to the one below. I asked for a current picture and was told that the picture was from the internet because the chandelier had been stored away in a box. Ah well, it was about a 30 minute drive, so I decided to go see what it looked like.

Let’s buy an antique brass & crystal chandelier!

Did I want a DIY chandelier?

Assess the project

When I got home, I pulled out all the pieces to the chandelier and laid them on my dining room table. The first thing I noticed was that the main wire was pieced; not once, but twice. That didn’t seem safe, so I decided I would be replacing it – something else I had never done. Before taking any action, I took pictures of how the main section of the fixture was put together. This really came in handy when I was assembling the pieces later.

You Tube Video

I have a full video on this process on my You Tube channel

Step 1 – Disassemble main part of fixture

While all the arms had been removed from the fixture, the main section was still intact. In order to replace the main wire, I would need to disassemble that part as well. Before taking it apart, I used wire cutters to cut the wire where the chain was attached to the top of the fixture. I then pulled the wire out of the chain and the rest of the wire from the finial. Again, I took pictures of the order the pieces connected to each other.

*To determine whether or something is made of solid brass as opposed to brass colored metal, grab a magnet. If the magnet attaches to the metal, it is not solid brass. A magnet will not attach to solid brass. Although I was confident that my chandelier was solid brass, I did confirm that with a magnet. The magnet stuck to the parts that connected the finial pieces but not to any of the other pieces.

Step 2 – Clean the crystals

The crystals were in a ziploc bag and were pretty dusty. To clean them, I filled a plastic bowl with hot water, vinegar, and Dawn dish soap. Using a toothbrush and sponge, I scrubbed them, rinsed them and dried them with a soft cloth. There were 36 crystals. When I counted the places on the fixture where crystals would hang, I realized that I only had about 1/2 of what I needed. I ordered more on Amazon and continued cleaning the fixture.

Step 3 – Clean the brass

Step 4 – Oil the brass

In my research, I saw someone using warm Linseed oil to shine brass. I didn’t have any Linseed oil at the house so I searched to see what I could use as a substitute. One of the oils they recommended was Avocado oil, which I did have on hand. I warmed about 1/3 of a cup of oil in a saucepan then applied it to the brass using an artist brush. I then buffed the piece with a soft cloth. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much green was on the rag after polishing each piece. The brass looked so much better after being oiled!

What a difference a little cleaning and oiling can make! Below are pics of one of the arms before being cleaned, after being cleaned, then after being oiled.

Step 5 – Touch up paint on the socket covers

The painted drips on the socket covers were worn so I did a little touch up. Using a small artist brush, I applied bronze craft paint. It took a bit of time, but they look like new now!

Step 6 – Attach arms

The arms were easy to attach. They each had a nut and washer attached to them. I removed those, inserted the wires through the hole in the cap then set the washer over the threads on the arm & threaded the nut. To make this step easier, after I had 2 of the arms attached, I set the cap in a plastic container, so I wasn’t balancing it on my lap. When all the arms were attached, I used a wrench to tighten the nuts.

Step 7 – Assemble main section

Step 8 – Wire arms to main wire

As I mentioned, this chandelier has 10 arms which means there are 20 wires to work with. When I went to the hardware store to buy the main wire, I took one of the arms with me. The employee who was helping me with the wire and I discussed the best way to rewire the arms to the main wire. I was going to twist the ends of all 10 neutral wires together then twist them onto the neutral side of the main wire (then follow that process with the hot wires). He suggested that I do two sets of 5 wires as opposed to all 10 at once.

To make this process easier, I flipped the fixture upside down and set it in a tall trashcan. I then followed the advice of the Ace employee. I twisted two sets of 5 white/neutral wires together, then did the same with the black/hot wires. He had also instructed me on how to attach the 4 sets to the main wire by attaching a lead to each set. I cut two 3″ sections of the main wire then divided those in 1/2 so I had 2 neutral leads and 2 hot leads. I then took the two neutral wires and attached one to each of the set of 5 neutral wires. After twisting those two together, I attached them to the main neutral wire. I followed the same process with the two sets of 5 hot wires, attaching the hot side to them and then to the main hot wire. I secured all 4 sets of wires with wire nuts.

Step 9 – Attach ground wire, hang chandelier

Step 10 – Attach small arms & crystals

Once the decorative arms were attached, I moved on to adding the remaining crystals. Initially, I hung the lower crystals from a chain that I attached between each set of arms but then decided hang those crystals directly on the arms. Both hubby and I prefer the 2nd method. I do like both options so if I want, I can switch between them.

The fixture came without lightbulbs. I bought LED ones but didn’t like the way they looked so I switched to incandescent. The lightbulbs are 25W and dimmable. We often have the bulbs dimmed in the evening so we can enjoy the chandelier from the living room.

Finished Chandelier

Thoughts on the project

I was really nervous about this project! As I said, I have never wired or rewired a light fixture, so this was all new territory for me. But, I have to say, this was SO much fun! Hunting for an antique brass & crystal chandelier was fun, finding an antique brass & crystal chandelier was thrilling, taking the fixture apart was easy. Rewiring the fixture was interesting. Fitting the brass pieces back together was rewarding. Seeing the finished chandelier actually working was AMAZING! I hope my tackling this project will give you the courage to try something new too! If you think you will, let me know in the Comment section below. 🙂

Chandelier: Before, during, after

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