Decorating Tips from Nina Part IV: Chandeliers

Glass

Words of a poem should be glass
But glass so simple-subtle its shape
Is nothing but the shape of what it holds.

A glass spun for itself is empty,
Brittle, at best Venetian trinket.
Embossed glass hides the poem of its absence.

Words should be looked through, should be windows.
The best word were invisible.
The poem is the thing the poet thinks.

If the impossible were not,
And if the glass, only the glass,
Could be removed, the poem would remain. 

Robert Francis

It’s very hard to get a ‘shabby chic’ room without a chandelier.  As I said on The Nate Show, a room is a volume, not just four walls.  Think about filling the ceiling void with a double-duty item like a crystal chandelier, which gives light and intense beauty.  Up the romantic charm with a candlelight model. 

Can’t afford or find an antique chandelier?   Supplement the prisms on a new model with vintage crystal prisms hunted down at flea markets and ‘rust & dust’ antique centers.  Yard sale finds from the 1950s – 1970s can be tarnished to “Scandinavian black” with a treatment of Jax Pewter Black metal tarnish (sticker shock warning: hazmat delivery fee of $50).  Pictured above are just my old white chandys, updated by stripping, patinating, and adding $14 new glass ‘necks’ from online lamp suppliers for that ‘Nina Nordic’ look.

Until next time, stay shabby!

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