Restoration - RE-Creation Orb Chandelier

The house of my dreams came with A LOT of things that I wanted to change.  Many of which was the GOLD lighting all over the house!  No offense to GOLD lighting, some are gorgeous - its just not my style.  Unfortunately, Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn are my style...  But, with me staying home with the babes right now - I cannot afford those gorgeous lights I see on my frequent trips to the mall.  So, I decided to try my hand at making one of the items I saw at Restoration.  

Restoration Hardware $1195...

This is the chandelier that caught my eye!!  The Foucault's Orb Light from Restoration Hardware!  How cool is this light!  I am so into the Industrial - rustic look right now!  Oil rubbed bronze and reclaimed wood are slowly becoming a part of the decor in my home.  

 I made this for under $50!

Let me just say, keeping the price as low as possible is the name of the game for me!  In fact, it has become a GAME for me!  To see how "cheap" I can keep my projects!  And then I brag about it to everyone that sees my projects- lol!  

At first I thought, I was going to use old window blinds.  I thought that I could take one apart and bend them into the shape of an orb.  But I couldn't find any in the length that I needed.  So I made a trip to my local "Habitat for Humanity Restore" to see what I could find to use in my chandelier.  I asked a guy that worked there if he had anything metal or aluminum that was long and that I could bend into large circles.  He took me in the back and we came out with 7 aluminum door - air shield  or weather strips.  He sold them to me for $7 (for all of them)!!! 

 I took my aluminum strips home and put on my gloves and started bending...  

One great things about using these weather strips is that there are pre-drilled holes.  So it made it easier to start making my loops with the holes already there.  Once I looped them, I had screws on hand to put in there.  Once I had all my loops, I put them in the shape that I wanted, into my orb....

Now, I'm not gonna lie!!!  This was a lot of work!  My hands hurt afterwards from bending these things.  I also made numerous trips to Home Depot trying to figure out what to use to make this thing!!!  So my learning curve is your gain people!!  ;)  You can see from the pic above, I had the middle loop on the outside, this was moved into the inside after many attempts at getting this to work!  

And see in this pic, how the ends of the loops are "sticking out".  I had to figure what to use to get these to lay down for me and make it a perfect round loop.  I ended up using these screws that had a loop attached to them that tightened as you turn the screw.  I found them in the plumbing department at Home Depot.  

They worked really well to get them to lay flat.  Once I had it in the correct shape - I ended up replacing the large screws with EYE loop screws.  This was to give it a more decorative look then just screws.  And the plumbing screws I really ended up falling in love with - because I felt that it gave it a more Industrial look!  So, I used even more than I needed for an additional decorative effect!  Once I had the orb made - Now I needed a light to go in it.  I was not mentally prepared to try to tackle a light assembly yet - so I made a trip back to the Habitat Store.  I bought this chandelier for $20 and took it apart and painted it with Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze along with the Orb I had created.  

I added the basketball to show size of light.

My VERY TALENTED and  HANDSOME hubby drilled a hole in the top and put the light fixture through the hole and then we hung it! 

 I am very pleased with how it turned it out!  You can still have all the things you want....  Sometimes, though, you may have to work a little harder to get them...;)

Thanks for reading and feel free to ask any questions!!