Shiny Chandeliers

Hello! I’m back from my Yorkshire break now- the Yorkshire moors are just beautiful! We stayed in a beautiful Edwardian house, and I felt very regal… so while I’m in a regal mood, I thought I’d write about a particularly regal type of lighting…


Photo from Debbie's English Treasures

Lighting is very important to the feel and look of a home. But our light fixtures often fall prey to cobwebs and the gathering of lots of dust, and unfortunately dusty lighting just makes a home look old and wary. With most light fixtures in the house, they simply need a quick dust with a feather duster once a week to keep them shiny. But chandeliers are a different story all together. Many people put off cleaning chandeliers because of their intricacy, but they also gather a lot more dust and grime because of their many parts. Luckily if done properly a chandelier will only need cleaning once every year to two years. So there’s a bit of an art to looking after a chandelier. My friend Debbie from Debbie’s English Treasures has very kindly sent me some information regarding cleaning these intricate light fittings so that they can once again do their job to sparkle, shine and impress! (This photo above is of one of Debbie's gorgeous chandeliers)
Oh, and remember to use lint-free cloths or you’ll have to double your efforts!

How to clean a chandelier:

• The best way to clean a chandelier is to disassemble it. But before you start take a photo so that you can go back and see where all the pieces go.
• Now turn off the light, and tape over the light switch so that no one turns it on whilst you are working on it. And place a lofty quilt underneath the chandelier to catch any pendants you may drop.
• Carefully remove all the trimmings and light bulbs. Place the pendants only in a colander (preferably a plastic one) and use a mild washing up detergent to wash them. Rinse with hot water.
• Wipe down the bulbs, and replace the ones that aren’t working.
• To clean the body of the chandelier, start buy dusting it with a soft cloth. Then use a glass cleaner sprayed onto the cloth to wipe and polish all the pieces. To remove grime from an antique chandelier you can use Brasso.
• Make sure every nook an cranny has been wiped including the bulbs and candle tubes, then return the hanging pieces where the belong working from the inside out. And wear cotton or latex gloves to avoid fingerprints.

Enjoy your shiny clean magical light. Here are some pretty chandelier’s for inspiration.
Left to right
Row1: A pretty and small chandelier with round crystals from the Pottery Barn; This is one of Debbie's chandeliers- Debbie is a real vintage treasure hunter!; A beautiful and very different chandelier available from Vivre , but you'll need deep pockets for this one.

Row 2: Maisons du Monde do this very shiny chandelier; this pretty chandelier with flowers is from An Enchanted Cottage ; a hassle free way and modern alternative to a real chandelier is this vinyl decal from ScribbleIt.

Row 3: Another vinyl decal chandelier- i just love these and this one is from Single Stone Studio; a chandelier with lots of sparkle from John Lewis ; some colourful chandeliers from Incidence.

Thanks for all your help and photos Debbie!!! You're a star!

PS: Lesley from the blog Notes from my day pointed out that she couldn't help thinking about the 'Only fools and horses' epsiode where they are meant to clean the chandelier. I've just found it on Youtube and thought I MUST post it here - I've not actually seen this episode before, but it's brilliant! Thanks Lesley!