Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Candeliers


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The other day I was treasure hunting at a couple of my favorite places, Goodwill and St. Vincent DePaul Thrift Store, when I had this idea. I’m always seeing old metal candle holders that are missing their candles. As a frequent shopper to these establishments, I found myself noticing the same metal pieces laying on the shelf, visit after visit. Obviously, at one time, these candle holders had some sort of glass insert to hold a tea light or candle, but along the way had been separated. So, in an attempt to help one find its mate so that it might be sold some day (like I had nothing better to do), I picked up one of these metal forms and began the search – to no avail.IMG_3147 

Then it hit me! 


Over the years, I’ve been de-cluttering my sitting around stuff - which was probably exactly how these candle holders ended up at a second hand store.  (I’m sure my minimalist husband is laughing reading this statement,  but it IS true!  I DO de-clutter.)  I declare that I de-clutter!   So, these candle holders that “sit around” weren’t appealing to me since I’m trying to limit the sitting around stuff.  But I started thinking about the candle holders that are hanging in my dining room windows which I love.  I got them when we lived in Europe and I noticed a lot of European families hung candles in or near their windows, or had them sitting in their windowsill.  Maybe this is because of the lack of daylight in the winter, and the candles help to bring a little bit of light in and mimic the sun.   But they also look cozy and romantic at night.  At any rate, when I turned the candle holders upside down, all of the sudden I envisioned a candelier.  I’m not sure if that’s a real word since spell check wants to replace it, but if it’s not, I think it should be.  When turned upside down, the legs of the candle holders made a perfect place to attach chain for hanging them.  There is also an abundance of glassware at these second hand stores so after digging around a bit, I found several random pieces that weren’t necessarily candle holders, but that fit perfectly into the metal frames.  Some of the glassware pieces are even crystal which I think will be really sparkly with a candle in them.  After bringing them home and adding some bling, I think they look sweet and I really love that they have a new use.  And they aren’t just sitting around anymore destined for a landfill.  These are just a couple of examples of my candeliers!   I think they would be great hanging indoors, but they would really cool in an outdoor space as well.


As always, thanks for stopping by! 
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