Add some sparkle to your New Year with this star light chandelier
Has there ever been a year that we’ve been more glad to see the back of?! Nope, didn’t think so. Here’s hoping for things to be better in the world in 2021, and I hope that in whatever way you’re bringing in the new year, that you take a moment to pat yourself on the back and appreciate how much you’ve got through this year.
Much like many, we’re in Tier 4 restrictions here, so we’re seeing in 2021 very quietly. To try and make it feel a little more celebratory, I decided to have a go at making this star light chandelier. I’d had some sort of chandelier in mind for a while, and originally thought about hanging Christmas decorations from it. Then I saw some mini star-shaped fairy lights on Amazon and I knew instantly I wanted to make it for our home-based New Years.
It was somewhat inspired by Angela Rose’s hanging ceiling stars (have a look at them here), as well as those industrial cage ceiling lights that seem to be everywhere. You could make this for any occasion, and could use any type of fairy light to suit your theme. I am so happy with how this turned out - I think this has to be one of my favourite things I’ve ever made - and hope you love it as much as I do. If you fancy having a go yourself, keep reading for the step by step instructions!
Use an old frame, or create a light weight frame yourself using lengths of wood. I made mine to be just slightly smaller than our table (70cm x 40cm) by sticking 2 x 70cm lengths and 2 x 40cm lengths together with wood glue.
If you’ve made your own frame, leave overnight to properly set. Then, paint all over your frame with a black paint. I used Rustoleum Furniture Paint in black.
Once completely dry, cut off lengths of the clear nylon string and tie to each corner of the frame. Secure with hot glue if needed.
Create a loop at each end of nylon string and secure with a knot. Grab some command strips and place each of these loops in the middle of the ‘teeth’ of one of the strips before pressing another command strip on top.
Unpeel one sticky side of each of the command strips and use this to secure your frame to your ceiling. If you need a ladder for this, be sure to get someone else to help!
If your frame isn’t hanging flat, work out which corners need to be higher or lower and adjust by wrapping more nylon between the command strips.
Grab your fairy lights and starting with the end without the battery pack, wind the lights around the edge and across the middle of your frame (or however you want!).
Take another command strip and secure the battery pack somewhere discreet. As you can see here, we have skylights and so I stuck our battery pack in the alcove so it wasn’t so easily seen.
