Obsession: Vintage French Empire Chandeliers

I'm going public by admitting here my obsession with vintage chandeliers, specifically those in the French empire style.  LOVE them!  ADORE them!  WANT one! 

 Isn't she lovely?  Image credit

Only three problems: (1) finding one in good condition, (2) finding one in the color family I desire (aquas, of course), and (3) price.  Of course, it is to be expected that (3) increases exponentially the more that (1) and (2) apply.   I've found some lovely vintage/antique chandeliers in this style from time to time on eBay, but the good ones run into the high hundreds to thousands of dollars.  I even took a trip to Bountiful -- no, not Bountiful, Utah! the antique store in next-door-to-me Venice (California) -- and was astounded to find an empire style chandelier in moderate condition that was marked at $6,000!  (BTW, is that store even open any longer?  I don't know how they could stay open in this economy!  When I visited one Sunday afternoon, there was no one besides me and two staff people in the store.  Their prices are OUTRAGEOUS, but then again I guess it is the elite, not "real" people like me, that shop there ...)

But I digress.  

I also really love the look of an antique chandelier hung inside a vintage birdcage stand.  It is such a sweet, shabby-chic look, and also one that is very functional for those of us who are renting and either cannot, or do not want to, hang a chandelier from the ceiling.  Using a birdcage stand also lets you position the chandelier exactly where you want it.

Gorgeous, yes?  Image from Marcy at Antique Chase blog.

So, in order to obtain this look, I have so far purchased three (yes, THREE) vintage birdcage stands!  These things can also get very pricey, but I managed to accumulate three of them off eBay, and the only reason I even bought any of them is because they were relatively inexpensive, all things considered, even with shipping included.  

But I still don't have a chandelier to hang inside any of the three birdcage stands.

Ok, alright, that's an outright lie.  I actually DO have two crystal chandeliers, both of which are quite lovely.  One of them I paid quite a bit of money for off eBay several years ago, but it is still packed away in its shipping box and I cannot even remember what it looks like, other than the metal has a goldish/brass finish and it is roundish in shape with a spray of raining crystals at the top.  In fact, I'm not even sure where I put the thing!


The other was given to me by my friend Josh, in addition to a very cute shabby chic drop leaf dining table his mom actually went dumpster diving for (a lady after my own heart!), in exchange for my slip covering a sofa for him (trust me, he got the better end of that deal!). I could see the potential in this pretty fixture he was going to give to Goodwill.  It had a brass finish that was not to my taste, but otherwise it was quite pretty with its leafy detail.  Interestingly, I later learned that this style chandelier is called a "birdcage" chandelier, and I managed to Google it and find an image that is of my exact chandelier:

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I disassembled the thing and painted the metal part an heirloom white color, and am considering distressing it rather heavily to show some of the brass finish.  Because I am the world's worst procrastinator, it is currently shoved inside an extra large plastic storage bin, completely unfinished (I sure as heck hope I haven't misplaced any of the crystals!).  I need to get an electrician to cut the cord and hanging chain WAY down (they are currently something like 25 feet in length!) and add a plug to the end and an in-line switch to turn the thing on and off.  


All that said, the problem with THIS particular chandelier is that it is quite large -- 23 inches in length, not including the crystals at the bottom, and not one of my three (yes, THREE) birdcage stands is large enough to hold it.  Also, I REALLY REALLY REALLY want a French empire style chandelier!


Because my favorite color is aqua/turquoise, I've been coveting a chandelier like this one (LOVE the "beach glass" look of this one!):
         

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or this one:

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or even this one (which is lovely, but admittedly my least favorite of the three):

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All of these chandeliers are too big, so none of them would fit in any one of my three (yes, THREE) birdcage stands, not to mention that they are all prohibitively expensive (like in the thousands of dollars).  I suppose if I had a posh beach house, I'd also have the wherewithal to purchase one of these fixtures for it, and you bet I would be placing an order for one of them!  However, I'm just a girl renting an apartment in West LA, so something different is in order.


Stay tuned to see what I have up my sleeve.  I have a rather large project ahead of me in my quest for an aqua empire style chandelier, and hopefully my procrastination will take a back seat and let me get started on it!