Driftwood Chandelier

My husband and I started on this project more than a year before it was finished. We took our time and developed the idea and worked on it after work hours and weekends.

He has some experience in woodworking and electrical installation, and I had none at that time.

I will not include all the steps that will help you re-create this project as it was a work that took many floundering paths and we were very experimental. The project will depend a lot on the wood that you are able to find, the size of your living room etc.

I am thrilled how it turned out. It's definitely stunning.

• Two or three pieces of driftwood. We spent a lot of time trying to find the right pieces, tried finding on the beaches around Toronto, etc. We did find a few very nice branches but somehow it just didn't work. This process took a long time. Eventually we found on Kijiji a farm site which was selling driftwood that were collected from the area, in Hamilton. We bought four huge pieces but only ended up using two of them.
• Multiple Adjustable DIY Spider Pendant Lighting Chandelier from Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B015VWPMYK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
• Oblong Pendant Shade Replacement We looked for a long time to find the shade replacement for drop chandeliers that we liked, and found a set from Home Depot that is not available any longer. Here it is in a different colour: https://www.homedepot.com/p/2-1-4-in-Fitter-Charcoal-Swirl-Glass-Oblong-Pendant-Lamp-Shade-860765/319231091?
• Light bulbs
• 4 heavy duty suspension hooks
• Eye lag bolts for mounting on the ceiling joist.
• Tools:
• Saw to shape the driftwood
• Long shaft spade drill bits and drill
• Screwdrivers, wire stripers for the electrical.
• Wire staples

This without a doubt was the hardest step to do. We emptied our living room and placed the driftwood pieces on the floor with the part that would be against the ceiling facing down. We then whittled the undersides of the two pieces until they were more or less flush against the floor. This was done in many stages.

The chandelier is not flush against the ceiling, it hangs from a few hooks. Depending on how your driftwood looks, you may want to hang it lower, or try to mount as flush as possible which will require additional engineering.

As we were cutting the driftwood we encountered so many ants and spiders and potato bugs and many other bugs I didn't know existed in Ontario. It was a bit unsettling thinking that we're going to have these bugs hang around for a while in our livingroom. However after moving the pieces to the patio for a little while the little animals exited the driftwood. Still, potato bugs were found through the house for a couple of weeks in unexpected places.

We then decided where the box of the lighting pendant is going to be under the driftwood and made sure that there was enough space between ceiling and the driftwood and a bit extra space so that we can manipulate the wires.

We first dismantled the lighting pendant sockets from the DYI Spider Pendant Lighting Chandelier so that the wires were freed.

We then selected on the driftwood where we would like the pendants to come out of and the path through which we'll pull the wires from the box along the body of the driftwood and along any branch. We marked those places with painter's tape. We took a look to make sure that the distribution of the holes is balanced and that we would be able to hide the wire behind the branches or pull the wire through any existing cavities in the wood to make its way to the hole.

In many cases we selected natural knots in the wood as the exit points for the wires to make it look more natural. Where natural channels didn't exist we used the long shaft spade bit to create a hole through to the back.

When we were satisfied we pulled the wires through the driftwood to test that there were no issues. Then we took the wires out of the drilled holes so that they can be assembled after both the driftwood and electrical box are mounted up on the ceiling.

We then installed the electric box for the lighting and mounted the box on the ceiling according to the instructions it came with. We turned off electricity to the entire part of the house for this work, to feel safe while working with the wires hanging around us.

As a first step we identified on the ceiling where are the ceiling joists. The chandelier is very heavy and without securing it in the joints it will fall sooner or later. We marked the joits with painter's tape. Then we lifted the driftwood and matched where the joints would intersect the driftwood and marked that with painter's tape.

We marked on the upper part of the driftwood pieces two spots each for the heavy duty hooks to be installed on the driftwood. These spots had to be in parts of the driftwood that were solid, with no rot, so that the chandelier is secure for years to come.

We installed on the ceiling four eye bolts in the configuration that matches the hooks on the driftwood. Make sure it's mounted on the joist!! in case I haven't mentioned this before.

We lifted the driftwood pieces (two people standing on a very very sturdy dining table) and hooked it up on the ceiling hooks, in two spots threading the matching eye bolt with a third bolt, and other two spots putting an S shaped hook through the bolts.

Now with both the electrical box and the driftwood mounted, we pulled the electrical wires through the driftwood and played around with the height of each of the wires. Once we were satisfied with the arrangement and height of each of the wires, we secured them in place on the driftwood as best as we could so that the wires can't be easily seen, and also used wire staples so that they don't lower.

We then hooked back up the socket holders on the wires and set up the lamp shades. Depending on the socket holders and the lamp shades you choose, this may require additional engineering if they don't match. Ours needed a bit of extra care.

Screw in light bulbs, turn back electricity to the dining room, turn on the lights and enjoy!