Tristram Chand-y*

Today I dragged Ray to the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store and, fifteen minutes later and $17.50 lighter, we left with this baby:

Yes, it's currently hanging in the unkempt covered courtyard outside our kitchen window, where it's awaiting a few thin coats of spraypaint, but its eventual home will be the dining room.  It's going to replace this freak-ass monstrosity:

So, as I've mentioned before, I've been having a lot of trouble deciding what to do about that thing, because the dining room is kind of a tricky space.  It's small, it's basically part of the living room, and it's really visible from every room in the house except the master bedroom and the third bedroom.  I've been looking for something fun and quirky, not too dressy but definitely dining-room-ish, and cheap.  And I kept not finding anything like that.

So I scrapped it all and bought the brass thing.  It was marked $35, but when we arrived at the register with it we found out it was half off.  Score.  I definitely feel okay about experimenting on an $18 light fixture, so let the games begin!

First I removed the giant ball that was at the bottom of it.  Maybe I'll put it back on, but at the moment it's looking like I probably won't.  Then I unscrewed the three curly twirly side pieces than ran vertically down the stem, because I'm not really a twirly-chandelier girl:

 

That's better, no?  Next we took off the shades (we'll probably use them or replace them or maybe cover them with fabric or stencil them or something):

It's lines are okay, and it's a good size for the small dining room-- it's kind of overscaled, but since it's pretty clean it looks like the right size for the table (we took turns holding it up to the ceiling so we could make sure we liked it).

Next I decided to do some experimenting.  I took the ceiling plate off and sprayed it navy blue, then I carried it inside (on a scrap of drywall like a DIY boss) so I could check out the navy color with the rest of the dining room stuff:

 

It's dark and matte, which I think I like.  But after it dried (in the meantime I painted the hallway ceiling, but more on that later) I taped off half of it and sprayed the other half with a glossy gray:

Please don't mind my crappy tape job-- I didn't want to stick the tape down too firmly since I'd just sprayed it a couple of hours before.

At this point we have some options, and I'd love your help with the decision-making (which it definitely not my strong suit).  Here's a photo for reference with a quick glossary so you'll understand what the hell I'm talking about as I explain the options:

 

See those little knobs about halfway down the arms of the chandelier?  We're going call them knobs.  There are also knob-things where each arm meets the stem (see 'em?) and where the candleholder-y things meet the arms.  Without further ado, your options are:

OPTION A: NAUTICAL NAVY

This would involve painting the whole thing matte navy except the aforementioned knobs, which we'd tape off so they would still be brass.  At the moment I'm leaning towards this, as there's a lot of brass in the rest of the house (the original doorknobs, etc), and I kind of like the idea of some exposed metal to give the whole thing a slightly less spraypainted-cheap-chandelier feel.  We would possibly also leave the candleholder portions brass-- so basically we'd be painting the stem and the arms navy.  This version would probably mean keeping the ivory shades or finding more drum-shaped ones in a plain ivory.  Maybe we'd paint a narrow navy or metallic-gold border around the top and bottom of each shade? 

OPTION B: SOLID NAVY

Matte navy all the way.  This would likely involve covering or replacing the shades with something more fun, though I have to be careful with "fun" patterns since I'm already working with two crazy rugs, a kilim ottoman, and ikat-striped chair pads.

OPTION C: DARK GRAY

Solid satin-finish dark gray.  I don't think I'd like the exposed brass knobs with the gray as much as I would with navy, so I think if I go gray it'll be all gray.  Problems with this plan: I'd like to spray the chairs dark gray, and I don't want to be all matchy-matchy chairs and chandelier.  Also, I'm a little worried that it might look like we bought a chandelier that was made of imitation metal or something-- the gray paint might look like faux pewter.  Or it might look totally awesome.  I have no idea, and I can't really tell based upon the half-gray ceiling medallion.  On the other hand, the thing cost $17.50 so if it looks irredeemably terrible I can just sell it for $15 on craigslist and pretty much recoup my entire investment.  Shades or no shades?  I don't know.

OPTION D: BRASS
This option involves not worrying so much about it and just hanging it up as-is.  I'll be honest-- I don't find this option terribly appealing.  But several people whose design opinions I trust (mostly my mom-- she's always right about this stuff) have suggested that I leave it brass because that's probably what was originally here.  A plain ol' brass chandelier is appropriate for a 40's house, doesn't feel too dressy or too casual, won't compete with the rest of the decor, etc etc etc. 

And now for something completely different!**  While I waited for the navy spraypaint on the chandelier's ceiling medallion to dry so I could spray half of it gray, I painted the filthy hallway ceiling with a product that I'd say is probably the second-greatest invention of the modern era (number one being the internet, naturally): ceiling paint that goes on pink and dries white.  That stuff is amazing.  It's not totally dry yet so there are still some disconcerting pink blotches in there, but it is already SO MUCH BETTER than the icky sticky yellowy mess that was up there before.  Slow and steady wins the race!

Please email or comment to weigh in on the chandelier situation.  Can't live with the weird office fixture for for much longer before I die of spontaneous interior-design-related combustion.

*Laurence Sterne joke!
**Monty Python joke!