Sisal Shade Chandelier inspired by Edison Pottery Barn Chandelier

What do you think.....doable?

I snapped this shot with my i-phone (sorry for the quality) while on vacation at Disney World with my family last month. This chandelier caught my eye and I had a whole lobby of people watching me study this fantastic piece hanging over our heads. Tequila bottles and margarita glasses pair up to create this conversation provoking light source.

It reminded me a bit of the Pottery Barn Wine Bottle Chandelier

So I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the lighting in my dining room. I've blogged about various ideas in the past but as the room evolves with the shutters, so does my imagination.

I love this Edison Chandelier from Pottery Barn. Described as being "...inspired by the work of 20th-century designers like Adolf Loos who were drawn to the austere beauty of industrial light fixtures..." Of course I'm always trying to wrap my mind around ways to fashion something on my own to save a few pennies (or Franklins) and because I get a sort of satisfaction from DIY projects.

I imagine that instead of the glass globes, one could create shades from twine or hemp, using balloons or balls and mod podge. Researching blogs online for similar projects I came across a couple.

Leah from All Gussied Up Junk made a sisal pendant light for the corner of her family room. Using these same techniques (described on her blog) on a smaller scale might work. She used three dollar light kits from IKEA.

Heika DeHart has a great photo step by step on Craftynest for making these hemp pendant lamps.

Sherry from Young House Love posts a couple pictures of oversized string lanterns in dining areas. These featured lanterns are a lot larger then what could be used to recreate the pottery barn chandelier but are unique and artsy in pairs.

Sherry also posted a failed project on attempting to make a similar sisal shade. She switched out the recomended fabric stiffener for urethane and ended up with something for which she hadn't quite planned. It can really help to search the net for advice on what to do and what NOT to do. Young House Love is a fantastic source for inspiration on all kinds of projects!

The hardware used to attach the wires is part of the personality of the light fixture. I'm sure if I browsed the aisles of Home Depot I'd come across some ideas of hooks, or loops that would work. The base of an old chandelier at the thrift store would probably come in handy for the where the cords go into the ceiling.

So perhaps what I'm thinking would look a bit like this.

Although if the cords go directly into the sisal ball, there would be no metal cap to each shade, and it may look a little more like this one.

So many options. The cords could be long enough to hang so they spread over the entire length of the dining table. The sisal shades could be painted white..... I could go on and on.

Or I could drive down Pottery Barn, buy the original and be done with it in 15 minutes.