RePurposed Farmhouse Style Planter Chandelier

I was scanning the web and saw this beautiful light fixture that was a planter built into an old wood beam for a wedding decoration. I fell in love with it.  And of course I thought…I want a planter chandelier in my home!

So, first I searched for one I could purchase.  But, as usual, I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted.  Story of my life!  So, what do you I when that happens?  Make it of course!  🙂

Read on to learn how I made a planter chandelier with my lighting contractor.

Photo from IDLights.com

Shop for the planter box, florals, and lighting fixture for the planter chandelier

I visited many lighting stores looking for the actual light fixture I wanted to use to make the planter box chandelier.  I finally settled on the first one I found at Lowe’s.  That always happens to me. 🙂

I needed a fixture that had a flat base that I could attach to the ceiling otherwise I would have just picked out individual pendants.  Or I could have made the base myself but didn’t want to get into all that for this project.

Either way I have low ceilings so couldn’t do the plant effect above the base of the light so that limited my choices.

The next task for making my planter chandelier was to search for something I could use to mimic the look of the beam.  I ended up using a wooden basket that has rope handles that I purchased at Michael’s.  I couldn’t find a picture of the exact one I used but you could use anything similar to the image below.  This one is from Amazon but I would also look at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby.

Keep in mind that you will need to find a basket that is in proportion to your island or whatever you are hanging it over.  I usually will measure the island and make the light to take up about 2/3 of that space.  This is just approximate.

For a related project with florals check out my post  DIY Floral Chandelier

Next, I purchased a bunch of artificial plant stems from Hobby Lobby. I used some trailing fern type plants, ivy and queen Anne’s lace.  But you can use whatever you want to make it your own.

Assembling the planter chandelier

Step 1 Prepare the planter box

The first step was to drill holes in the bottom of the planter.  To make sure the holes lined up with the hanging lights we used the exposed piece of the ceiling plate to mark the holes in the planter.

The ceiling plate is two pieces.  One attached to the ceiling (you won’t see this piece) and the other is a finished piece that attaches to that plate and faces down into the room.  This is the one we used to line up the holes.

Step 2 String and secure the wires to the planter box

Next we strung the wires through the holes in the basket and through the finish plate and decided how long we wanted the lights to hang.  I like them being random heights so I picked the lowest hanging light and the highest hanging light and made the rest random heights in between.

We secured the wires to the planter bottom with rubber stoppers that fit into the holes. Then used black duct tape around the wires under the stopper to secure it so it wouldn’t slip out of the holes.

Then we attached the wires to the ceiling plate with the supplied locking nuts.

Hold the fixture up by the ceiling plate to make sure everything is hanging where you want it and that the basket is also hanging straight.  Make any adjustments you need now.

Step 3 Do the wiring

Now we stripped and separated each wire from the top (above the ceiling plate) to expose all the wires.  Then we connected all of the same colored wires together with wire nuts.  Green to green, black to black and white to white.

Learn how to connect the wiring and install any fixture “how to replace a ceiling fixture

Step 4 Attach the ceiling plate

Attach the ceiling plate to the ceiling and pull the wires through the hole in the center.  You will have to either have an existing box with wires in the ceiling or you will need to hire an electrician to install one for you.  Make sure the box in the ceiling is heavy enough to hold the weight of the light.

Step 5 Connect the wiring

Now you need to connect the wires on the fixture to the wires in the ceiling.  Please hire an electrician to do all of the wiring unless you are familiar with electrical work.

This was by far the hardest part.  You will definitely need two people.  It’s very difficult to hold the fixture up near the ceiling while connecting the wires.  As you can see we put a bar stool on top of the island to hold the light.  I couldn’t hold it up long enough for him to connect the wires.  It was exhausting!

Here is what the light looked like before we added any greens or the globes.  Notice the wires are hanging all wonky.  This is only because it was stuffed into the box and the wires needed to relax.  Also, it helped to straighten them when we added the weight of the globes and bulbs.

Design the planter box with florals and greens

Step 6 Design your floral arrangement

Add the greens and/or florals to your basket.  I didn’t add anything in the basket to hold the greens, but you could always use floral foam if you like.  First I stuck the hanging greens on the ends then added some soft greens on each side.  Make sure to balance everything out while filling in space.

Then I added some smaller accent greens and my queen Anne’s lace.

BTW this was not a cheap project.  The light fixture that I bought from Lowe’s was expensive and whenever you are buying artificial flowers it can be pricey.  Not to mention, I hired my electrician to help me put it all together.

But you can do this for less.  You can purchase inexpensive pendant lights and build a base at your ceiling to hold the lights and wires.  Hobby Lobby and Michael’s always have sales on their florals so look out for sales and purchase accordingly.  And of course, if you can do some basic wiring yourself then that will save you a lot!

The finished planter chandelier project in my kitchen, over my island.

It was very difficult to get good quality pictures with all of the light bulbs but I did my best.

I hope you enjoyed my project on how to make a repurposed farmhouse style planter chandelier.  If you have any questions or comments please leave them below.  Thank you

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