DIY Fall Chandelier

Today I want to give a fun and creative tutorial on how to make an easy and super affordable outdoor fall chandelier. Much thanks goes out to my amazing mom who kindly let me cut away at her coleuses.

Here is what I had when I began the chandelier. I used an old wreath for the form but a wire form would also work. I wanted deep purples so I chose coleus, dried pokeberry and green bittersweet to complement. You can use whatever you can find, be creative! You will also need candlesticks, wire, string, 4 tiny pumpkins, scissors, a knife and wire cutters.

I began by tying my gold string to the ends of the wreath, the string is what will be used to hang the chandelier. Make sure it is knotted. You will want to have two different strings that are the same size, one for the one half and one for the other. Also, please note that while I did not use a drop cloth under the plants and berries, you might desire to if the surface you are working on is to be kept nice.

Now use the second string to tie up the other half, make sure that the form hangs straight.

I used pumpkins for my candle holders. Use a sharp knife to carefully cut the pumpkin out in the middle so that the candle will fit snuggly.

This is when things became a bit challenging. I wired my pumpkins to the wreath form making sure that they were secure. If I were to do this over again I would also use toothpicks to poke into both the pumpkin and the wreath. The wire becomes far less noticeable once everything is added to the chandelier.

It was hard to keep everything balanced at this point but the goal is to get all of the pumpkins evenly spaced.

Now that the pumpkins are in place, it’s time to begin attaching your stems. I used thin wire and began by twisting it around the plant stem. When possible, attach to an area where a stem branches out for extra security by placing the wire below the stem as well. Please excuse the not so pretty nails, the pokeberries I was handling earlier stained them … at least it’s purple!

Next, you’ll need to wrap the wire around the wreath while also wrapping the stems at the same time and securing them together. I alternated all three of the coleuses that I had to give it some interest.

Continue until the entire wreath form is filled in.

After trimming the tops and bottoms of the coleus with my kitchen scissors to even things out a bit, I began wrapping the bittersweet around the wreath. Use wire to fully secure it to the wreath. I was able to get long branches of bittersweet so most of the time I could simply wrap and tuck the end into something else that was already there. I then simply tucked the pokeberries into the stems of the bittersweet.