How to Make a Wood Bead Chandelier

Wood bead chandeliers add so much rustic style to any space but can be extremely expensive. See how I transformed a plain, budget-friendly IKEA chandelier into a farmhouse-style wood bead chandelier for our farmhouse girl’s nursery.

Hello, friends!

It feels like it’s been forever since we shared our farmhouse girl’s nursery reveal.  

Well, maybe that’s because it has been forever and STILL no little girl has arrived. I’m tired, uncomfortable, and generally annoyed.  But, at least I have this sweet room to look at 😉

Today we’re sharing the process of how I made the wood bead chandelier that is in her nursery!

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How to Make a DIY Wood Bead Chandelier: Step-by-Step Tutorial

My inspiration

If you remember back when I shared my design plan for the nursery, I was crushing on this wood bead chandelier that was wayyyy out of budget.

But, I was determined to have a wood bead chandelier in our nursery.  It was just the absolutely perfect addition to the space.

I’m so excited to show you exactly how I made this wood bead chandelier using a cheap chandelier from IKEA.  It was SO much easier than I originally thought it would be.  Honestly, the hardest part was coming up with a pattern for the beads and I’ve done that for you!

With a pattern already determined, you could really complete the entire chandelier in an afternoon 🙂

Step 1: Paint the Chandelier Frame

First, you remove all of the crystals from the IKEA chandelier until you’re left with the metal base.  Next, tape off the openings for the lightbulbs!

Grab your chalky finish spray paint and go to town!  We used an entire can of spray paint to cover the chandelier.  Luckily, it covered really well!

Once the base is spray painted white, it’s on to the fun part – the beads!

Step 2: Put beads on wire

I’m going to list the pattern by bead size for each row or section of the chandelier.  I created this diagram below to color code each of the sections (enough sections for a full rainbow!).

For each section, I would pull out and cut a long piece of the steel wire.  I honestly never measured the wire, just put it up against the section where it was going to be placed to get a rough estimate of how much I needed.  Always better to overestimate!

At one of the ends of the steel wire, I rolled it into a loop so I could place the beads on the wire without them falling off.

Follow These Bead Section Patterns:

Now, here is the pattern for each section!

RED: 6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-10-10-16-10-10-16-10-10-16-10-10-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6

ORANGE: 6-6-6-6-6-10-10-10-6-6-10-10-10-16-6-16-6-16-10-10-10-6-6-10-10-10-6-6-6-6-6

YELLOW: 6-6-6-6-6-10-10-10-6-6-16-6-6-16-6-6-16-6-6-10-10-10-6-6-6-6-6

This pattern is repeated twice.  After doing this pattern once, you stick the wire through the bolded 16mm bead from the orange section, and repeat the pattern on the other side.

GREEN: 6-6-6-6-6-10-10-10-6-6-16-6-16-6-16-6-6-10-10-10-6-6-6-6-6-10-10-10-6-6-16-10-16-10-16-6-6-10-10-10-6-6-6-6-6-10-10-10-6-6-16-10-16-10-16-6-6-10-10-10-6-6-6-6-6

BLUE: 6-6-6-6-6-10-10-6-6-16-16-6-16-16-6-16-16-6-6-10-10-6-6-6-6-6

PURPLE: 6-6-6-6-6-10-10-6-6-16-16-6-16-16-6-16-16-6-6-10-10-6-6-6-6-6

Step 3: Attach the Wood Bead Strands to the Chandelier

Once you have a row of beads strung onto the steel wire, it’s time to attach it to the metal IKEA chandelier base.  There are holes where they had connected the little crystal pieces that I used to attach the steel wire.

First, stick the steel wire up through the bottom of the hole.

Then, pull it through tightly and wrap around itself several times.

Then, stick the end back up through the hole.  This part was a little difficult so I used pliers to grip the end and pull completely through.

Last, I trimmed the end of the steel wire and pushed the cut edge down so it wasn’t visible.

Repeat those steps for each of the sections of beads.

(Remember the yellow section is a bit different – see the yellow section details)

And, that’s it!!  Not too bad, right?!

I absolutely LOVE how it looks in her room.  It’s the perfect touch of farmhouse style!

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Remember to check out our full farmhouse nursery room makeover!

Wishing you a joyful day!