Photo: unknown~if you know where it’s from please tell me so I can give them credit
I have a dream. And it involves this branchy chandelier. Think I can make one? I’m thinking I could just wrap some kind of bendy branches around a current chandy. Any thoughts?
Look, here’s another kind: DIY How to Tree Branch Chandelier @ Apartment Therapy
And have you seen what Pottery Barn’s been up to? I’ve been in love with their new focus on nests since the moment I laid eyes on it all but, I happened to stroll through the store the other day~they used mossy sticks to decorate everywhere. They had them hanging from little ropes over tables and pretend mantles. Love, I tell you. I am so infatuated with sticks. I guess it could be worse, I could be infatuated with gold bars.
I found some of my very own mossy sticks out in the wild this weekend.
I’ve got some sticks piled in this urn, what should I do with my mossy sticks?
Do you decorate with sticks?
I like the sticks in an urn, but I’m not too sure about the light fixture. You could get the effect with some LED Christmas lights and sticks. I guess you just have an affinity for nests!
I total think you could do a DIY version of the first chandy using one you already have. Grape vine is really easy to work with as long as you use gloves. The great thing is when you are tired of them (if that is even possible) you can just take them off. If you are going to be in the Atl. area anytime soon I have tons of grape vines I would love to unload on you, our vines grow like crazy and have the worst tasting grapes imaginable. I am sure the grapes have a purpose, but it is not for eating, so I just enjoy projects with vines. But not even I can come up with enough projects for the amount of vines I get.
So now I will wait unpatiently to see if you try this, can’t wait.
Cha Cha
Yes, I wondered about grape vines, I never thought about “real” ones, just the junk from Hobby Lobby~great idea!
Going to play Devils Advocate here…how the heck do you dust all that stuff?????? Just asking ;-)
dust, dust, dust, it’s all some of you are worried about!
I have a feather duster that can get just about anything–but, I guess if you are a perfectionist you could use a hair dryer or compressed air a few times a year
I love the idea of a branch/stick Chandy! OR- how about a drum shade pendant, that is wrapped with sticks? Maybe use brown wire to hold it together? I can see it in my head, lol can you? I wonder if you soaked the sticks, would they then become more pliable? OR- we have a willlow tree outback. The ‘branches’ are ridiculously pliable. You could Use green branches, because they would be easier to work with and let that baby dry out! A chandy spray painted brownish, with willow branches twined all over it. LOVELY!!!!!!!!!!!
Blessings!
you are smart–willow! Drum shade!
why thank you! Cannot wait to see what you do!
PS…..I do adore those pillows being the bird lover that I am.
yes, they are lovely!
The light fixture is beautiful, but I know what would happen if I did that. There would be little pieces of stick all over my table!
I have a bunch in my yard…ya want ‘em? I decorate with sticks at Halloween with black crows clipped to them and at Christmas with mini glass ornaments. I really want to see your version of a branch chandy! And I’ve been drooling over that pillow at pottery barn also…luv it!
Just be careful you don’t get bugs LOL!!
Once I was in Savannah, where there is spanish moss EVERYWHERE, and we were on the Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil tour. There were a couple of ladies picking up spanish moss and stuffing it in one of their bags. UNTIL the tour guide told them about some little mite that lives in the (fresh) moss. LOL You should have seen them getting rid of that stuff.
oh mercy.
hoping the fact that it was below freezing outside, helped kill all the critters?
My entire wedding was based around faux iced & frosted birch branches last December; they were our centerpieces & even on our cake. They made for great winter decor in some tall vases when the wedding was over. :-) I have plans for snipping some branches from a bush I have out back for a centerpiece soon too. :-)
Yes, I find myself looking at sticks all the time. I bought some at Christmas from Michaels that look like they have ice crystals on them. Now, I need to replace with something else. Perhaps some curly willow. I’d really like some drift wood, love how mellow the wood is. Not really a stick I guess. Do you get the old eye roll from hubby like I do when you BUY sticks?
I love sticks. I think I love them because they are free! I am excited to see you attach branched to your chandy. I think it would be a great focal point. Plus, if you hate it, it’s not like it cost you alot of money.
I have a question for you. Have you ever used the behr paint and primer in one? If you have, do you like it?
Yep, talked about that paint on my painted armiore post:
http://www.thenester.com/2009/07/painting-pine-furniture.html
If I decorated with sticks, my kid would find them all and poke her eyes out. And mine.
I guess sticks are one of the benefits of having older kids.
But that nest pillow? SO CUTE!
Jessie
Gorgeous ideas! I’ve used long, straigh-ish branches for curtain rods before – so pretty!
Of course, I’m addicted to the “bird on a branch” idea…. : )
I have sticks everywhere!! I love bringing a simple element of nature indoors.
Sticks in a vase here! :)
i like the sticks chandy! i’m wondering if you could somehow retro-fit one of those really cool (and inexpensive!) IKEA wreath-shaped chandys with the LED lights by adding a bunch of twigs to it. it’s already rather “twiggy” looking.
also, the chandy in the first pic reminds me (in a lighter, more “wild” looking way) of the coco-fiber (is that it?) chandy that the blogger at Pure Style Home has in her dining area–very unusual!
I can’t believe you just posted on this subject! I’ve been dreaming of a stick chandelier for sometime. My mom has a stash of willow branches she picked up off the side of the road and is saving for me and about a month ago I picked up a brass chandelier from the thrift store ($6). I plan to spray the chandelier brown (or white, and spray sticks white, too) and then wire the branches to it…I may wind up soaking them to get them to bend well, and then wire them while still moist, and let them dry, then pursue hanging it. Can’t wait to see if/what you decide to do. So fun!
Love the mossy sticks and it gave me a great idea for a corner of a room that is neked (its neked not naked in the South). Maybe a linky party on how people decorate with sticks?
I had some curly sticks in an urn for awhile until DH got tired of them LOL
for the last few weeks I’ve been forcing forsythia shoots in a pitcher on my kitchen counter…the yellow blooms have been delightful!
I am definitely a fan of sticks!
If you have a willow tree those branches are pliable and will retaine their shape when they dry out. I had a few wrapped around candles and the kids ended up playing with them. We have a willow out front and that thing sheds constantly.
Grapevine would be perfect to work with…I have several grapevine shrubs/trees if you call it that…Anyway, they are so easy to work with..I used them on my Christmas tree and they are so pretty. I have used them on my porches. Living in the south with great weather I love these bushes. Grapes are yummy also.
I love to decorate with sticks…Christmas I decorated the top of my china cabinet with mossy sticks and then sprinkled them with snow. I stuck a few pine boughs in the arrangement. I also have honeysuckle vines wrapped around my chandy in the dining room…yes it gets dusty but as you mentioned, if it bothers you, you could always blow it away.
I know a decorator here that uses them a lot…she stands huge ones in the corner and she had an arrangement over her bed…it was gorgeous!!
You went out into the wild?!! I like that crazy stick chandelier.
I love using sticks to decorate. I’ve used curly willow lots-especially when it’s still a little green it’s really easy to bend onto stuff-I did that on our chandy at our old house and it looked great. Right now I’ve got sticks on the front porch, and three tall birch trunks standing up by my stairs-they’re like 10 feet or so-I just love them!
My husband’s only complaint-sticks in the eye when he walks by. He’s a bit taller than me so I just don’t always think of where those sticks will end up!
I have a pot of curly willow in a corner and would use sticks more, but am afraid of going overboard. How many stick displays can a person sanely use in one room? Any thoughts on that?
That said, I’d like to put a white pitcher of sticks in my kitchen.
Yes, you could make a sticky chandelier. Of course you could. A chandelier mistreatment.
I love sticks, too, although I haven’t graduated to mossy sticks yet. Could you remove the feathers from your urn and add the mossy sticks?
I am in love with the new Pottery Barn catalog! In fact, I’m thinking of doing away with all of the wall color I have downstairs and repainting everything a creamy white!
By the way, your stick chandelier jogged my memory about something I once did with a very “sticky” wreath in a former dining room. The wreath was large and it sprayed out charmingly all over the place. I attached it to the ceiling with the chandelier cord down the opening in the center. I used about three of those small screw-in eye hooks and used clear fishing line to tie the wreath to the hooks. Does that make sense? Anyhow, it was totally unexpected and people loved the effect. Gave me some more twiggy goodness, too!
I do! My husband hates them, and threatens every fall to use them in our firepit. I love stick, though!
I need to try decorating with sticks. Then, at least, I wouldn’t be able to kill them like I do houseplants! No, really. I’ve even killed a cactus.
lurve twings….we used them a lot at our previous house, here we’re so “manicured” by the HOA that there aren’t ever any branches lying around, and the next neighborhhood over is so new their trees aren’t much more than twigs themselves. Looks like I’ll actually have to go out into nature to get some nature. Dang.
Nester you crack me up! I hate dusting and have been catching myself thinking as I look around at lots and lots of accessories on table vignettes, “man that’s a lot of stuff to dust around!” I am such a loser! I love the use of sticks and twigs and just last week saw a lovely picture in one of the blogs of a med size round mirror that was totally encircled with large brances that kind of swooped around it…wish I had bookmarked it! I’m totally going to try to recreate that look!
So funny that you posted this because just the other day I watched a show on HGTV (for the life of me I can’t remember which one, if I think of it I’ll re-post) and they made a chandelier to resembel that exact same one for cheap! I think that chandelier is by some famous designer and is several thousand dollars if I remember what they said correctly. I bet you could find it on HGTV.com. ;) Anyway, she bought a basic iron chandelier and then dabbed paint on it to “blend” with the sticks, and then basically took sticks, soaked them in water so they would bend more easily and then wired them on. It was BEAUTIFUL!!!
and yes, I decorate with sticks (I live on a small 10 acre ranch so they are abundant, and I just look around for what I think are the prettiest shape I want, and best of all they are FREE!!!) I started this after reading your blog for a while and that urn of sticks just really appealed to me. I had tons of that ugly, fake ivy sitting around (had been there since the early 90′s if that says anything! eeekkkk! So anyway, I have slowly replaced the ivy with things such as the sticks etc. It looks a gillion times better! I’ve even stuck sticks out of the center of fall floral arrangements, and in some of my porch potted plants and the look is actually great!
this same episode was on yesterday! it was the renting show where they look for a place to rent. Once they found a place, the designer made over their master bedroom and it had the stick wrapped chandelier!
I love moss, but moss sticks.. even better! There are so many things you can do with them. They would like nice in a bowl on a console table, or just as little bundles rapped with ribbon. Maybe you can put together a flower arrangement, and put the flowers in the middle, and use the moss sticks around the outside.
I do use sticks all over the place. Whenever they fall from our big oak tree, I get them. I put them in urns by themselves and tuck them in with orchids. I spray paint them often. At Christmas time I spray paint them gold and tuck them into my Christmas tree.
I have also made a chandalier out of manzanita sticks:
http://viv-spot.blogspot.com/2009/03/spring-whining-oops-i-mean-cleaning.html
I am going to show your post to my husband so that he will see I am not insane, but right on trend with the Nester! woot.
oh, it’s lovely!
Sticks were my winter decor for my outside pots.
I used white rock and branches found in my neighborhood.
I LOVE STICKS TOO! A dead tree fell in my back yard and it was love at first sight. I have been hacking away at it and using the branches in various places. I cut the entire top off of the tree, painted it white and used it as a faux Christmas Tree in my front window. I decorated it with white feather boas wrapped with white lights and red Christmas Balls. Now I have some of the white sticks in a vase by my front door. I LOVE STICKS!
LOVE it!!! I love decorating with bamboo. My dad has a jungle of bamboo at his house and I have literally gone in and chopped some down to use it for my home :-)
Yes, I need to get some branches from my Dad’s yard! Love the chandelier images! Janell
No. I do not decorate with sticks. I do use them to make bonfires. :)
Methinks that Pottery Barn has been reading The Nesting Place. ;) Check out Holly’s “Homebody” blog…she had a great post about that recently!
loved it, here’s the link:
http://www.homebodyholly.com/2010/02/whos-copying-who.html
I dont decorate with sticks butr
Whoops, sorry. My youngest hit submit for me before I was ready. :)
I dont decorate with sticks but I do use driftwood I love the natural elemant it brings.
I do, indeed, decorate with sticks! A handy container, some ribbon and a quick trip out to the backyard and ba-da-bing I’ve got an arrangement. I also like to use leaves in my painting process from time to time…
I think Pottery Barn’s new line was inspired by you :)
Oh this is lovely!!! And yes–that Pottery Barn is always to die for. They have the visual stuff. I say good for it!!! I can’t wait to see what you come up with.
Nester~I read somewhere (another blog I think) that instead of bloggers using the trends of retailers like PB, the retailers are now using the ideas of the bloggers! I think PB may just be reading your blog, b/c there are hints of “nests” everywhere! Just who’s copying who???
If you can imitate that first chandy, that’d be awesome! It’s so you!
hmmm, dear pottery barn, if you are reading, please leave me a comment.
I’ve seen those branchy chandies before, and I think you could totally branch up an existing one. If it were me, I’d find something I could spray paint matte brown to blend a bit then soak the branches to soften them. You could bend them easily the way you’d like and hold them in place with ropes or bungy cords until they dried into place. This almost makes me want to try this…
My husband is an Arborist and is so kind to bring home cool branches for me. In January he trimed a crab apple tree where the very small apples are completely dried in place – they look exactly like a dark red berry. They are displayed in an urn – very wintery. Now I am debating on pruning off the berries and adding some nests or birds. I need to think spring!!!
I did something like this (http://www.bhg.com/decorating/do-it-yourself/quick-and-easy-projects/decorate-with-pinecones/?page=9) for fall and then decorated it for christmas with some leftover star ornaments. I took it down and decluttered after the holidays were over but I loved it while it was up. I got lots of nice compliments on it too. The best thing about it was that is was free. Got to love free.