You've been putting it off for months now. Or even longer. You glance up at the chandelier that hangs majestically over your dining room, and the glass crystal jewels have lost their shine. The luster is dull and unattractive. Those glass crystals no longer sparkle when you first flip the switch. The grime and dirt and gunk and grease of the hot summer days and long winter months is starting to show up on your beautiful fixture.
But you also realize that a full fledged cleaning could potentially be a major major task. The thought briefly crosses your mind to hire one of your kids. Yeah, that'll go over like a lead balloon. Then you realize that he'll smash something if he's left with the glass jewels alone for more than two minutes. He's a boy. It's glass. They don't go well together. So, then you grab a rag to clean it yourself. It's the only way it'll get done right! Blech! So, where do you start?
Take a few minutes to plan. Grab a small ladder, a drop cloth, a bucket of warm water, some detergent (what you use to wash dishes should be fine to clean the hanging jewels), an all purpose cleaner and/or metal polish, and a couple of clean rags, and a drying towel. The fastest way of cleaning all of those hanging glass pieces is to remove them the chandelier first and soak them in water.
If your chandelier has glass crystal jewels, you can use warmer water than if you have plastic crystals. Water is your best friend and will take most of the manual labor out of your cleaning schedule.
You will have more open space to clean the stems and the metal now that the crystal pieces are soaking in the warm water. Clean the metal well. Step down from the ladder and take a look at your metal shine before you rehang the jewels. Take your time as you don't want a family wise guy to remark, "Oh look, you missed a spot." They will, but you can lessen that possibility by inspecting your work.
Now comes the fun part. With your rag, clean each jewel separately and place them on the towel. After you have a dozen or so, dry them individually so that they'll shine, then hang them (or wait to hang them altogether). You'll get more of a sense of accomplishment if you hang a few at a time.
By the time you're done cleaning all of the pieces and have rehung them, your bucket of water should be thoroughly dirty. So, to prevent this grime buildup in the future, you need to spend a few minutes a week dusting the chandelier.
Do that and you'll keep the brilliance and sparkle of your glass crystals as well as the metal to the fixture. It'll look fresh and clean, like you have slaved over each individual jewel weekly. No one has to know your secret.
But you also realize that a full fledged cleaning could potentially be a major major task. The thought briefly crosses your mind to hire one of your kids. Yeah, that'll go over like a lead balloon. Then you realize that he'll smash something if he's left with the glass jewels alone for more than two minutes. He's a boy. It's glass. They don't go well together. So, then you grab a rag to clean it yourself. It's the only way it'll get done right! Blech! So, where do you start?
Take a few minutes to plan. Grab a small ladder, a drop cloth, a bucket of warm water, some detergent (what you use to wash dishes should be fine to clean the hanging jewels), an all purpose cleaner and/or metal polish, and a couple of clean rags, and a drying towel. The fastest way of cleaning all of those hanging glass pieces is to remove them the chandelier first and soak them in water.
If your chandelier has glass crystal jewels, you can use warmer water than if you have plastic crystals. Water is your best friend and will take most of the manual labor out of your cleaning schedule.
You will have more open space to clean the stems and the metal now that the crystal pieces are soaking in the warm water. Clean the metal well. Step down from the ladder and take a look at your metal shine before you rehang the jewels. Take your time as you don't want a family wise guy to remark, "Oh look, you missed a spot." They will, but you can lessen that possibility by inspecting your work.
Now comes the fun part. With your rag, clean each jewel separately and place them on the towel. After you have a dozen or so, dry them individually so that they'll shine, then hang them (or wait to hang them altogether). You'll get more of a sense of accomplishment if you hang a few at a time.
By the time you're done cleaning all of the pieces and have rehung them, your bucket of water should be thoroughly dirty. So, to prevent this grime buildup in the future, you need to spend a few minutes a week dusting the chandelier.
Do that and you'll keep the brilliance and sparkle of your glass crystals as well as the metal to the fixture. It'll look fresh and clean, like you have slaved over each individual jewel weekly. No one has to know your secret.
About the Author:
Mr. Chan Boldene is a technical writer and writes about a variety of subjects. Read more of his blog at Shine That Chandelier. For more information on additional Chandelier subjects. visit Chandeliers You are welcome to reprint this article - but get your own unique content version here.
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