It drips off. The dirt, the grease, the whatever-that-was. All of it—gone, with this. Here’s how to clean a crystal chandelier until it sparkles—without removing 400 tiny pieces you’ll never reassemble correctly. It’s fast, effective, and works whether your chandelier is mildly dusty or tragically neglected.
I've always owned at least one crystal chandelier and dreaded cleaning it so much - I just didn't. A crystal chandelier loses a bit of its charm when it's covered in grease and hair unless you're one of those avant-garde types.
Years would go by before I'd finally take the chandelier apart and wash all the crystals by hand with Windex. Sometimes I'd put all the chandelier crystals into the the dishwasher to clean them.
There had to be a better (easier, less annoying) way. And in fact, there was.
Table of Contents
Spray On, Drip Off Chandelier Cleaner
Video
Sparkle Plenty is the name brand. I was skeptical so I bought some (this was YEARS ago) and I tried it. It works brilliantly.
You spray it on—heavily—and the gunk, fuzz, grease, and bugs make a swift and slippery exit.
I tried it once and then set to recreate the formula so we could all make our own.
Sparkle Plenty ... Costs Plenty
When I originally wrote this post in 2017,
Sparkle Plenty was $12 USD for a 32-ounce bottle.
Today? It’s $22.
This DIY version will cost $1.85 for the same amount.
Spray-On Chandelier Cleaner (for $3)
Most cleaning products are made up of distilled water and a bunch of other stuff. Often either ammonia or isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol).
After checking the MSDS and online ingredients of Sparkle Plenty I discovered the main ingredient is distilled water. The reason for that is distilled water will evaporate without leaving any mineral spots on the crystals. See? Everything is better once it's distilled. Just ask barley or rye.
Because I had both things on hand, I mixed a concoction of 1 part rubbing alcohol with 3 parts DISTILLED water.
I took my homemade chandelier cleaner over to the other half of my chandelier and started spraying just like I did with the Sparkle Plenty. The results were exactly the same as far as I could tell.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
The one difference I noticed is that the Sparkle Plenty seemed to have something in it to make it a tiny bit thicker. It didn't drip off quite as quickly as my homemade chandelier cleaner. It probably has some type of surfactant in it but even skipping that ingredient the homemade cleaner works GREAT.
Point is, drip dry chandelier cleaner works way better than I bet you think it would (whether it's store bought or made.)
How to Spray Clean Your Crystal Chandelier
- Cover the floor or table underneath the chandelier with towels.
- Turn off the light.
- Cover the lightbulbs and sockets with plastic so the spray doesn't get in them.
- Spray the chandelier continuously until the drips coming off of it are clear. Not gucky or dirt coloured.
The Dirt Circle Reveal
You must want to see the results. This is half the fun of using this technique. You can see every bit of dirt that drips off once the drop cloth dries.
Cleaning a Really Dirty Chandelier
If your chandelier is a total disaster, like the one in my kitchen that was covered in 10 years of french fry grease, then you're gonna have to hand clean your chandelier by spraying a microfibre cloth or glove with chandelier cleaner or warm soapy water or Windex and rubbing each crystal clean.
Sorry. That's just the way it is and you're going to have to suck it up, but I'm sure you can because you're tough, you're resilient, you're part of the super-cool chandelier cleaning gang.
Once you do that horrible job one time, you'll be able to maintain your chandelier by just spraying it with a chandelier cleaner. I'd say maybe 3 or 4 times a year.
The choice is yours. Store bought or homemade with Isopropyl Alcohol. They both work. The store bought cleaner will cost you $22 for 32 ounces. The homemade cleaner will cost you $3 for the same amount. A 32 ounce bottle will last for 2-4 chandelier cleanings depending on how dirty or big your chandelier is.
Spray On Crystal Chandelier Cleaner.
Materials
- rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol)
- distilled water
Instructions
- Mix 1 part rubbing alcohol with 3 parts distilled water in a spray bottle.
- Cover the floor or table underneath the chandelier with towels.
- Turn off the light.
- Cover the lightbulbs and sockets with plastic so the spray doesn't get in them.
- Spray the chandelier continuously until the drips coming off of it are clear. Not gucky.
Notes
- If your chandelier is *really* dirty and greasy you'll have to clean it by hand first using a microfibre cloth and soap and water (or Windex).
- Then you can maintain your chandelier with this spray on, drip off cleaner.
And the added bonus to cleaning your crystal chandelier this way?
The smell will transport you back to another rite of passage in your life. Sitting in a chair at the mall, while the most qualified of all medical professionals, a teenage girl working in a junk jewellery store, wipes your earlobes with a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol before piercing your lobes with a rusty old hole punch she grabbed from her pencil case.
:)
Vickie
Or, you could just pretend you have frosted glass.
catherine powers
I assembled the ingredients-you’re right about the flashback-
And proceeded to the chore. Brilliant! The hack AND the result!
Once again, you are the GOAT! Thanks!
Karen
Excellent! Thanks for taking the time to come back to let me know how it worked for you. It genuinely makes cleaning a chandelier fun. ~ karen
Vicci Starkowski
It was my job before Christmas to go to my grandma's and clean her chandelier. One. Crystal. At. A. Time. Igot it after it floating around various relatives homes, sadly, without the crystals. Fortunately, like any good magpie, I have plenty of random crystals to fill all the spaces. I honestly don't know if I could clean it any other way. Talk about ghosts from Christmas past!
Gretchen
Karen, do you suppose this could work on windows? Or a hood vent? What a joy that would be!!
Bonnie Harris
Thank you for this! I'll try it on my 3 large chandeliers. I had no idea you can clean them without dismantling, and now they're likely to get sparkly a lot more often
Hettie
No chandeliers in our house, but lots of windows and some crystal vases; I'm going to try it on them and see if I can get some sparkling going. Thanks, Karen! You're queen of the genius hacks!
Karen
Let me know how you like it. ~ karen!
LeeAnne
What percent of rubbing alcohol did you use Karen?
Karen
Good point! Sorry. I used 70% mainly because it's what I had. ~ karen!
ROBIN CARTER
Hi!
I always use straight amonia but the distilled water sounds like a plan! I also clean my mini blinds like that. Just hang outside or over tub, spray and rinse with hose if doing it outside. EASY!!
Karen
Wait. What kind of miniblinds? Aluminum slat type mini blinds or the fabric cell shades. Because if you mean the fabric ones I'm about to faint. ~ karen!
tuffy
nice! thank you
Karen
Works great! Not as great as having a cleaning lady, but great! ~ karen!
Marilyn Boyer
In 1980 we had a new 4 br 2 large bath home built that was beautiful but the chandelier left me drab. I bought a crystal one, now days several hundred and had it installed over our dining room table, we also had an eat in kitchen but cooking grease does seem to travel. I bought a spray and it worked beautifully, I was impressed but now intend to make my own thank you very much. Two years ago we bought an older home and ib center of large living room is a crystal very unique ceiling fixture with rows of crystals running through it, and it's dirty. I'll let you know how it turns out but expect perfectly. Thank you for this useful DYI. I didn't cover the bulbs and it did not say to, but made sure all were tightly screwed in, no problem. With this older version perhaps I will do that. I always placed newspapers on my dining room table to catch the drips and never had any seepage on my table. A large wood coffee table sits below the fixture and I would be very upset to get any moisture on it so perhaps Saran wrap layer 1st. Whatever works!
Florida One
I will try your homemade product. That said; I can tell you think it was funny, cute and clever to announce you stole the product from that store. First God said stealing is wrong. He cared so much for that - that He carved it in stone. Two-IF you would have been caught that day; you would have been arrested. Wait in handcuffs in front of all those 'Bob Villas'...that you again thought was such a clever 'trick'. You would have some kind of record. You put yourself out in public and try to TELL others to 'TRY to Steal'''...Shame on you. How wrong can you get? It is folks just like you who are now ruining America.
Dwight Magee
The part about stealing was probably a jock. Lighten up sunshine.
Rosie
Well, don't joke about stealing! Young folks take it seriously. Bad misinformation.
Emily
I totally agree with you! For her to promote stealing, or even the idea of is stupid and plain wrong.
Carolyn
What?!?!? What are you talking about? I don't see anything that refers to theft.
Karen
Let me explain Carolyn. There was a small section in this post where I joked about stealing the Sparkle Plenty. Clearly a joke. But the odd person thought I was serious and was encouraging others to steal chandelier cleaner. 😆 Anyhow, when I rewrote the post this week to update it, I removed that section in order to shorten the post a little bit. ~ karen!
Angie
I cleaned ours after a very long time and the dirty was eeewww! Found it easier to spray paper towel with the isopropyl/water mix and wrap the crystal strands in it. Then I saturated the paper towel again while rubbing each strand. Left it for a good hour coming back to spray while waiting. I found it got most of the dirty off it much easier. Then I sprayed it again once I got the paper towel off and let it drip.
Carolyn
Karen, thanks for the follow up note. I did not believe for one second you would promote theft... and I hope this clears it up for anyone else who had the same reaction I did....ludicrous.
Roz
Karen, you truly do not have to defend yourself for this post or the original post. We know you as an upright citizen who will NEVER commit such petty and hideous crime. And anyone one who follows you the G Karen, knows it's a joke. Lighten up people. Some of y'all are just too angry. This rant by floridawhatever, sound like displaced anger.
Keep on inspiring us Karen. These trolls will soon move on.
Mary
I have a chandelier hanging in a 20-foot foyer the crystals are hanging down on Long strings if you touch them they swing and get entangled with each other I have tried all kinds of cleaners nothing works to get the dust off of the top also if you don't if you use regular tap water the water dries and creates clouding like on a shower door
ML
I don’t have a crystal chandelier so I don’t know why I felt I had to read this post, but, wonder of wonders, I could relate! Back in the olden days, when I was a college freshwoman living in the dorm, I felt the need to have pierced ears. This was before shopping mall piercing was available, so being a wannabe DIYer, I searched my room for tools. I could only find a large safety pin and a pink eberhard eraser. The only alcohol in the room was in my stomach. But I did pierce each lobe, it was my last DIY project !