The best way to chrome plate something might be to take it to a chrome plating shop. The industry is very 'job shop' oriented, with experienced people ready to handle your parts. Before thinking seriously about doing it yourself, here are a few things to consider:

Regulations
Electroplating was our nation's very first categorically regulated industry. So, what does "categorically regulated" mean? It means that all of the waste products from this industry -- even very dilute rinse water -- are, as a matter of law, regulated, even if the particular substance is so dilute that it is actually harmless. Mix the waste in with other waste, and the whole mass is by law hazardous waste (see EPA 'mixture rule'). Make another product from it and (with some exception) the product is hazardous waste (see EPA 'derived from' rule).

In turn this means you can't discharge a drop of hose water without pretreatment and permits; it means you can't take your bad solution anywhere without hazardous waste manifesting; it means you can't accumulate it without permits either. Finally, it means you are legally responsible for it forever regardless of how much you spend to get rid of it.
But are you subject to these regulations? If you are selling plated parts or plating services, absolutely! See EPA CFR431 and try to find an exception -- you won't. If you are doing it solely as a hobby, maybe you can get away with it if you stay lucky. But if the sewer authority wants to impose an assessment for upgrading the piping, and your neighbors know that you are plating, they will probably turn you in in a heartbeat. Read the fine print on your sewer agreement: you're forbidden from putting these wastes down the drain and both your neighbors and the sewer authority would dearly love for you to have to bear the cost of repairs or upgrades. Is it likely to happen? Probably not. Can it happen? Yes.
 

Chromic Acid
Chrome plating is done in very highly concentrated (about 32 oz./gal) chromic acid, H2CrO4 -- "hexavalent chromium" -- the stuff that made Erin Brockovich a household word. If a neighborhood child develops cancer from any cause whatsoever and his/her parents find out that you were chrome plating, God help you. Factories that use this stuff require exhaust scrubbing, they require fume suppressants that are monitored every day. The workers require medical surveillance (frequent blood tests for absorbed chromium).

If you do illegally dispose of chromic acid you will probably be caught because it leaches through the ground very readily and turns up in the aquifer, and it is not only easily detectable but it's visible at 1 part in a million, and all wells and water supplies are monitored for chrome. Dropped a beaker on the garage floor? That could be enough to poison all of the wells for a few city blocks in every direction, and you do not have "pollution insurance" in your homeowner's policy.

On top of all this, many city councils have a written or de facto ban on chrome plating. Finally, chrome plating is notorious for hydrogen embrittlement. If you don't know how to immediately and properly bake the parts to relieve the embrittlement, you can turn hardened steel parts like springs, steering linkage, and fasteners into brittle glass.