DIY Industrial {style} Expandable Light

One day while browsing Etsy I cam across this super sweet vintage light- only problem...it sold for 1200$.  Yup. One thousand, two hundred dollars. Now remember- it is authentically old and stuff, so that maybe counts for something.{I purposely did not provide a link to this sale- cause I don't want to screw up someone's business/livelihood- so I didn't want to link my "fab" DIY to their sale--comprende?} OK- back to the light- the second I saw it, I knew two things.{1} I wanted it as a sconce for my spare bedroom.{2} I knew I could make my own! What You Need: Tin Funnel {from Harbor freight- 5 bucks}Frack Mirror {from Ikea- 5 bucks} Light Kit  or salvage old one- {dismantled old light- zero dollars}Vintage looking or "cool" light bulb {depends on which you buy} This project was so super easy- once you have the right supplies. You read the supplies right- the Frack is a mirror from Ikea. It's in the bathroom supply section of the store and comes with a sweet expandable arm. 

Instead of buying a light kit I used the innards of an old light. I glued the base of that light {that metal pole} to the base of the funnel. Then glued the pole at the end of the light to the screwable portion of the Frack mirror.

 

I used clear automotive glue to adhere all the pieces together. It's supposed to be good for high temps- but I haven't given the lamp a good trial run...so I guess we'll see! {I'll keep ya posted! ;-)  } There's probably a zillion ways to put these items all together- but it was one of those things where this wasthe stuff on hand and went for it.

 I super love how the light can be expanded over your head for easy reading- or not. The arm swings- so the light can stay against the wall- or the window. It really makes for a great bedside reading lamp- something unique and vintage-y looking. I know some folks dig the original- and wouldn't think twice about the 1200 price tag...but my heart goes pitter-patter for a good deal and a great DIY.

 Here's a few bonus shots- from the post with new map art I just made.

You can see how the expandable piece moves in and out. It also swings side to side, so it can be moved out over the bed- or against the wall, out of the way.
What do you guys think- original or knock off?

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DIY Drum Shade from Metal Flashing

Do you recall the DIY Greek Key fabric I made? 

{if you missed the post head over for the tutorial and for a free printable pattern!}

The fabric belongs to this! My new drum shade. 

Here's how my project started.

One day I stumbled across this post from Classic Casual Home. Remodelaholic was featuring Mary Ann's loft makeover, which is an obviously gorgeous creative getaway. But what caught my eye was the chain of the lighting fixture.

It looks good, right? Not at all like an old brass light fixture with an old brass chain.

Incidentally, there's an old brass light fixture with an old brass chain right here in my living/dining room. 

Oh yeah, and it's even broken. If it were mine I could've fixed it and then painted it with green, high gloss enamel until I replaced it entirely. But since it's not... I decided to purchase a cheap drum shade with plans to either recover or paint it. After shopping around I realized 18 inches not not a cheap or easy size to find.

On to plan B, or C, I looked up ways to DIY a lampshade.

The Keylors, from The Keylor Family, have a awesome tutorial about making a 23 inch drum shade from embroidery hoops! Awesome, right? I have seen a few of these tuts, but they do a great job of explaining how to make the shade. Their version cost them around 20 bucks and it looks like they spent way more!

 I went out to buy supplies and hit a few road blocks, then, that very day, I found this post from Kimbo at A Girl and a Glue Gun. 

{Stay with me, now-I'm getting there!}

Do you ever have those moments when you see something that someone has made and for a second you think, "No! That was my idea!" Well of course I didn't think that. Not like two people can't have the idea to hide an existing out dated light the same way, right?!

Kimbo used aluminum flashing to create the drum shape and wrapped her own fabric around that. Super smart!

I did the same. This was perfect for me because:

*it is super fast to make

*it is re-adjustable and reusable

*it can be sized {most precisely} to any circumference

*it is easier to get around the existing light fixture

Materials
*Aluminum Flashing {comes in different heights and 10 feet long, from Home Improvement Store}-$10
*Tin Snips {from Home Improvement Store}-$6
*Spray Adhesive {from craft store or Walmart}-$5

I purchased my supplies from Lowe's. I picked up two heights because I really wanted to use 10 in  high aluminum but was worried it wouldn't be high enough to cover the old light. Luckily it was, so that's what I used. I thought I had tin snips, but wasn't sure- so picked those up too, just in case! Of course I have spray adhesive, since I use it for everything, but I would run you about 5 dollars. A bonus, you have enough flashing to make several shades if you wanted to.

OK, the directions are super easy. Just measure the aluminum and use the tin snips to cut it to size.

I did two coats of spray adhesive, then applied the fabric on the metal. Make sure all the bubbles are out right from the beginning. Nothing like bubbles to make your new project look homemade instead of purchased.

Here's the view of the underneath. Looks exactly the same as before, white enamel. You have to get right up underneath it to see the bulb.

I only used a piece of electrical tape on the inside of the shade to hold it together.

 I overlapped the aluminum flashing  5-6 inches beyond what was needed to create the shade. That way I could remove the tape and reuse this shade making up to a 23 inch shade without changing a thing. 

You can see fabric on the inside of the shade because the fabric can be removed from the metal. I'm not sure how it will hold up over time, but I thought I'd save the extra, by folding over at the end. Just in case I wanted to remove the fabric and put it on some of the left over aluminum flashing. I could do a 28 inch drum shade in that case. Who knows what lighting our next home will have, but we're looking at older homes, so I imagine we'll need all the lighting we can get.

I love the aluminum flashing for a lampshade. It's stiff and holds a shape without looking a bit wobbly or flimsy. When you're holding 10 feet it's kind of heavy, but when you cut it to size it isn't at all. 

I have the same amount of light as I did before the shade. It looks really pretty shining above and below the light.

My total cost to make the fabric and the shade was $15-16. Though it may cost you more if you don't have tin snips or if you buy a more expensive fabric.

You can see the new drum shade pendent & in the background the mercury glass pendent I made last week. Love the contrast between modern and worn, vintage pieces.

So there you guys go. Two tutorials to make your own drum shade, a printable to grab. two homemade light fixtures for you guys to check out and {hopefully} some DIY inspiration!

Wanna print me?

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I'm also linked up here.

✥ Take a 2nd Look {Pendent Light} ✥

I've had quite a few questions from peeps wanting to see the pendent light I made with the light turned off.I didn't forget to take one that way, it's just that taking a pic of mercury glass may be a level or ten above my photography skills!
But I did my best. The reflective properties in the glass-like spray paint make the pendent appear like this. The reflective glass is great, it gives the feeling of light even when it's not on. Whenever there's a light on no the home the glass looks like this.

 Then with all the lights off and lighting coming on from behind the pendent, it takes on a smoky gray color.

 I really like that the pendent is ever changing. It's a fun addition to a kitchen that's begging for some pizazz. It was my hope that the exposed light hardware would add some edge to my otherwise boring space.

Thanks for asking to see more of my light, I'm happy to oblige- even if my skills aren't up to the challenge!!

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I'm also linked up here.

Vase into Mercury Glass Pendent Light [West Elm Inspired]

I am always looking for ways to spice up and personalize our condo, although I'm somewhat limited because we're renting right now. Sometimes people forget they can change out the lighting when they rent. It's an easy change, just make sure you're not doing anything that will damage the existing fixture or the ceiling and you can easily take it back out when you move. 

For this project I was inspired by these cylinder pendent lights from Rogan Objects. They're priced at 500-700 bucks(!!), are made of hand blown glass and look pretty fantastic {and pretty expensive}

West Elm is selling these "antique" glass jars.  These babies will set you back 100 bucks.  I love the color gray glass and the visible light bulbs inside them.

My plan was to create a combination of both these looks. Here's what I did. I started with a brand new vase. First things first, we need to make the hole in the vase for the cord to come out of.

DRILL THE HOLE: What you will need

• glass vase
• diamond tip drill bit (available at home improvement store, cost $5)
• electric drill
• spray bottle with water
• goggles
• rubber gloves
• 220 grit sand paper
• permanent marker
• measuring tape

1. Measure and mark the exact center of the bottom of the vase with permanent marker.
2. Suit up in some protective gear. eHow- says to put on long sleeved shirt, goggles, and wear rubber gloves. So, I did that. Pretty quickly I took off the long sleeved shirt because one, it was hot outside, and two, there weren't any shards of glass flying anywhere, at all, the whole time. But I kept the goggle on, don't mess around with your eyes!
3. Grab your new drill bit, a drill, and a spray bottle. 
4. You're going to drill a hole though the glass and this will be where the cord passes through. At Home Depot they only had one size drill bit for glass, but it was plenty big enough for the cord to be threaded through.  

Drilling:

• *When you drill, you want the surface to be wet the whole time. Lubricating the tip keeps the glass from breaking and helps the tip last longer. 
• *Place your vase on a flat surface, so that it will be supported equally on all sides the entire time.
•  *If you're drilling though a thick glass surface you can use a high drill speed, but start on a slow speed either way.
• *Be careful to hold the drill firmly, but don't apply pressure. Allow the drill's weight to do the work.
• *Make sure to hold the drill straight up and down so the hole is straight, otherwise the lamp will hang crooked.
• {note: This is the same procedure you would follow to drill through ceramic, porcelain, and pottery. Just in case you want to turn all your household items into lamps!} Getting the drill to bite into the glass was the hardest part of drilling because you don't want the drill to slip and nick up the glass. Also, the shape of the bottom of my vase helped the water to pool to the center and made it easy to keep the drill bit lubricated. During most of the drilling, I would only spray the hole every minute or two.

(4) Grab a friend to help. When your drill tip starts to reach through the glass to the other side, you will need to spray water on the hole every few seconds since it'll keep draining right through to the other side. You can easily hear the difference between drilling with water and without. At this point it's smart to stop and have someone help you. 

Have one person spray the hole almost constantly and hold the vase steady while the other holds the drill with both hands making sure to support most of the drills weight and go slowly. This should help from chipping the glass at the very end when it will be weak.

5. Keep your gloves on and sand the edges of the glass hole with 220 grit sandpaper. Make sure everywhere but the hole is covered in tape, so you don't scratch the glass anywhere else. Keep the gloves on to clean up all the water and thoroughly wipe down the vase. 

CREATE THE MERCURY GLASS FINISH: What you will need

Krylon's "Looking Glass" spray paint (cheapest @ Michael's, cost $7 with 40% off coupon)

• painter's tape
• newspaper

(6) Follow my directions to make mercury glass. The only thing I did differently was the number of coats I applied. I only did three LIGHT coats because I wanted the light to easily pass through and wanted a mottled looking finish.

INSTALLING THE LIGHT: What you will need

• lighting kit (cheapest @ Ikea, cost $5)
• ceiling medallion (home improvement store, cost $5)
• electrical tape
• 60 watt light bulb

(7) Take down your existing light fixture and disconnect the electrical from it.

In my case I took down a recessed light.

(8) Put your new pendant light together. Thread the lighting kit wire through your new pendent light/glass vase, through the top of the vase and out the new hole in the bottom. I added a piece from another light to the new top, to make it look more like a light. 

(9) Thread the cord through the ceiling medallion of your choice. I chose the cheapest option, a silver 6 inch medallion purchased for 5$ from Home Depot. This will cover the hole in your ceiling left from the removal of the old light.

(10) Connect the electrical wires for your new light.  There's a positive and negative wire for both the light and the electrical in the ceiling. They are usually color coded, black and white, one for each charge. It's a matter of matching up colors. In the photo you can see the black wires coming down from the ceiling, them tape, then black wire coming up from the light fixture.

Use the electrical tape the cover all the exposed wire.

(11) Secure the lighting kit cord somewhere in the ceiling using the hooks that came in the package with the light kit.  {There's directions that come in the light kit. If you have questions.} The hooks will support the weight of the light fixture, instead of the electrical wire holding it up- which would be bad. **Amended, we took off the electrical tape, per a reader's suggestion, and crimped the wires instead. 

(11) Attach the medallion to the ceiling using the hardware that came in the package. There's directions in the package and it looks easy to do. I ran into a bit of trouble with this step. Because I took out a recessed light, rather than a normal light fixture, the hole in the ceiling was over 7 inches wide. I would need a second larger medallion to cover a hole that big and it would have to be layered with the smaller one. Like these:

However, I had no way to affix them to the ceiling without leaving a mark when it was time to take it down. So instead, I used glue to secure the medallion directly to the recessed light. It's a rubbery glue that holds well, but when you pull the items apart and break the seal, it will easily come off without leaving a trace.  Before popping the recessed light housing back into place in the ceiling, I secured the lighting cord on the hooks I attached the the light housing, as can be seen two pictures up.

Unfortunately, I was left with two holes where the medallion was supposed to be attached to the ceiling with screws.



So I used upholstery nails left over from my headboard project. I used a toothbrush to brush Rub 'n Buff silver wax on the brass tacks. They matched well enough.


(12) Now, put the bulb in and you're all set!

All said, this was an afternoon's worth of work. A bit longer for me though, since I didn't know what materials would be needed ahead of time. You know how it goes when you're winging it, right?

 Here's the BEFORE

 And the AFTER



Here's a close up, with the light on. There's a lot of variation to the mirror finish.



The cord is beginning to hang straighter, the longer it's up. It's still a little wavy from being folded in the package. I love how you see the bulb and light assembly through the glass. It's exactly what I was going for!


What about you? Have you made your own light fixture lately? Made up a project on the spot and have to improvise? Or run to the store 25 times?

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I'm also linked up here.

 

✥ Finished Crate & Barrel Knock Off Lamps ✥

The other day I recovered that melted lampshade with burlap which gave the shade {and the lamp} a whole new life. This project was similar, but with a few tweaks due to the fabric chosen. NowI'm recovering lamp shades for the Crate & Barrel Mercury Glass knock off I did. If you remember back, I got one Restoration Hardware shade from Saver's Thrift Store for $3, and then bought another with the same shape and size from WalMart for 10 bucks. So now I'm in 13 bucks for two shades. I've been looking for grey fabric for month and a half and finally found some I liked for $1.50 a yard. Well worth the wait!

▷ I used about 1/2 a yard of fabric per lamp shade- but when you buy your fabric you should allow for 3/4-1 yard of fabric each.
▷The only difference between covering this lamp shade with a light cotton fabric and covering the last one with burlap -  you MUST iron your fabric.  You should iron all of the fabric, but especially the seam where the fabric will overlap. This is super important if you want your lampshade to look store bought. At the seam, fold a flap of fabric between 1/4"-1/2"wide inwards, making sure it's straight, and iron that seam well.

▷Lay the fabric on a smooth surface and spray the side fabric that will be against the shade with a light coat of spray adhesive.
▷Begin rolling the shade onto the fabric and adhesive, pressing the fabric firmly against the shade and smoothing any wrinkles as you go.

 

▷You can use glue or the peel and stick "Stitch Witchery" to hold the fabric in place, rather than a glue gun (like with the burlap shade I recovered.) I think this was a good choice with a thin fabric and the seam is well, seamless!

After ages of looking at mismatched shades I finally have this project finished! Hallelujah! I KNOW all of you understand how crazy this can make you- to have this "sore spot" right in the middle of your room!

Here's the final comparison of all three lights- my two thrift store knock offs and the Crate and Barrel original. Of course mine aren't an exact copy, but in total I saved 280 bucks and I think that mine have the same feel as the inspiration. I am pretty proud of how the faux mercury glass turned out.

Thanks for reading!


 Looking for places to link up your projects? Check out my Party page

I'm also linked up here