Hey there! Often I feel that when a space is designed the importance of the light fixture may be overlooked. Each fixture in our home was the basic builders grade, in other words BORING! This was no exception in this cool industrial teen bedroom. I mean, I guess if you wanna be nitpicky about it, the existing light did serve its purpose, it did provide the space with ample lighting, it was just an eyesore. But in my home, looks are pretty much as important to me as functionality, (insert my Hubby rolling his eyes at me!) so this room was screaming for a new light! See for yourselves.
Some designers refer to these as boob lights…I’ll leave that to your own imagination.
Many of my ideas spark from Pinterest. This was the inspiration light, and with a bit of tweaking we came up with a look to compliment this room. This Pin directed me to an Etsy sell, this was sold for $300! (It probably didn’t cost that much to make, depending on how much each of their pendant lights were.) My take on the light cost roughly $40!
First things first, I had the electrical spool, now onto the hunt for the perfect pendant shade! My Mom and I began scouring local thrift stores for anything stainless steel that would fit a light bulb and look really awesome in this space. I’d like to express my thanks to the unknown person who kindly donated their unwanted IKEA utensil holder to the Layton Goodwill! You may think I’m being funny (or weird) but after looking at several stores and leaving empty handed, with a more expensive alternative, we decided to stop at one last store, Goodwill. There it was, sitting on the shelf with a heavenly glow surrounding it. I knew this was the exact element to make this an amazing light fixture! It was only marked at $1.99, but there was only 1. Could I really find more of these exact utensil holders at different thrift stores? I did look for them a bit, but then I decided it would be better worth my while to make the long drive to IKEA myself and get 4 more.
Our trip to IKEA was successful. Not only did I get the additional utensil holders I needed, but I also picked up the actual electrical fixtures there as well! They are packaged for about $7 a piece, but my Mom found 4 in the As-Is section as we were about to check out. So, I did end up purchasing one at full price and the others ranged from $1-$3 a piece. One was white, but I was all about saving money so after I got it home, I just used a bit of black spray paint so it would match the others. Bet you can’t tell which one it is.
My Dad used his trusty ol’ drill press using a hole saw to drill holes in the bottom of the utensil holders large enough to allow the new fixture to screw into place. He put the utensil holder on top of a piece of scrap wood to give a little support while drilling the hole. Then we inserted the electrical fixture through the hole in the utensil holder and tighten the ring to hold in place. Voila!
Then we marked where we wanted the 5 fixtures to hang from the electrical spool piece. We used a piece of rope to wrap around the circumference of the spool to get an exact measurement, then divided that by 5 (this gave equal spacing for each fixture). Once we had that measurement, a pencil mark was placed at the edge of the spool piece. Using a ruler we were able to line up the middle of the spool with the mark that was placed on the outer edge of the spool. We then measured up from the outside of each mark the same distance and made a mark for the hole. Once all 5 positions were marked we chose a drill bit that was a little larger than the electrical cord and drilled each hole.
Once the holes had all been drilled, we set the spool piece on top of a small table making sure that the side of the spool that would be facing the ceiling was face down. With the right side of the spool up (or the side that would be showing once the fixture was hanging) we could string each light fixture through the holes.
Then we were able to tie knots on each cord (on the top side of the spool, the side that would face the ceiling) to secure them to the spool piece. We hung them at random lengths so it wouldn’t be too symmetrical.
Now to hang this creation! We used a stud finder to locate the nearest ceiling rafter to the light box. You can see where the existing light was hanging. We shifted the new light to the left a little bit so it would be centered over the bed, instead of being centered directly in the middle of the room. Two cleats were then attached to the ceiling with drywall screws.
Then the light was positioned into place, and secured to the cleats with 3 screws into each cleat. (This thing is heavy, we didn’t want it going anywhere!) My Dad then connected all the wiring and tucked the wires on top of the spool out of sight. Behold the finished product!
Looking for more DIY lighting ideas?
Then see how we transformed a pair of large vintage brass lamps with spray paint and wax.
And you need to see this lamp makeover, it’s a Pottery Barn dupe!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! See ya, until my next crazy idea. Thanks for stopping by.
And as always here at Sunny Side Design we hope to . . .
BRING YOUR HOME TO THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET.
I have a question about the electrical fittings. Did you wire all the cable lights together then attached that one wire to the wiring at the ceiling? I would imagine that you cut the the tops of the cables off and stripped the cable to expose the wiring in each cable light? Sorry I am going to be doing this myself and I want to make sure I do this right. Also what size bulbs do you use? Like 20 W, 40 W etc?
Yes, Kim we did attach the cable lights together, then attached to the one wire in the ceiling. Now we are not electrons, we are just presenting an idea. You may want to check your local building codes or consult an electrician. Good luck with your project. We picked up our bulbs at Ikea along with the cable lights. We used the Ryet E26 bulb 450 lumens. I’m not sure how that translates to wattage.
Hello, I read your blog like every week. Your humoristic style is witty, keep doing what you’re doing!
Gabriele, we’re so glad you’ve found our site! We try to be as real and down to earth in our posts as we are in person…we’re definitely not perfect nor claim to be…we just try to be ourselves. Thanks for following us along our journey!
Are there instructions on how to connect all the wiring?