I'm telling ya, Goodwill is a poor girl's best friend. I haven't shown you what treasures I've been finding lately. I'll post that soon. But in the mean time. This little fella hanging from my ceiling had been begging me to take it home for a couple weeks before I finally gave in. I was hesitant because I had no idea what to do with it, but I had a feeling I could make it into something cool. Little did I know it would be the smartest $4 I've ever spent.
Before this gem came into my life, the pendant light at the front door was a sad little guy who didn't quite fit the space. He was just too little and too boring. He didn't fit in and he knew it.
Who was I to ignore his feelings? I knew something had to be done. So a Goodwill treasure with no purpose and a sad little pendant light came together and created something beautiful.
Ok so you want to know how you can do this in your house?
Well if you already have a pendant light, there are some cool things you can do. Pretty much anything with a hollow center can be transformed into a custom pendant light. Check out pinterest for "DIY pendant light" for lots of cool ideas on any budget.
If you have recessed lighting, but want to change it to pendant lights check out Lowe's or similar. They carry kits that change can lighting to pendants. You can buy one that has a pendant at the bottom or just a naked one that you can add a pendant to yourself.
If you have an extra drum lamp shade hanging around needing a home, they make a pretty pendant light.
When it comes to attaching them you gotta get creative. I decided I didn't want to spend any money attaching my Goodwill treasure, which I'm pretty sure was a candle holder. So I started roaming the house aimlessly for about 5 minutes before I had a crazy idea. I saw an empty sprinkler box and thought, "I can use this!"
I know, things are getting weird around here guys, but bare with me.
So what I did was cut one side of the box off and then cut that into a circle to fit inside my candle holder. I cut it small enough to fit inside, but big enough to catch on the part that would have held the candle. I then cut a straight cut into the center of the cardboard circle and made a small circle cutout there to fit around the pendant light wire. I just slid the candle holder up onto the light then attached the cardboard cutout to the wire. It was super easy and took a total of ten minutes from start to finish. Here's what it looks like if you look up into the light from below:
Well if you already have a pendant light, there are some cool things you can do. Pretty much anything with a hollow center can be transformed into a custom pendant light. Check out pinterest for "DIY pendant light" for lots of cool ideas on any budget.
If you have recessed lighting, but want to change it to pendant lights check out Lowe's or similar. They carry kits that change can lighting to pendants. You can buy one that has a pendant at the bottom or just a naked one that you can add a pendant to yourself.
If you have an extra drum lamp shade hanging around needing a home, they make a pretty pendant light.
When it comes to attaching them you gotta get creative. I decided I didn't want to spend any money attaching my Goodwill treasure, which I'm pretty sure was a candle holder. So I started roaming the house aimlessly for about 5 minutes before I had a crazy idea. I saw an empty sprinkler box and thought, "I can use this!"
I know, things are getting weird around here guys, but bare with me.
So what I did was cut one side of the box off and then cut that into a circle to fit inside my candle holder. I cut it small enough to fit inside, but big enough to catch on the part that would have held the candle. I then cut a straight cut into the center of the cardboard circle and made a small circle cutout there to fit around the pendant light wire. I just slid the candle holder up onto the light then attached the cardboard cutout to the wire. It was super easy and took a total of ten minutes from start to finish. Here's what it looks like if you look up into the light from below:
So basically with a few bucks and a little creativity you can update your boring pendant light into something that fits your own personal style! What a great way to spend a little money and a little time.
I'll leave you with this lovely before and after. It's not a huge transformation, but it definitely makes a big difference for only spending $4 and 10 minutes of my time. If you update your pendant lights send me a picture! I'd love to see them. My email is at the top of the home page. Just click on the little envelope.
As always stay tuned for the next post!
As always stay tuned for the next post!