pendant

Rope and Ribbon Pendant

Published on March 21, 2013March 21, 2013 by Our Humble Abode12 Comments

Well, the guest room has a new light fixture. Surprise, it’s not on this list, though I was leaning toward numbers two and five. But I remembered I had a lamp shade I kept when our lamps broke. I unscrewed the glass cover and hung the shade from the old light, just to get an idea of how it looked.

Too small, and I didn’t like the slightly tapered shape. I took a drum shade off a lamp in the basement, replacing it with the tapered shade. Whaddya know, they were perfect for each other.

Knowing I liked the look and size, I started working on the wiring and hanging. Inspired by this cord cover up, I got out an Ikea cord kit (I had on hand) and cotton/poly rope from Home Depot (for 3 bucks).

A knot at the bottom, close to the socket to start. Then I wrapped the cord like a friendship bracelet. Behind the cord, then through the hole from the front. Not only does this wrap cover the cord, it makes a neat swirl knot design.

Ben hung the light last night using a basic ceiling canopy. The plain shade was boring, so I taped two pieces of wood veneer around the top and bottom.

Everything looked too monotone, so I stole pillows from other rooms to test accent colors. I loved the punch of green this one added. Imagine yellow walls with the dark blue headboard and shots of bright green. Yes, please!

Which prompted me to dig in my ribbon box, coming out with kelly green.

Exactly what I want. Fun, colorful, and lively. Green has a way of perking up any space. To evenly distribute the lively green I want to make another storage box. Luckily the navy set will work perfectly in the main bathroom.

Because I had most of the supplies already, the light cost me $3 for the rope. Score. And you know I can’t resist a DIY. Double score. What do you think of the changes?

You Light Up My Life

Published on June 12, 2012March 26, 2013 by Our Humble Abode4 Comments

Over the weekend, we enjoyed windy, gloomy weather. No work on the roof, but Ben did some work inside. On Saturday, we ran our usual errands, Ben washed windows, and cut the left over slab of Bubinga to fit the entertainment center. Sunday, we had high temps in the 60’s, so we took a trip to Home Depot to get various electrical supplies. Cooler days are better for attic work and we took advantage of it. First, Ben ran wires for the theater speakers.

Speakers will flank the front living room window for a true theater-like experience. The wires run from the outside wall, through the attic, and down the wall behind the entertainment center.

While he was up there, he moved the cable from the temporary place to the same box behind the tv.

Though unfinished, that is better than this:

You may have noticed the sconces are gone, too. Ben pulled the wires completely out because we’ll never have sconces there. Now we’ve got patching to do.

That’s all great, but I was most excited for the pendants in the main bathroom. While painting the small linen closet, I realized just how dark that bathroom was.

Step out of the dark ages, we have created light! Finding lights Ben and I could agree on wasn’t the easiest part of this bathroom reno.

We knew we wanted chrome pendants with hidden bulbs. Of course the options are nearly limitless, but we also wanted something around the $50 or less price point. One of our original choices were industrial chrome pendants for $48 each from Lowes. Currently, the bathroom doesn’t have a ray of natural light. We will add a Sky Tube, but Ben and I worried the downward direction of the lights wouldn’t fill up the bathroom.

Luckily, using only one rod kept the pendants high enough, giving off more light than I thought.

And we love the look.

The style of this pendant is very similar to this one from Home Depot. Twenty dollars less each, and I like the style of the Lowes option better.

We’ve got some trim installed, but more to do. Then filling, sanding, priming, and painting. And grouting the tub, installing the toilet, getting the sink functional, adding functional items like hooks and such. But we’re getting there. I’m getting some of the finishing touches ready. And you caught a peek at the shower curtain that inspired my revised plan. Mood board to come soon.

What did you do over the weekend? Have you found a cheaper version of something that you liked more than the expensive option? That’s always fun for me. Usually I gravitate toward the more expensive items.

Pinterest Challenge: Bird Cage

Published on November 2, 2011October 9, 2012 by Our Humble Abode14 Comments

YHL and Bower Power offered up another season of Pinterest Challenge.

And we knew just what we wanted to share. The bird-cage pendant I made over a month ago but didn’t hang until yesterday.

I already had all the necessary supplies on hand, too. For this project, we used a white ceiling canopy, a cord kit from Ikea (thanks Lizzy for sending it to me!), wire cutters, a pretty light bulb (a large clear vanity bulb was the best I could find locally), and the bird shade. Why didn’t this happen sooner?

It was as simple as cutting and connecting wires. Because we’ve been so busy working on the kitchen, we didn’t install this until last night.

Hence the dark photos. We’ll add more soon. I like the quirkiness the fixture adds to the space, too.

The low watt round bulb is more than enough overall light, but it is still delicate. For some darn reason though I can’t get the stinkin’ thing to hang straight. Ugh. I’ll have to fiddle around with it more.

And, the view from the under side isn’t as ugly as I thought it would be. Still on the look out for a brighter bird or two.

Edit: The light looks better in daylight.

But it still hangs wonky. I hadn’t realized this before, but the colors of the birds picks up nicely on items on the bookshelves.

And the wires from the birds aren’t totally obvious.

Thanks to Pinterest I have a fun new office light. Did you join the Pinterest party? What did you make? What’s on your list to do?

Cloud Light

Published on November 11, 2010March 26, 2013 by Our Humble Abode29 Comments

By now, I’m sure you’ve realized I love a good DIY project. I don’t get too intimidated by projects so long as it doesn’t include building. That’s Ben’s domain. It’s a definite plus when I get to use a glue gun, too. With that out on the table, I have another confession. I loathe ceiling fans. We have two in our house, well,now we have one. They were in the house when Ben bought it and we kept them because we didn’t have air conditioning before. Now that we have air, (not to mention we’re going into winter) we no longer needed the fans. I saw a DIY lighting idea over at Kara Paslay Designs and I knew I had to make one.

I already had a paper lantern (I think mine is smaller than this one listed at IKEA), so I bought a package of coffee filters and warmed up my glue gun.

First, I crumpled up a batch of filters.

Add a liberal amount of hot glue at the base and press firmly to the lantern. To avoid glue burns, put your fingers inside the filter to press. Yeah, learned that a few times…

Start at the base, working around the center opening.

Work your way down and around, keeping the filters close to one another.

Keep gluing, and gluing, and gluing.

Run out of coffee filters because you only bought 200 thinking that would be plenty for a small light. Unplug glue gun, go to Target and get more. Come back, warm up glue gun and proceed gluing.

Once the shade is finished, I needed to find a cord kit. How hard could that be? Very, without an IKEA nearby. I suggest picking up their cord kit. Because I didn’t have their handy-dandy cord, I bought this assortment.

The lamp kit cost $4.97 and the picture wire was $1.97, both from Wal-Mart. The ceiling canopy was from Lowe’s for $4.98. I needed the canopy because we were hard wiring the light.

To hang, get the help of an electrician or your handy husband. Once handy man is present and accounted for, assemble socket, switch, and cord, securing to the lantern. Throw away remaining bottle lamp kit pieces. Add a length of wire to bear the weight of the shade. Hardwire and affix to canopy. Flip the switch and bask in the beauty that is your new, cheap pendant.