Hey friends!! I hope this year is treating you well. It's still feeling kinda 2020-ish to me but hopefully things will look up soon. I had to take a breather from last year. It was heavy and it felt like it all just caught up with me in January and knocked me right out. I get that way usually in January but it only lasts for a couple weeks maybe... this year it lasted a whole two months! I just couldn't get it together but the sunshine March is giving us is definitely helping!! I decided I wanted to share how I've accomplished different light fixture situations on the CHEAP...
I've done several diy light fixtures in my day but this house has quite a few. I have some that aren't hardwired and some that I just rigged up to get rid of a "boob" light temporarily. Let's look at all the different ways I've rigged things up around here, shall we??
These first three use lamp shades but they're all different. This is a super easy and cute way to update a light fixture for way cheap. The first one isn't hardwired. This house didn't have a light over where the dining room table would be and I decided I wanted one. I took some chain I had, a ceiling hook, and a lamp shade that I spray painted black and hooked them all together to make a faux light. I added a puck light to have some light but I've found it really doesn't do much so I don't use it. This light is purely just for looks but I'm good with it because I have can lights in this room around it so this space gets plenty of lights. See the step by step of this faux light HERE.
This next light in my hallway is also made by a lamp shade that I painted black. This one is flush mount though and it does actually work. I had a "boob" light here and was getting tired of it so I took the globe of the light off and put the rod of the light that holds up the globe through the hole in the top of the lamp shade. I used the bold and screwed it all the way up to hold the lamp shade up on the light. I love how this one turned out and I love that it really works and literally cost me nothing because I had this lamp shade already waiting for me in my basement. See more of my hallway HERE.
This light is my first "rigged up" kind of light I ever made. This one was in our last house in the nursery. All I did was get a light kit on Amazon and a cute lamp shade from target. I just fed the light kit through and screwed the bulb on to hold the lamp shade on the light kit. This one did actually work and was hardwired. I also used a hook in the ceiling to swag it into the center of the room. I was super proud of this light at the time because I came up with it and it was, again, very budget friendly. You can read more about the nursery HERE.
These next three are not hardwired but I feel like they make the space just feel complete. If you look above in the nursery, there are two sconces next to the window. These DO work. They are plug in sconces and I loved them but I hated seeing the cord. I also never really used them because in order to use them I had to bend over and plug them in and by golly that's just too much work for a new mom!! LOL I say new mom... that's too much for me now lets just be honest with ourselves.
These below are just screwed into the wall. No puck light. They just don't work. I would love to use a puck light in them but the opening around the globe is too small so I haven't found any that fit inside the globe yet. But they still look super pretty!! All I did was screw them into the wall and tucked the wiring behind. Makes such a big statement. Read more about my dining room HERE.
These are the same except I did use a puck light in them. They come with a remote and it's super fun to just click on the lights, put on the fire and a movie. It makes a big difference and just warms it up in here a lot. The only thing is the batteries don't last super long in the puck lights so I don't turn them on very often but that makes it even more of a treat! Read more about my diy fireplace and these faux sconces HERE.
I have another faux light in my hallway. This one was my grandparents and it's been in their house since I can remember. I always thought it was beautiful. My grandpa had it rigged up to plug in but I don't have an outlet in this hallway so I just took off the part he rigged (wonder where I get it from) and hung it on the wall. I switched out the little lamp shade for a black one I had to update it a little and now I have a little piece of them in here. I absolutely love looking at it. Even though it doesn't work :)
Last is these plug in chandeliers I've had forever. I had them in my last house and I am still in love with them. These aren't really considered "faux" or "rigged up" because this is how they are intended to be used but I included them because they are somewhat more permanent than a lamp on a table without being hardwired. These just hook into the ceiling with a ceiling hook and plug into the wall. They have a super long cord so they're easy to put anywhere. I realized I don't have an updated bedroom tour up on my blog... OMG! I will get to that soon but until then you can see my old bedroom in the farmhouse HERE and my bedroom before this last makeover HERE. Both using these chandeliers.
That's it!! I love all of these faux lights in my house. I know lots of people think you need to hard wire and work hard or have a lot of money to have the look you want but really if you just use your imagination, you can have WHATEVER look you want in your house on literally any budget. Several of these cost me next to nothing. You can find lamp shades at thrift stores for just a couple dollars. Use some paint to update them and you have a new, chic light fixture for hardly anything! Don't over think it, friends. You can have ANYTHING you put your mind to.
I also have another faux light fixture I made. I didn't include it because it's a little more complicated than one of these above. I guess I've gotten lazier... It was one of the first and definitely the most creative LOL it's kinda funny so you can read about that HERE.
Love you,
