Making a ceiling lamp: The creative way

So I just moved into a new place and I love the size and the bare bones of it, but there are some areas that need my special touch. Case in point: There are no overhead lights in any of the bedrooms, only a light switch that connected to one of the outlets. BUT, because every hardship is an opportunity in my book, this actually made me excited because I had an excuse to hang my own ceiling lamps! After checking with my landlord that I'd be okay with installing a few ceiling hooks, I started researching. And researching. And researching. My first one (which will be the subject of another post when I get it hung up) was an old hanging lamp that I found on Craigslist, which I repurposed.

I apologize for the lack of as-you-go pictures, I didn't decide to do this blog until I put up this light and realized how awesome it looked. Future projects will have more pictures!

The focus of this post though is the light in my study. I found a lamp shade at Goodwill for $2 and removed the fabric. Then I found a light cord kit and light from IKEA, added some Washi tape, and voila.



Materials:
$2 - Lamp shade
$8 - IKEA Sekond cord set in white
$1.50 - Washi tape from a craigslist seller destashing their scrapbook supplies
$4.50 - IKEA Ledare light bulb (you can use any standard-sized lightbulb with the cord though)

Additional supplies that you may not have on hand like me:
$0.79 - Acrylic craft paint
$1 - Small paint brush
$5 - Krylon Triple-Thick Crystal Clear Glaze

BEFORE the project: I just want to make a few notes when you're searching for a lamp shade: Make sure it is a full stand-alone frame and not just a top and bottom wire, which is the case for many straight round lamp shades. The one I used is a square bell shape, and I felt to make sure there were side wires under the fabric. Also, make sure there is a larger hole inside that is big enough for the base of the lightbulb to fit into. Many shades will have a tiny little circle at the top, which is for use with a harp and bulb clip thingy when you are placing it on a table lamp, I think.

Step one: Remove the fabric from the lamp shade. At first I tried to delicately remove the glued edging pieces one at a time. Then I got tired of it and hacked into the middle of the fabric with a knife. Took a few more minutes to rip the glued parts off the frame and then it was bare. (insert picture here, if I had taken one).

Step two: Paint the frame. I have a ton of paint, so I just chose a cheery blue color and started painting it. I set the frame on a garbage bag and just kind of worked it over, letting coats dry before I flipped it over and around to get all parts.

Step three: Add glaze. If you're not using a super high-quality paint, the end result will probably feel a little chalky. Because you don't want to have to take your whole design apart and repaint it after the original paint starts chipping away, you should get an acrylic glaze of sorts. This was a little difficult because glaze can take up to 24 hours to really set in, so the sprayed part cannot touch the ground/surface at ALL or the glaze will stick to the floor your object is on and you'll wind up with something like a melted crayon on the bottom of your object. (Next time I spray glaze something, I'll try to get a picture of this.) So because this is a frame, I had to really take my time. You may not be as compulsive as me, but I just sprayed this in sections over a week as I worked on other projects

Step four: Wrap the cord in washi tape. This is a great project to do while you're waiting for coats of the glaze to dry. The Sekond cord is 15 feet long, so it took a while. There are a lot of designs you can make with washi tape, so do some research (This is the project that initially inspired me). I love white, so I spaced my wraps about the same width of the tape. I wrapped two times over because I noticed the tape would start to peel otherwise. Washi tape is tearable, but it was cleaner to just cut.

(taken from my phone before I had the sense to dig out my nice camera)

Step 5: Piece together the cord, shade and lightbulb. One thing I discovered is that the white Sekond cord end (next to the scissors) didn't fit inside the shade's opening, so I just stuck the bulb up through and screwed the cord end over it, removing the little plastic washer-thingy that you normally screw over the white part of the cord. Don't you love my labels? Insert a pic if I had taken one, but these will have to do:

 

Step 6: Hang the ceiling hooks. I measured my room lengthwise and widthwise and found the exact center, because I am compulsive. You may want to just eyeball it and I'm sure it will be fine. The Sekond kit comes with two ceiling hooks, so I used one in the middle, then one at the corner of the wall and ceiling, before draping the cord down to the outlet. I also used another small hook to pull up the middle of the cord, but you might choose to just lay the cord flat against the ceiling.

And voila!

Parting thoughts: The IKEA bulb isn't the most aesthetically pleasing, and a round or Edison-style bulb might be more in line with your style, but it is absolutely the best one if you want a crisp, bright light. Since this will be my study/burning-the-midnight-oil room, I wanted as much light as possible from a single bulb.

I may also play around the the cord. If I had a normal ceiling instead of popcorn, I probably would have just kept the cord taut along the ceiling. I may still do that later, but we'll see. I may also use some cord secure thingys to pull the cord in a straight diagonal line from the top of the wall down to the outlet. But it works just fine for now!

Loving the colorful life,

L