Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Let there be light.

I am lucky to have a Grandma that has sheds full of fun treasures.  I shopped in her sheds in September and came home with these goodies.

 (There is also an old, tattered American flag in there)

Now, I am pretty sure this is a warming lamp from a little chicken coop she used to have in her yard years and years ago.


It was a bit filthy.  I was looking for a cute, industrial type light for above my kitchen sink.  And I knew I could make this one work.  I just had to use a little ingenuity.

First, I removed the socket and cord from the lamp.


Then I washed the lamp.  I stupidly used an SOS pad and scratched it up a little but you can't really see the scratches unless you are right up close.    Thankfully, with it hanging above the sink, no one will be up close;)

Then I had to figure out how to mount it to the existing can light fixture.


I bought this pendant light fixture from Menards (I think).
 

Make sure you turn your breaker OFF and check to make sure the power is really off to the area.  I was able to mount the lamp to the bottom part of the pendent fixture fairly easily.  I had to leave the trim (outer ring that you can see) from the can light as the hole for the can light was too large for the top part of the pendant light kit to cover.  I ended up painting the ring with some metallic silver paint so it would look like it belonged with the pendent light.  Then I cut the wires going to the socket part (the thing you screw the light bulb in to) in the can light and wired my new pendent light fixture to this.  I just left the housing of the can light as is.  Then I was able to rig the pendent fixture up and here is the finished product.


And I am in love with it!


I am so happy I finally tackled this and got it up.  It looks exactly how I was hoping it would look!!  It took me so long to get this up partly because I was busy with holidays and the kids' birthdays and Craftshop and partly because I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the long list of projects I made myself in my mind.  I was so overwhelmed, I entered a slight paralysis phase and was unable to do anything.  Finally, I decided to tackle one project and not think about the rest and it worked:)

Next up, reupholstering this settee...


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