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Mason Jar Pendant Light

December 8, 2011 in Building and Repurposing, Kitchen, Wall Decor

It dawned on me today that I’ve never really shown you my kitchen makeover… except for a look at the kitchen island I purchased off Craigslist and gave an updo. I promise you next week I’ll show you the full room… but for now, well… frankly, there are dirty dishes in the sink and I don’t feel like washing them. Honesty’s the best policy, right? So instead, I thought I’d show you one of my favorite parts of the room.

First… here’s a look at the BEFORE. This picture was snapped the day I first toured my house. It’s very builder-grade, but has tons of potential.

The power actual comes from the ceiling where that awesome (read with sarcasm) brass light is. THEN, they apparently wanted more light over the sink… so they ran power down the wall to an equally awesome (really lay on the sarcasm) light was mounted behind that scalloped board. I make an ick face every time I think about that whole arrangement. So glad it’s gone!

I’ve always LOVED mason-jars-turned-pendant-lights. Like L.U.V. them. I had it in my mind that I could make one and there are TONS of how-to’s out there for a full run-down. (Kara Paslay gives a great one here) Seems most people use a work with whatcha got approach, and I did the same. I knew I wanted one…. but I didn’t necessarily run out to get the supplies. Instead, I tucked the idea away for a rainy day.

<Enter rainy day> Shopping at Lowes a while back I stumbled on an AWESOME find. I found a 3-Light Mini Pendant Light Kit for TEN. BUCKS. $10! Yup. Ten. And you want to hear something crazy? I almost walked away from it. I know right!… nuts. The problem was the light fixture was white, and at the time I had it in my mind that I wanted brushed nickel to match my cabinet hardware (more on that next week). Here’s a link to the nickel finish light, available online. It’s regularly $50, so I really scored a deal.

SIDENOTE – For those of you with recessed lighting, you can still play along! Check out this recessed light conversion kit to turn it into a pendant light!

So with my $10 Kit in hand, I skipped my happy hiney on home. ……and put it in the basement……. to collect dust……. for a few ~~days~~ weeks. Hey – Just being honest!

Meanwhile, I shopped around in some local thrift stores until I found 3 jars that were similar shades of blue and had that awesome seeded glass detail that I love. Finally…. I had it all!

Here’s where you have to forgive me. I don’t have in-progress pictures of this. I forgot. I’m sorry. But in my defense – this was pre-blogging!

So the ceiling light, board above sink, and light mounted to board were removed, leaving me with a nice, tall space above the sink. Already SO much better! I have a skylight in the kitchen so it allowed so much more light to shine on the counters after that board was gone.

The new pendant light kit was installed on the ceiling and I had lots of spackling, and painting to repair the wall and cabinets. But still…. SO worth it.

I had to rig the jars a bit to make them work. The lids that came with my jars were the old zinc lids with a porcelain cap. I was afraid to drill through them (and ruin them), so I just swapped them out for the modern day caps with the rubber seal ring. I wasn’t sure how well it would work, but so far – so great!

For the lids:

Drill small holes in the top to allow ventilation when the light is on. You want the heat to be able to escape!
Drill a larger hole for the pendant kit. I used a hole saw for this. Probably not the ideal way, but it worked! I already owned one, so I attached it to my dry and gave it a shot. The lids got hot, and I had to really hold them down to keep them from spinning, but I managed to crank three lids out before I lost my nerve (which was dwindling!).

Then… easy peasy…. Just attach the lids to the dangling pendant cords. Screw in a bulb and then twist on your jar. DONE!

Check out the after… I hope you love them as much as I do!

(The pinwheel was made by my sister Christy for my other sister Karen’s baby shower this summer. I thought it was fun so I snagged it and brought it home. Makes me think of my nephew every time I see it!)

You’ll notice all of these photos are cleverly taken with the sink jusssst out of shot. I told you – the dishes are dirty!

And in case you’re wondering, these three bulbs put out a LOT of light. I have no need for additional lighting in the kitchen at night. It’s not SUPER bright, but it’s plenty bright for me!

I better go do the dishes now so I can show you guys the rest of the kitchen. It’s amazing what painting the cabinets can do!

Ornament Light Tutorial

November 1, 2011 in Bedrooms, Gettin' Crafty

A few posts back I showed you a quick shot of my ornament light at night. My sister Christy made it for me as a birthday present earlier this year. Isn’t she a sweetie? There are several versions splashed around Pinterest, but we had several of you ask how to make one like mine (aka hers) so here you go!

…and SPECIAL THANKS to Christy for being kind enough to tell us how! Without further ado – here’s Christy’s first guest post on Crafted Niche! (cue the applause)

How to make your own Ornament Pendant Light

Supplies:

Silver wire
Clear ornaments
2 Wire florist rings, 1 large and 1 smaller. Find them in local stores like Joann Fabric (St Louis prices shown below) or online at sites like this: http://www.mainewreathco.com/cgi/supplystore/commerce.cgi?product=Pine_Cone_Wreath_Rings)
Swag light – $3.99 at Ikea (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10175810/) NOTE – If you don’t have an Ikea near you, several other stores sell similar lights. Dana found some at World Market for another project
Spray paint – I used Rustoleum Brushed Nickel

Hi, Everyone! So apparently there’s some interest in the bubble light that I made. First, I should say that I’m not the first one out there to try and make a DIY version. I’ve seen quite a few on Pinterest and thought I’d give it a go. I don’t have in progress” shots because my sister didn’t have a blog at that time and I wasn’t even sure it was going to work. So, feel free to ask if you have any questions. But basically, I just used a lot of wire and crossed my fingers!

I started off by spray painting the florist rings with Rustoleum brushed nickel. It matched the top of the ornaments and the wire.

Then, I just wired the two florist rings together. These are what the ornaments (or bubbles) hang from. I wanted the bubbles to be uniformly distributed, so the wire rings gave me guides to know where to hang the wire from for the ornaments. I also used the wire to attach the light socket into the center of the inner ring.

I then hung the ornaments from the florist rings starting with the outer ring so that I didn’t have to guess on the length for the inner since I wanted the inner ring to hang down the furthest to help hide the bulb later on. So, I went around once on the outermost ring of the florist ring. Then, I made the next inner row one ornament height lower. I continued this until I got to the innermost ring.

At first I used a regular bulb and didn’t like the look. I tried a CFL and REALLY didn’t like the look. Then, I remembered that I had some extra clear, round bulbs that were used in my old vanity light. Actually, it was shaped just like the ornaments so it was perfect!

Hang the light from a hook in the ceiling and there you go! Super easy.

- Christy

THANKS CHRISTY! I took about a million and a half pictures of the light in my guest room. Here are a few more… and true to Dana form, I’m giving you more pictures than one person could possibly want.

Click for larger versions.

(Looking UP from under the light)

This might be a good project for you to tuck away for after the holidays! Be one of the first to hit up your local stores the day after Christmas and you’re sure to score a DEAL on some ornaments!

Enjoy!