When we built our house, we decided to forego the builders choice ceiling fixtures in the bedrooms and choose our own after we were moved in. Fast forward 3 years later and the kids all still have bare light bulbs on their ceilings. What can I say, I’m the world’s slowest decorator. But today, we’re tackling the light fixture in Sam’s room with a DIY pendant light we made out of a metal wire container found on the clearance rack.
I recently finished Sam’s bedroom, with the exception of the light fixture. I did a vintage airplane theme for his room (I’ll be sharing it with you next week!), and I wanted something that felt a little industrial and a bit like it could be found in an Air Force barracks.
Everything I found that I liked was around $100 and I didn’t want to spend that much. Then last week Vic and I were in Hobby Lobby and I saw this metal wire container on the clearance rack for $6.00. The base of the container is thin metal, and I figured I could easily cut a hole in the bottom and make a ceiling fixture out of it.
Disclaimer: I’m not an electrician by any stretch, and this tutorial is simply to show you how I did this project. If you’re not comfortable doing this type of project on your own, consult a professional electrician. DIY pendants are cool, burning your house down is not.
First, I removed the existing ceiling socket. Removing and replacing the socket is pretty simple. If you’re not sure how to remove the socket, this video might help.
Originally, I thought I’d just cut holes in the container, and have it sit flush against the ceiling using the existing socket under the container. To make the large center hole, I drilled several holes with a power drill and used tin snips to cut until I had the right size hole. After I had already cut 3 holes in the container, I decided to change directions and make it a pendant fixture. I did this for a few reasons. Mostly because I was having a hard time getting the wires back in place with the container right against the ceiling, and secondly because I thought it would look a little nicer as a pendant.
So I headed to Home Depot and purchased a pendant light kit for $16.00. Fortunately the hole I had already cut in the bottom of the container was small enough to work with the pendant kit. Had the hole been too big, I probably would have used a ceiling plate or a large washer to cover part of the hole.
(*Note: If you can’t or don’t want to rewire, they had another pendant kit just like this but with one big difference. Instead of having to rewire the top, you simply screw it into the existing socket just like a light bulb. Perfect for renters or people who really don’t want to mess with the existing wiring! And it was only $3 more. So you can still make your own custom lighting and when it’s time to move, just unscrew it and screw the light bulb back in. No mess, no damage.)
Putting the pendant light together was really simple. The length of the cord can be adjusted simply by unscrewing the top nut and feeding the cord up through the hole. Any excess cord will lay inside of the ceiling plate up against the ceiling.
The bottom of the pendant (where the light bulb goes) has a threaded piece that fits into the hole, while a larger piece on top holds it in place. A plastic nut screws in under the container to hold it in place. It’s possible to use any type of container to fit on this pendant kit, as long as you’re able to make the hole the correct size. Too small and you won’t be able to feed the light bulb portion through, too big and the nut won’t hold it in place.
Then I simply rewired it back to the ceiling. The little “No. 1” tag is just a paper tag that’s held on with twist ties. The entire project cost me less than $25 and about 30 minutes of my time. It’s got my head swimming with other random objects that could be used for DIY light fixtures…bowls, bird cages, I even found a really cool small wire garbage can that would make a neat pendant light. And have you seen this project where they cut an old globe in half and made a pendant out of it? Or this one using an old exhaust fan? The possibilities are endless.
You can see the rest of Sam’s vintage airplane bedroom here!
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I love this Amy!!! And I think I’d be some serious competition for the world’s slowest decorator 😉 haha! This looks amazing and can’t wait to see his bedroom next week!
Thanks Kendra!! And I love that you also have the same container I used for the light!! Too funny 🙂
This is SUCH a neat idea! I can’t wait to see how it all comes together!
Thanks Kristi!
This is amazing! Now I reaallllyyy want one too, but I’m not about to go switching out the light fixtures in my rental…
Still an awesome idea for the future though!
Stopping by from the WhimsyWednesday link-up 🙂
Thanks so much! And guess what? You can buy a pendant kit just like this one, only the top screws into the existing ceiling socket just like a light bulb. And it’s only $3 more. No rewiring, you can make your own custom lighting and when it’s time to move out, just unscrew it and screw the light bulb back in 🙂
Amy, oh my gosh! How in the world did you think of that? Amazing! I love it and I am super excited to see the vintage airplane room next week. Also, I really appreciate the warning that burning your house down is not cool. 🙂 Love it!
Lol! Little known fact…I’m a firefighter (well technically I’m a stay at home mom now, but prior to March of this year I was a firefighter and paramedic). And I’m married to a fire chief. I’m thinking he might get mad at me if I give someone advice on how to rig up a light fixture and their house burns down. Although only the smartest, most fantastically talented DIY mommas read our blog so a disclaimer was probably not necessary 🙂
This is so cute! Ergh,,, I mean manly 😉 I love your step-by-step pictures. I can’t wait to see the whole room 🙂
Lol…yes, definitely manly. Sam will appreciate that! I can’t wait to share his room with you guys! It’s the first room in our home I’m sharing on our blog, so even if you don’t like it just pretend like you do, haha 🙂
Thanks for great tutorial. I love this very cool industrial look!!
Thanks so much, Betsy!
I love that you did a lighting fixture. I hope someday to tackle something like that. It turned out to be really cool and I can’t wait to see how it looks with the whole theme of his room.
Thanks so much AmieJo!!
This is terrific! Thank you for sharing your sweet blog at the Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop. Watch for your feature on Monday xo
Thank you so much, Katherine! Can’t wait to see your post on Monday!! Have a fantastic weekend in the meantime!!
I am not sure this would fit into my house anywhere right now, but I think that this light would look really cool in a loft!! Thanks for sharing the tutorial!
~Cathy Mini~
OurMiniFamily.com
This post came at a perfect time for me! We are moving into a new place and I want to switch out some of the light fixtures. Great idea!
That’s awesome Tricia! Congrats on the new place! I was really surprised at how easy it is to make your own fixtures. I’m sure you’ll come up with something fabulous!!
This looks awesome! And no you’re not the world’s slowest decorator, I am:) I have a list a mile long and haven’t scratched the first think off in 15 years! Maybe after the kiddos are grown I can start tackling it!
Thanks for linking this up at the Teach Me Tuesday Linky Party! I hope you’re able to join us again tonight starting @9pm est!
Ha! It’s definitely hard to get projects done with kids at home! We’ll see you at the party tonight, thanks Adrian!! 🙂
What a great idea! I LOVE that wire container and what a steal for $6.00! Great job!
Thanks, Katie!
That is such a cool DIY. I am definitely going to try it out 🙂
P.S. I have followed your blog via bloglovin. Do follow mine, too http://www.bloglovin.com/en/blog/8790023 🙂
Tis light fixture is so clever and cute! Thanks for sharing! You have a lot of neat ideas.
Misty
Thanks so much, Misty!!