Sometime around 2 years ago, I picked up two pretty little Moroccan lanterns for $15 each from Home Goods.  I had visions of them being real, hanging lights instead of just candle holders.

I’m not entirely sure, but I think I originally wanted them to be in the bathroom over the sinks.  (Since we’ll be moving, I’m glad we didn’t end up hardwiring them in there.)  I started waffling around a year ago and wanted them in the bedroom instead.  Regardless, that’s where they are now!

You might remember my post about how to turn a plug-in light into a hardwired one.  We used the $5 IKEA Hemma cord set as usual to turn these candle lanterns into actual pendants.  It was as simple as drilling a hole in the top of the lantern for the cord to fit through, and then snipping the plug end off so the cord can be threaded through the hole.

To hardwire the light, that’s all you’ll need to do, you have yourself a pretty Moroccan pendant for $20.  If we weren’t moving, I would have hardwired these lights into the bedroom ceiling, but because I want to take them with me (and I don’t know if they’ll be the next owner’s taste), we turned them back into plug-in lights by just putting the plugs back on.  We also added switches to the cords so we could turn them off without unplugging them.

I also picked up the chain at the home improvement store.  The shape of this chain was perfect, but it was BRIGHT brass-colored, so I did a couple very light coats of dark brown spray paint.  I didn’t want to cover the color, I just wanted to add spots of the brown to make it look old like the lanterns.  It worked pretty well!  The chain was under $1 a foot.

The shadows they cast on the walls and ceiling are really pretty.

I went to look for a similar lantern to link to, but there were SO MANY lanterns that would make gorgeous hanging lights that I put together several that would work well.  They are all under $20.  Now I want more of them.

(Affiliate links above)

PS: You may have noticed by the Instagram feed over there –> that we’re off at some beautiful place.  We are (or will be soon, as I’m writing this before we leave) on an amazing trip.  Ireland, Switzerland, and France more specifically.  (And please don’t worry about any lack of character on our part–this trip was saved for, planned and paid for in-full before the Hubs lost his job.)

One thing I (mostly) finished before we left was a simple change in the kitchen that made a huge difference.  Come back next Monday to check it out!

The post Turning Moroccan lanterns into hanging bedside lamps appeared first on Little Victorian.

When we moved in, the house had a dreaded boob light in the hallway.  (Update: see the hallway makeover here.) We quickly replaced it with this light:

It was only a few dollars at an architectural salvage store.  (It’s not old though, they are still selling it at the home improvement store for about $75.)  We picked it up because it was only a few dollars and it was better than the builder-grade ugly thing.

I’ve been wanting to replace it for a couple years with something that’s more our style, but haven’t…lighting is expensive! And finding one that’s your style second-hand can take years, literally. 

To tide us over until then, I sanded off the dull, dirty yellow finish it had.

I was hopeful that it was just paint, and it was! So with a very coarse sanding block, I sanded the paint right off the glass fixture.

The sanding took a while, but it was easy of course, and it was a free upper body workout.  That glass piece is a lot bigger than it looks when you’re trying to hold it and sand it.

Just put on a podcast and sand away.

If you test this on your light fixture and find that it isn’t a flat-finish paint as ours was, you can always spray paint the outside of it. Of course, depending on your fixture, you could lose a little of the light that comes through the fixture, but it might be worth it!

Once the sanding was done, I gave it a good wash in the kitchen sink and it looked like it had always been white.

To our surprise, we actually like it now.  As in, we are totally fine with giving up the search for a new one and keeping it. It was subtle, but removing the paint from the light fixture made such a big difference.

We have a thing for making over or making lighting, check out or other ideas here.

The post A free upgrade for a drab light fixture appeared first on Little Victorian.

A few years ago when we were in our rental house before we did much DIY, I had a paper chandelier from IKEA that was plug-in and I wanted it over the dining room table.  The Hubs told me it was easy to convert a plug-in light to a hardwired light.  But I knew less than nothing about electrical work back then and just the thought of that to me was scary.

There really is nothing to be afraid of though.

You’ll just need three things:

1. Your plug in light-fixture
   (This light fixture is just a spray-painted simple, $8 utility lamp, similar to this $215 version.  Read how I transformed it here.)
2. A utility knife

   

3. A pair of wire strippers

   

   
   (Those are affiliate links.)

Here’s how to turn a plug-in light into a ceiling light:

1. Measure how long you’ll need your cord.

Hold your light fixture up to the ceiling and measure the length of cord you’ll need from there.  Then add about 6 inches to that length and cut your cord there.

That’s it!  Your plug-in light should look exactly like a hard-wired one.  (See the comparison in the last photo above.)

I’m not going to tell you how to actually install the light, because that has the potential to be different with each house.  Stephanie at Brooklyn Limestone has a great photo tutorial for actually replacing the light.  But I will add one tip: before you disconnect the old one, get your phone out and take a picture of how the wires are connected, especially if you live in an old house (you never know if something is wired in an…unconventional way).

One major benefit of turning a plug-in light into a hardwired one is that a plug-in is often far cheaper than a ready-to-go hardwired one.  They are way more customizable too, and it only takes about 5 minutes to transform the fixture!

You can see this one in place hanging from the ceiling here.

The post How to turn a plug-in light into a ceiling light (and save a lot of money) appeared first on Little Victorian.

While I am still shopping for a light fixture for the living room, I have had one for our side entry way sitting on the living room floor for months.  Yesterday, I finally installed it.

Here’s the fixture that came with the house:

Fine looking, but not our style.  Here’s our new ceiling light:

It’s actually not a light fixture, it is a giant birdcage/Moroccan lantern candle holder from Home Goods.  I just removed the candle holder parts, shortened the chain that was coming from the ceiling and hung it up by the handle.

It actually wasn’t quite that easy, but it should have been.  I wanted to use the same light kit that was in the original fixture, but I cut the wires too short.  Boo.  The Hubs always says “Measure twice, cut once.”  And I forget every time.  Thankfully, there are always extra light kits from Ikea around our house.

Ikea’s Hemma cord set is a plug in light kit, but all you have to do to turn it into a hardwired cord is cut it to your length and carefully cut away the insulation to expose the wire.  These things are wonderful and at $5 a piece, they are cheaper than purchasing the separate parts to make your own.

So, the new light cost us $30 at Home Goods and an extra $5 for new cord set.  And if you don’t screw up and cut the cords too short, the whole project could be done in about 15 minutes.

The post DIY birdcage chandelier appeared first on Little Victorian.

Back to life-size decor for the day around here.

So to answer your question: yes, you can spray paint lamps.

Several months ago, I picked up two mismatched table lamps for our living room.  I really liked the shapes of the bases.  Well, I mostly liked the prices, but the shapes were very nice as well.

It’s amazing how much different old lamps can look with a little makeover.  Here is what I did to refinish mine (get ready for some sub-par photos—I just get to excited to do the projects that forget to plan the photos well):

The one on the left is all metal and the one on the right is a combination of metal, wood and glass.

I gave them a good cleaning and sanded them with some fine sandpaper.  Then primed them.

And then put them on display in the living room for several months, because I couldn’t decide what color to paint them.

Last week, I finally finished them up with a can of gold (Metallic Caramel Latte by Krylon, my favorite cool, light gold—it’s the same one I used for spray painting my cork board).

And they are topped off with new shades from Target.  I can’t remember how much I paid for them, but I’m sure they were either on sale or I had a coupon.  Or both.  The total for the two “new” lamps was under $30.

And as usual, the one that was less attractive in the beginning ended up being my favorite.

So, if you have any dated lamps that you aren’t crazy about anymore, try spray painting them.  You might end up liking them more than the brand new, expensive ones you’ve been wanting.

PS: I’ll be back Wednesday with a full page of resources, inexpensive products that I recommend and lots of DIY tutorials for the dollhouse contest.

The post Refinished thrift store lamps appeared first on Little Victorian.

Our real dining room is finally starting to come together.  I still need to replace the bench with a settee on one side of the dining table, but I finally got curtains, (almost) finished the chairs and replaced the lighting.

When we moved in, we had an icky (and way too small) brass and yellow glass chandelier.  I removed the globes and painted it black a few days after moving in to tide me over until I found a new one.  We finally replaced it with a DIY light last week.

I wish the pictures did it justice.  They don’t.  It’s feminine, but not as feminine as it looks in photos.  It looks like a giant snowball in person, and it adds so much fantastic texture to the room.  But then when you turn it on, not only does it still light up the room, it looks like a glowing star.  I don’t think we’ve had a single person (even guys!) visit that haven’t stared and asked about it (and even asked me to make them one).

It’s a super easy, very cheap DIY.  It takes time, but you will NOT regret it.

You’ll need:

A round paper shade (ours is 24 inches)
A cord set (or a $5 one from IKEA)
Coffee filters (about 350)
Glue gun & many sticks of hot glue (here’s a good one!)

(Affiliate links above)

We already had the shade and cord, but to buy them new from IKEA is only $9.  It takes about 350 coffee filters (I underestimated and had to go back to the store twice–when it looks like you only need about 50 more, you probably need over 100), and those cost less than $4.

It’s one of the easiest projects ever.

The shade gets heavy where you put the coffee filters, and will try to roll away as you’re working, so to get it to hold still, I made a base from a towel.  Just roll one up and then form a circle with it, then put your lantern on top. (See above picture.)

The cord set is made for plugging in, but to hardwire it (if you’re comfortable with electricity), just cut the plug off, and pull the wires apart–at that point, it will be exactly like replacing a hardwired light. (Update: I made a tutorial of turning a plug-in light into a hard-wired light.) If you don’t want to hardwire it, the cord set comes with hooks so you can plug it into a socket and hang it from anywhere.

It really doesn’t look orange at all when it is on, it just shows up that way in photos.  I’ll get this photography thing figured out someday.

If you don’t already already have the supplies, this project would cost about $14 and take about 3 hours.  I totally recommend it.

The post DIY paper light for under $15 appeared first on Little Victorian.