You might remember I recently posted about the Be Bold Challenge I am participating in. Fast forward a few weeks and we have finally made it to my own BOLD challenge! This is a project I had been putting off because a.) I didn’t think I would be able to create it on a low budget and b.) I was too lazy to figure out the details of how I would hang it.

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Graham and I live in a rental, so we’re not allowed to change anything to the structure, including fixtures. Thankfully our landlord has good taste, so none of the fixtures bother me… except for one. The light that hangs over our dining room table has bothered me since we moved in a year ago. You can see it below in the “before” photo:

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Actually, the phrase “bothered me” doesn’t quite do it justice. So, let’s try this one more time… That light haunted me. It stared me down every day and every night KNOWING I wasn’t allowed to replace it. It taunted me and mocked me. Like I said before, I was haunted by it. I thought for an entire year that I was just going to have to live with it and get over it. Well, I never got over it. Once Graham and I made the decision to sign another years lease, I made the decision then and there that I was going to figure out a solution to my arch nemesis. Dear builder basic light fixture, IT’S ON!

So now that I’ve got all that out of my system, I will move on to how I created my DIY “cover up” pendant. Since I wasn’t allowed to take down the existing light, I had to figure out a way to cover up the existing light without altering anything.  I shopped for a few pre-made pendants, but they were all way too expensive and they wouldn’t have hooked up to the existing fixture without messing it up in some form or fashion. Since a pre-made fixture wasn’t an option, I moved on to making something with my own two hands.

Cost:
$25

Supplies:
1. 2 Embroidery Hoops (I found mine in the quilting isle and I think mine are 18 inch hoops)
2. Canvas Fabric
3. Cross Stitch Fabric
4. White Poster Board & Black Poster Board
5. Masking Tape
6. Hot Glue & Wood Glue
7. Black Fabric Ribbon
8. Clips
9. Elastic

How-To:
** You might want to review the photo below before you read the step by step!
1. Buy all of your supplies, making sure your 2 Embroidery hoops are similar in shape. Some aren’t made perfectly and won’t match up. I had to compare many hoops before I found 2 that matched in shape.
2. Determine the height of your pendant and cut your poster board to that height. I had to tape multiple pieces together in order to get a long enough piece to completely wrap around the hoop.
3. Take the inner hoop of your embroidery hoops – these will be what you use for the pendant structure. You can throw the outer hoop away or save them to use for another project. Use wood glue to glue the poster board to your first embroidery hoop. Make sure you have a TON of clips ready because as you glue, you will need to clip your poster to the hoop to prevent warping. Hot glue might work better for this step, so you might want to try that instead of wood glue. While your glue is still drying, repeat this process on the other side of the poster board and glue your other hoop to the poster board. After this step, you will now have the basic structure of the pendant ready to go.
4. Next you will cut your fabric to cover the poster. I gave myself an extra inch on the top and bottom so I have room to wrap the fabric into the center of the pendant and glue to the embroidery hoop. I used hot glue in this step and pulled the fabric really tight on the top and bottom of the pendant and glued as I went along.
5. Since I knew I was going to use black trim, I wanted the look to appear seamless. That meant I needed to paint the bottom of the embroidery hoop to make the look flow better into my black trim. Once the paint was dry, I glued my black trim along the top and bottom of the pendant.
6. Most people hang an open pendant (meaning a pendant without a bottom), but since I was covering up an existing fixture, I needed a semi-transparent bottom to hide the fixture. I used cross stitching fabric since it’s transparent but also stiff enough to use for this purpose. I cut out a circle, placed it inside the shade and glued it to the inner edge of the embroidery hoop.
7. And last but not least, I had to find a way to actually hang the pendant. I came up with the idea to use 2 elastic pieces to stretch over the existing pendant. And guess what? It worked like a charm!!

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So now that you’ve seen the process, what do you think?? I’m still pretty excited that I actually figured out a way to hide my builder basic fixture! Rather than my old fixture taunting me every time I walked by, I now look at my new fixture with pride! It brings a smile to my face every time I see it! Here is the before and after:

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Doesn’t it just change the look of the entire room?? Here are a few more photos of the finished product:

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And here is the fixture with the light actually turned on. I’m not sure if this would be a good project for an area that always leaves the light on since I used a paper material next to a potentially hot light. I’m sure it would be just fine, but I’m really not sure?? This room gets a good amount of light, so I don’t always need the light turned on, so in my case, I’m not worried about anything catching on fire since I don’t leave the light on for hours upon hours. AND the light fixture is still covered with it’s decorative glass bulb AND since the pendant is so large, it sits many many inches away from my pendant. I’ve had my pendant hung for about 2 months and haven’t had any issues. The light hasn’t even gotten hot!

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I will admit, unfortunately I ran into a little problem once I turned on the light. My poster board seam showed once the light turned on. DUH. I should have thought of this in advance, but I think I was so excited about the fact that I was finally creating this shade, that I didn’t even think about it. Don’t worry though, I found the easiest, cheapest solution EVER.

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Yet again, another DUH moment! All I did was cut a black poster board to fit right inside the shade. For about $1 and a short trip to Michael’s, I had fixed my problem!

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So what do you all think?? It’s pretty crazy that I was able to accomplish such a classic look for just $25!! This one has to be one of my favorite DIY’s yet!!

Linking Up With:

Give Me The Goods  //  Thrifty Thursday // East Coast Creative // Remodelaholic
  Elizabeth & Co.  // The Makers  //  Winthrop Chronicles //  Show Me What Ya Got
 Home Stories A to Z // Knick of time // Tuesday’s Treasures // The Scoop
 Inspire Me Please



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