I absolutely love unique lighting in a room, and while I mainly love unique pendant lights and chandeliers, I do love an interesting table light as well. Although, when it comes to table lights, I can almost always find something in a store that suits my needs and wants.
But I look at pendant lights and chandeliers as not only practical pieces because of the extra lighting they provide, but I also see them as an opportunity to add something sculptural or artistic to a room. I’ve heard (and seen) that most people concentrate on the lower half of a room since that’s where the bulk of the items in a room go — sofas, chairs, area rugs, side tables, table lamps, coffee tables, etc. But I think every room needs something to draw the eye up to the top half of the room, which is why I also place a good deal of emphasis on interesting artwork for walls, wallpaper, murals, curtains/draperies that go as high as possible, pretty curtain rods and rings, and interesting pendant lights and chandeliers. The top half of the room needs decorating just as much as the bottom half in order to create a sense of balance in the room.
I first tried my hand at making my own pendant light back in 2008 when I made a light made of plastic drinking straws. This was a fun project, but I never actually used the finished light in a room. We were in the condo at the time, and the colors weren’t quite what I wanted in the condo.
I’ve always wished that I had made this light out of one solid color of straws. Even a solid white or solid clear plastic straw light would have been very striking.
And then in 2010, I made a light made out of paper pulp egg cartons. I saw these purple paper pulp egg cartons used as packing, and they seemed too pretty to throw away, so I wanted to come up with a creative use for them. But again, I never actually used this light anywhere. I ended up giving this one away.
Also in 2016, I made a semi-flush light out of wood for our music room. This light hung in our music room for quite some time. Sadly, I never got to see this light in the finished music room. By the time I actually finished the music room, I had already swapped this light out for the capiz chandelier that we currently have in the music room.
I’ve always had a fascination with making my own lights and coming up with one-of-a-kind lighting. Perhaps I missed my true calling, and I should have been a lighting designer. 😀
And now I’m getting another opportunity to make a unique, one-of-a-kind light for my closet. I’m getting pretty close to having all of the components finished and ready to be painted, installed, and completely assembled. If things go as planned, I should have my newest light creation ready to show off on Monday.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
