Got Rope?

I've been roping.

Not this kind.

source

This kind.

(Although I might have let out a "Yippee Ki Yay" when I finished roping my chandelier.)

Rope and twine are big in home decor. 

Haven't you seen it more and more these days?

Check out these wine barrel chandeliers suspended by rope and antique pulleys from Restoration Hardware.

I had some rope left over from a macrame project and here's what I did with it.

You can buy the rope at Restoration Hardware with nice metal finished end hooks, but it's pricey.

 

Vintage Birdcage Chandelier Extension Rope

$150 - $350

Or you can buy it by the foot for much less at your favorite hardware store.

I hung these these H4H lanterns over my island on either side of a candelier.  To see how I took these $15 lanterns and replaced my can lights with them go here. 

Swapping out the middle chain for some rope was an inexpensive (free in this case) textural change. 

Here is the heavy metal look.

Here's the new rope look.

 I just removed the chain and looped the rope into the ceiling mount and the candelier. 

I secured it with some twine and it's done. 

I liked it so much I added rope to the chandelier over my dining room table.  Adding it over an electrical cord takes a little longer.  This isn't the the greatest tutorial I've ever done, but it's easy.  First determine the length of rope you need. Make sure you have enough for the loop at the top and the bottom of the chandelier.  Because this was an existing chandelier, I had to remove each link of chandelier chain with pliers.  This is the most time consuming part of the project.  I had to use pliers to open each piece of chain to un thread the electrical wire that was snaked through it.  You will need to support the weight of chandelier during this step.  The electrical cord is not made to support the weight of a chandelier.  Get a friend to hold the chandelier while you work on the rope.  If you don't support the weight of the chandelier, it could pull out of the ceiling and fall, very bad. 

Unwrap the rope and re wrap it around the wire, starting from the top and working down.  Wrap it as tight as you can because it will untwist sightly when you're finished.  Secure the top with twine and work your way down.   

Secure the bottom, trim the extra and you're done. 

After taking these pictures I realized I needed to trim a little more from the top loop.

Pictures are great for fine tuning projects. 
For some reason it's easier for me to notice what needs tweaking? 

That's better.

Even if you don't have extra rope laying around and you have to buy it, this is a pretty inexpensive project to add some texture to your hanging lights.
 I like the rustic rope with the crystal and metal chandelier.

What do you think?

Heavy metal or rustic rope?

Made any rope projects lately? 

I'm out of rope for now, but I'm looking out for more rope project possibilities.

Thanks for checking it out.

To see more rope projects go here.

The 3 Lives of 2 Lamps

We all know how spray paint can be the quickest, easiest, and most cost effective solution to updating our decor.  If you have a callous on your index finger from spray painting like I do, you know what I'm talking about.  Here is yet another example of how spray paint can do just that. 

I bought these two lamps at Marshals or TJ max (I can't remember?) when we moved into this house ten years ago.  They were brown like the one on the left.  I bought them when I was doing the "Tuscan Tango," as Amanda Carol refers to it over at Amanda Carol at Home.  She is really funny and her house and blog are amazing, so if you haven't checked it out you should go visit.

Life #1
Tuscan Tango

Don't look at the unfinished fireplace in the back ground, but if you do, you need to see how it looks finished so you don't think I left it like that.

Life #2

When in doubt spray it white.

I broke out the spray paint and sprayed them white.  Here's one with the original lampshade that came with it when I bought them.  You can see the style of the shade is a little dated, but you can't tell by the picture that the shade was also a little dingy.

Here they are together.  New white paint with the original shades and old fleur de lis finials. 

The fireplace is coming along, it just needs the tile surround, but I still have trouble taking straight pictures! 

I bought the new shades at Lowe's.  I think they were around $14 each?. 

Much better! 
So I thought?

Only one problem,  I kept finding the lamps shoved over to the far right of the buffet so the kids could watch TV while eating a snack at the kitchen table.  I finally got tired of fighting it and moved these lamps into my master bedroom. 

I replaced them with these taller see through glass lamps.

TV watching problem solved.

To see how I made these glass lamps go here.

I didn't need more lamps in my master bedroom. 

A good purger would have donated them or sold them on Craig's List. 

I'm not a good purger. I'm more of a pack rat/hoarder/repurposer.   

I saved them in a corner of our bedroom until I figured out what to do with them next?

Then Cami's room makeover started and she needed lamps.  Hoarding has it's advantages. 

What it takes up in space it saves in $$$.

Life #3

Tangerine Twist

I found a bamboo chair on Craig's List and covered the seat cushion and ottoman in a remnant of orange fabric.  I needed more orange accents in the room and I found the same exact orange in a spray paint can.

I spray painted the base of the lamps in glossy orange.  I kept the Lowe's shades and added an orange ribbon around the bottom of the shade.  I added a new circle shaped finial (Lowe's) to repeat the circle motif in the new chandelier that hangs from the center of the room.

Here's Cami's new chandelier.
To see how I made this out of metal hanging planters go here.

The lamps sit on either side of her bed on these Ikea bedside tables.  I already had them.  They were painted blue and on clearance.  I spray painted them white.  

Here is the after of the lamp and Ikea table.  I'm looking for cute knobs. 

The orange plastic bin is from Walmart. 

Before you get ready to throw something out do you ask yourself

can I spray paint it? 

I think it's wearing off on my kids,  Cami asked if I would spray paint her swim fins because she didn't like the color.

Why not?

Thanks for checking it out.

The Louis 6 Light Ironwood Chandelier

Have you ever lucked out and been at the right place at the right time? 

The stars align and it's your lucky day? 

It's happened a few times in my life, like the day I met my husband.  Our stars definitely aligned that day. 

OK, just to be clear, this event isn't as life changing as meeting your soul mate, but this was pretty darn good! 

That's how I felt the day walked in to Habitat for Humanity Restore and found this.

Do you recognize this chandelier? 

 I've seen it featured in several shelter magazines the past couple years.  It's still sold by the company on their website.  It's the Louis 6 light Ironwood Chandelier made by Arteriors.

It still had the manufacturer's tag and item number on it so I could research it.
Arteriors Louise 6l Ironwood Chandelier #89314.

It doesn't look so hot sitting on my kitchen counter.

This is the Hab. for Hum. tag that was hanging on the chandelier.  I've been watching this chandelier since last September when it cam into H. and H.  See the date 9/4/10?  It shows a retail price of $2007.  The cheapest I can find this size online is $1,678. 

H.for H. had it originally listed for $800.  50% off is a respectable deal.

Then they marked it down to $250.  85% off and still no takers.

I watched it for months.

I pop in to H. and H. about once a week.  It's on my way home from playing volleyball at the beach. 

Imagine my surprise when I walked in to find this new price tag of $50!

It had just been lowered to the new price that morning.

I don't know why, but I was feeling kind of bold that day and I asked if they would take $40 for it? 

I explained that it had been there for eight months and I was a frequent customer.

AND THEY SAID YES!

I got a $1,600 light fixture for $40. 

I should have bought a lottery ticket that day.

It came with a plug attached.

I've been keeping my eye out for a light fixture for our outdoor pergola.

I'm not used to buying light fixtures that come perfect? 

I'm used to having to tweak them some how, paint them, fix them, re-wire them.

This one came perfect.

Our pergola is black.  The chandelier contrasts nicely with the black metal and coordinates with the existing furniture.  I just hung it up and plugged it in.

The birds liked it immediately.  Hey, no pooping on my chandelier!

I love it!

Summer dinner parties hear we come.

My husband wants to sell it on ebay.

It's my "lucky find" should I sell it?

What would you do?  Keep it or sell?

Thanks for checking it out!

DIY Designer Glass Lamps

I know, I'm posting another lighting project.  But it's one of the quickest ways to update a home and I really needed a lot of updating. 

I have been on a lighting DIY marathon lately.
Have you seen these beauties showing up in pictures on the internet?  I saw this glass light in a store and thought it was pretty cool. This one is $600.  Not that cool, even if it was on sale for 50% off,  it would still be out of my budget.

I like that the center of the glass base is completely empty. 
The cord runs off the top down the back of the lamp.  The bottom is open.

Here is another picture of a similar lamp. 

Somersetbay

  This isn't my first attempt at making a lighting fixture myself. 

Like I said earlier, I've been a little cuckoo for lighting.

After closer inspection, I made this one for $37.

I wanted to make two of these glass lamps and I wanted them to be tall.  I already had vases that would work for this project but not a pair.  I ended up buying two identical vases from Home Goods.

They are 27 and a half inches tall, but any size will do. 

 I picked a vase with a mouth(the opening) that was wider than the bottom to insure sturdiness when I flip it over to make the lamp.  If the mouth is smaller then the bottom your lamp might tip over.

They were $9.99 each

I used some Goo Gone to get all the sticker residue off. 

Clean the vases well before you start gluing. 
You will still need to clean any leftover finger prints after assembly.

I bought lamp parts at Home Depot.  I ended up not needing the lamp harps.  The shades I used did not require them.  You can't add the harps later so use them if your not sure of the type of lamp shade you will end up using.  You can buy everything you see here in one kit, but I wanted silver cord so I had to buy the pieces separately.

Start by drilling a hole in the side of the bottom of the 3 way socket.  It's very thin metal and easy to drill.  The hole needs to be big enough to feed the cord wire through.  This step needs to be done because you can't run the wire through the bottom of the socket and glue it to the bottom of the vase.

Feed the wire through the newly drilled hole and follow the package directions on how to assemble the socket.

It should look like this assembled.

I removed the small screw (the washers won't fit over it) from the bottom neck of the socket and glued three washers with the Gorilla Glue. 

Stack the washers on top of each other with glue in between each one.  This will create a wider surface area to glue the socket to the bottom of the vase.

Now glue the harp to the bottom of the vase.  Once the harp glue is semi dry, glue the socket with the three washers to the harp.  You might need to add some tape over the top to secure it while it dries.

It should look like this.

The first lamp shades I used were ones I already had and they required a harp.  I thought they looked to small for the base so I had to purchase two lamp shades.

I found these at Target for $19.99 a piece.  This is included in my total lamp cost.  They are made by Thomas O'Brien and they are a light silver color.

I put them on my Craig's List buffet that separates our eating area from the family room.

The kids aren't allowed to eat on the couch so they like to have a snack at the table and catch some TV.  These taller clear lamps make TV watching easier now.

I like the airiness these lamps bring to the room.  They also provide great reading light at night for the couch.  I like the clean lines of the new lamps with the curvy details of the refurbished buffet.  Another benefit is they are hollow.  If I get tired of the clear glass I can easily fill them.

Lighting is an easy way to update any space.

I'm linking this up to a Knock Off Party over at Homebody.

I would love to see your lighting makeovers.

Thanks for checking it out.

I'm linking this to Remodelaholic.

And Thrifty Decor Chick