I love creative lighting hacks! Lights are a tricky DIY genre, so when I can hack my way into it I’m well pleased. And for $35 dollars, we hacked and made a pendant light that is modern, classy, and bright!
Lighting in our kitchen originally looked like this.
The built in halogen light fixture was a giant overhead space user that was the first thing to go in the demo. It left us with some halogen burn marks and an interior light contraption that was useless to us. And so it stayed there for 11 months until we finally said, “let’s do something about that.” That’s real life home remodeling I suppose.
Before we started, we turned off all the power to the house, just to be certain this wasn’t hogwired to something other than the switch it should be. You can never be too careful in an older house that you didn’t wire. I’m not going to go into detail about how my husband does electrical because we’re not professionals and he learned it all on youtube. If you know electrical, I want to show you what the process looked like via pictures!
1. Decided where “center” was and taped the cutting guide (that came with the light cord kit) to the ceiling. We also decided how long we wanted the light to be. (ps. We were originally going to go with this caged pendant and pry off the flowery rings, but we decided we felt like mosquitoes staring at the bright bare bulb, so we returned it for a full shade.)
2. Cut a hole in the ceiling with a drywall saw.
3. Pulled the cord from the old hole to the new through a ceiling electrical box.
3. Then it got really dark because it’s winter and we didn’t have any light save the ole iPhone flashlight. Oh the irony.
4. Mr. G cut the cord shorter because it was a mile long.
5. I bought a new glass shade for $11 and decided to spray paint it black and white!
We covered the inside and out with a white painter primer base and let it dry face up. Then, resting it face down on a cardboard box we coated the outside with Rustoleum Matte Black. Do two coats on the outside and let fully dry before mounting.
This DIY modern pendant light works perfect in our kitchen providing that extra light for working around the sink and a sweet ambiance for mood lighting. Even better, it could be done in any accent color you wish! Picture yellow, or coral, or copper.. Oh yes.. Which light do you wish you could hack? Let me know in the comments below!
Stacey says
Karisa this turned out fantastic, it looks like a really expensive fixture now. Love it!
Petite Modern Life says
Thank you sweet Lady!
Erica says
I love how you updated this! I’ll have to see if I could do something similar with my pendant lights since I’m totally not digging mine right now.
Petite Modern Life says
Thanks Erica! Get that paint out! …go copper. #swoon
Amanda says
I have been loving these pendant lights, so glad I found your post (and blog!)
Amanda @ Dwelling in Happiness says
LOVE this idea! Such an easy way to pretty up an otherwise simple and boring light. We had UGLY halogen lights too, the oldschool kind that hummed. EW. We got rid of those so fast and put up some simple track lighting for now. Buuuut, you goy my wheels turning now! :)
Petite Modern Life says
That’s awesome Amanda! I’d be interested to see what you come up with :)
Anna @Annabode says
It looks awesome! I would never be able to glass that the shade was painted glass. Love it!
Cheryl says
Hi…love the light over the sink. What caught my eye in the before picture was the daylight ceiling florescent lighting; we have one in our kitchen. Do you think I could rip it out and do 3 hanging lights like the one you installed…or do you have another idea?
Petite Modern Life says
Hi Cheryl! Yes, those built in fixtures are so limiting to a kitchen’s potential. You could definitely take it out and put at least one hanging light in there. Our halogen getup only had the spot for one light, but you could definitely get another one wired in for you by an electrician. The process of taking it off the ceiling wasn’t that extravagant. Nothing a little spackle and ceiling paint didn’t take care of. Here’s a look at what our renovation looked like. https://petitemodernlife.com/2014/02/12/commence-kitchen-remodel/
Amanda says
Amazing DIY! You really inspired me with your work. I just finished to making this and it was very easy and fun for me. Thanks and keep sharing.