First of all, thank you so much for all the love on our master bedroom makeover! Yesterday I shared how we created out natural knotty pine planked wall, and today I am going to show you a very simple Ikea hack– how to make a ceiling mounted globe light into a fab fixture you will love.
A couple weeks back I shared the desk nook, but I cropped the ugly light fixture out of those photos. Why ruin a good thing, right? And in looking back I actually have kept that fixture out of so many photos… One, it’s hard to photograph that nook with the amount of light coming in that window, and two, it’s ugly. And the worst part of it? It served as a stink bug catcher extraordinaire…. They would climb in and get trapped. EEEEEEEEEW.
I dug way back and found a photo from the week we moved in so you could see the light.
It was just plain and nothing special, turned on by a simple little pull cord. But the fact that it was a trap for stink bugs made my skin crawl and it had to go. Of course here we are almost 4 years later, so it wasn’t top priority, and nor had I found the right replacement or inspiration.
Last week, just before I was going to be sharing this room reveal and most likely artfully cropping out this fixture, I took a trip to Ikea with a girlfriend. We casually strolled and chatted, oohing and aahing through every section of the store, making sure we soaked it all in. When we came to the lighting section we found that the natural color of the Nipprig pendant shade was on clearance for $12.99. It appears now that they only carry it in black. Inspiration struck and I purchased the shade. (They have two sizes and I purchased the smaller of the two, which is still rather large.)
That afternoon I set my mind to make this shade work.
First, I removed the glass globe by loosening the screws that held it in.
Next, I clipped 3 strands of brass wire about 3 to 4″ long each, one for each screw.
I wove the brass wire through the shade so that it made loops on the top of the shade, approximately lining up with the screw placement on the fixture. I had to do this two times before I had it just right.
Next, I pressed the center of the shade into the globe base so that it sat flush and so that my screws and wires lined up. I looped each loop onto the screws. I had to let my flushness loosen up in order to get each wire onto the screws, and once I had them all hooked I pressed flush again. Underneath the shade, I took the ends of each wire, pulled them as hard as I could tightly around each screw, and twisted to secure.
Once I had all three wire pieces secured to the screws, I used wire clippers to trim the ends.
I should also mention that I stuck the pull cord through the weave so that I could still easily turn this light on and off.
I am SOOOO happy with how easy and inexpensive this project was compared to the difference that it makes in this space.
The shade works beautifully with the style of the room and for $12.99 I have a fabulous new fixture! The brass base of the ceiling mount even complements it perfectly.
Now I just need the tabletop mirror/necklace stand Ikea has and I will be all set! (It was all out at my Ikea…. sad face).
And in case you are wondering, that unfortunate fan is still there until I find the right fan/light combo for our space… We like to sleep with our fans on and I just can’t sacrifice function for beauty with that one!
Do you have any light fixtures you need to replace? We still have a couple a few thirty-four to go!
