Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Thrifted Light turned to a DIY Project!

A few weeks ago I gave you a sneak peak of a project that I took on for the B-Thrifty blog.The project was a DIY Rope light fixture that I did for our spare bedroom...

As a reminder this was my mood board for the room...


Now let's focus in on that rope light fixture...

It is the Rope Chandelier from Pottery Barn and it is $299.00... it totally caught my eye because it was just so different and I felt like it would add a layer of warmth to the room and it would be such an interesting piece to have.... BUT I didn't LOVE IT! I felt like the rope was a bit too chunky for my taste and I was not a fan of the burlap shades because I felt like the distracted from the rope. PLUS Julie Park was NOT about to spend $299 on a light fixture...

SOOOO... off I went to B-Thrifty in Woodbridge, VA! I've seen some outdated brass chandeliers there previously and I had a plan!

I was so happy to find this beauty...

and just guess how much I paid!!!! Only $14.99!

It was missing one of the white plastic covers that protects/hides the wiring on one of the arms and I had no way to test it to make sure that the light would work but I had FAITH! I was going to turn this outdated light into something of beauty!

On the way home I stopped by my local Home Depot for some items to complete my lighting project:

- 4" White Plastic Chandelier Candle Covers, Package of 2 ($3.97)
- Skinny Jute Rope (2 packages for $2.33 each)
- Westinghouse 5" canopy kit ($5.97)
- Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray Paint


The second I got home I immediately broke out the painters tape and used that to cover the areas of the lamp that I dint' want to get spray painted... I figured it would be no bueno to have spray paint on the wires!

After the lamp was taped off I got my spray paint on! I LOVE Oil Rubbed Bronze! It is probably my favorite spray paint. In fact I think that the lamp all ready looks better after a coat of the spay paint!

But the fun didn't stop there! Out came the Jute rope and my trusty glue gun!

And so the tedious work begins.  I'm not going to lie and tell you that this was an easy project it wasn't. It took a lot of time and concentration and I was burned multiple times with my glue gun. BUT I had a vision and I was going to see it through!!!



To get to this point was about 2.5 hours... Thank goodness for the Real Housewives and Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live! Also about this time the fear started to settle in that this light might not work when my hubby, Matt did the wiring to put it into the wall...

The next day I pushed forward to cover the arms... It was a Saturday...


Another 3 hours to completion I had a HUGE sense on accomplishment mixed with absolute FEAR that this light was not even going to work. I told hubby that even if this light didn't work that it would be hung somewhere in our home!

As Matt started the instillation process I held my breath... The moment of truth!!!



VICTORY!!!!


I LOVE THE LAMP. I like that I covered the ugly white plastic parts with the Jute. I love that you see the oil rubbed bronze! I love the skinnier rope that still allows for you to see the great curves on the light! I love the round bulbs that I found at Home Depot so that I wouldn't have to use shades.

My total investment was about $55.00 to include the light bulbs! LOVELOVELOVELOVE It is my favorite DIY project to date!

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