These 3 easy DIY light fixture ideas on a small budget that I want to share with you came out of pure necessity. When we bough this house, I knew right away that all the light fixtures needed to be changed. But once I started looking at the ones I liked, I quickly realized that most of them were out of our budget. And of course, DIY-ing some of them was the next best thing to do.
That’s why today I wanna share with you 3 easy light fixtures we created on a small budget. I hope you get some inspiration from these ideas and maybe update some light fixtures in your own house.
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1. DIY aged stone lamp
inspiration
This is the inspiration lamp from Pottery Barn or a more affordable option from Target.
I found a similar shaped lamp at a thrift store for $15. It’s large and the shade was in good condition so I saved some money by not having to buy a new one.
This is the before and after of my quick project.
How to DIY an aged stone lamp
I’m sure you saw this tutorial countless time lately. It’s very popular and easy.
First I taped off all the areas I didn’t want the paint to go n. Then I used a spray primer to cover all the surface. After the primer dried, I used matte black spray paint to cover the lamp. It needed two or three coats of paint.
I’m sure you could use any type of paint. It is a pretty flexible project.
After the paint dried, I used dirt from the back yard to give some texture and patina to the lamp. I just rubbed the dirt on the lamp and brushed off any excess. The final result is going to be different depending on how much texture the lamp base already has. If it’s very smooth I recommend doing several applications of dirt and poly, until you get the texture you desire.
I used this water based polyurethane to protect the texture from coming off.
A small tip that I recommend is to make sure you don’t have any rocks mixed with the dirt, because you can easily scratch the surface of the lamp. This happened to me and I had to spray paint it black again and let it dry.
It is not a big deal, unless you have little patience with DIY projects… like me. Lol
2. DIY Rattan Pendant Light
Inspiration
The last couple of years there was a huge trend in using natural fibers like rattan, cane, etc. in light fixtures and furniture. Here are some examples:
Natural Rattan Dome Pendant Light – Kirklands
Natural Rattan Pendant Lights (right) – Amazon
Large Black Rattan Pendant Lights – Smithers of Stamford
The rattan pendant light was our first DIY light fixture over a year ago. After seeing how simple it was, I realized how many other light fixture I could DIY just using a pendant light kit.
I found the rattan basket on Facebook Marketplace for $5 !!! And the pendant kit was very affordable as well from Amazon.
Here is the before and after.
How to DIY a rattan pendant light
The first thing I did after I had an idea of what I wanted, was to scroll through FM at least every two days to see if I could find a nice shape. This is probably the hardest part… waiting! Look for terms like “basket”, “rattan”, “wicker”, “woven basket”.
If you happen to find two of a kind, make sure you buy both. Imagine how cool it would look to have two hanging on a kitchen island or dining table, or even hanging on the sides of the bed from the ceiling, instead of using sconces or table lamps! You could use a plug-in ki like this one instead of a wired one and just hang it in the right place with a small hook.
After we found our basket and got our pendant kit we just cut a small hole on the center of the basket. Measure the socket diameter and make sure the hole is not too big.
Just because this is a DIY project and we didn’t want to have any incidents, we used a LED bulb.
That’s it! A very easy and budget friendly DIY project that could change the feel of your space.
3. Upcycled industrial pendant light
When we bought our house, the previous owner left behind some torchiere floor lamps that we didn’t want to keep. And yes, torchiere is the type of floor lamp that directs the light towards the ceiling. I just found out too…lol.
How to DIY a light fixture from something you already have
So we kept them in the basement for a while and the day we decided we were going to donate them, I had an idea. We unsrewed the lamp shade and attached it to a pendant light kit and used it for the boys room. It is more industrial looking and perfect for our boys room.
Sometimes we don’t need to buy anything new, just use in a new way the things we already own.
I hope you’ve been inspired to DIY some light fixtures!
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Have a nice day and thank you for being here!
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