DIY Custom Light Fixture

**NOTE: If you're going to tackle this project, please, please, PLEASE turn off the power source before doing so. And if this is your first time working with electricity, ASK FOR HELP! I am not a professional, Eric did all of the wire work, so in reality I have no idea how these things go. Be safe not sorry people!**

One of my all time favorite details from the bathroom makeover is hands down the light fixture. I had seen the tutorial floating around the interweb for some time, but never had a reason to execute it until now. From the quirky branch-like arms, to the multiple clear globe bulbs, there's just so much whimsy I HAD to make it my own.

I first saw this light on the blogs Rain On A Tin Roof and Little Green Notebook. Their versions are shown below, both provided easy to follow instructions, and were great jumping off points for my own lighting creation. 

For my own light, I wanted it to have a decent amount of visual weight. When I began painting the walls, I debated about painting the ceiling the same color. The original color was on the ceiling as well as the walls, and I thought it looked fine, maybe even helped the small space appear larger. But black is intense, and when I finished, there was a moment of panic where I thought I had made a HUGE mistake. Did I just turn my bathroom into a cave? A swift text to my BFF explaining the problem, and she calmly put my nerves at ease explaining that if my new light had some impact, it would easily balance out the black ceiling. Bestie to the rescue!

Let's backtrack to what I originally started with. 

A moment of silence for the death of yet another boob light.....ok that's enough. 

The materials I needed to make the light include the following:

1. Porcelain lamp holder

2. Three lamp bulb socket splitter - this is how I planned to expand my light and make it bigger.

3. Light bulb socket splitters for standard bulbs - I ordered 20 of these splitters, but only used 17 of them. 

4. Ceiling Medallion - just for a nice flourish!

5. 25-watt clear globe light bulbs - after building my light shape, I needed 24 bulbs, but ended up only using 18. 

Now time for the fun part. Assembling this light is pretty much a giant puzzle. Somehow all of these pieces need to fit together, while looking balanced, but also leaving room for the light bulbs.

Once I created the basic shape, I stuffed paper towels into each socket to protect the electrical parts, grabbed my favorite gold spray paint, and headed outside. 

It took a few coats, but I focused on how it looked from the top...or bottom once it's hung, since that's what people will see when they look up. Speaking of hanging, when Eric removed the old light, he discovered there was a metal box holding all the wires that probably shouldn't be removed. This wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, but once spray painted the same gold, it looked like it was intended to be there all along. 

An all-purpose construction adhesive was used to attach the medallion to the ceiling, and it was like icing on the cake. Such a beautiful addition for such a small cost. You'll also notice the final shape isn't exactly the same as when I finished connecting all the socket splitters. As Eric installed the light, he disassembled it, and then slowly reassembled, turning on and off the power every once in awhile to make sure we weren't going to blow a fuse. Better safe than sorry! 

Was it more work than simply buying a new light? Of course.

Is it a little crazy looking? Maybe. 

But it's better to be absolutely RIDICULOUS, than absolutely BORING! :) 

Mini-Awkward-Bathroom REVEAL!

I am happy to announce that the mini-awkward-bathroom makeover is officially COMPLETE! Although the awkwardness isn't entirely gone, I mean there's still a shower in lieu of a sink, it's absolutely a BILLION times sexier. Which of course is what every bathroom strives to be during their little bathroom lifetime.

If you're new here, you can read from my original post I wanted something dark, but also high contrast, with a lot of gold accents. 

After the intense paint job, the space was about 75% there. Not to brag, but I'm pretty sure I nailed that last 25%. 
Warning, you're about to get bombarded with pictures. Enjoy! 

Above the toilet, I really wanted to take advantage of the space by installing shelves. To bring in more gold, I spray painted the brackets, and then Eric trimmed simple white shelves from Menards to fit snugly between the walls. 

Another detail I'm obsessed with is the new light fixture! It's like a glittery golden chandelier just twinkling above your head. It's totally unique, totally DIY, and I'm totally going to write about it next. Stay tuned. 

I am so SO happy with how this makeover turned out. For being such a small space, it's still jammed packed with personality, and LOTS of original details. 
Check out these wonderfully satisfying before and afters.

Again, I cannot reiterate how pleased I am with how this project came together. Yes it took about two months when I wanted it to take only a week, but some things are just worth waiting for. And a super gorgeous place to do your business in, happens to be one of those things. 

Wellman Weekend Warriors!

Happy Monday everyone. 

I think this song runs through my head at least once this day every week. It's just so dang catchy, and especially true sometimes: "Monday Monday, can't trust that day...."

Nope, can't trust it.

I think one of the reasons I'm especially sluggish this Monday, is because of all the work we did over the weekend. We got a TON of stuff done! I give credit of our progress solely to the fact that Eric's parents and sister came down Saturday and helped us ALL DAY LONG! They were seriously warriors. Eric's dad brought down a trailer full of tools and big boy toys that made everything so much easier. 

One of the biggest things we Eric and his Dad did was tear up our backyard. It was looking a bit sad when we moved in. 

Note all of the brown/patchy/dead spots. Eric's original plan was to just spray and kill a portion of it, mow really low, then reseed. But by around 4pm Saturday it looked like this!

It is now seeded and covered in hay. Luckily we found a sprinkler in the shed so we can easily water it. 

Another project we got rocking on was repainting the cabinets. This will be a long process, but we were able to take down all of the doors, remove the hardware, and sand everything. This was messy beyond all reason, and I cringe when I think about having to do it inside the kitchen, but the hand sanders made it go a LOT faster. 

Sanding the drawers and remaining cabinets will be done another day. As well as priming and painting. 

We now are sporting the "open cabinet" look. Sometimes I think about keeping it this way, especially when I see pictures of kitchens like THIS, but then I think OMG all of the DUST! And change my mind. 

Another "cross this OFF the list!" moment was replacing our foyer light.

You may recall this post about me walking away from a sweet antique chandelier and then having a "Dang it why didn't I snatch that up!??!??" moment. 

Well a couple months ago I went to the Valley Thrift Store (which now is JUST down the road from us!) and found a cute little chandelier for $4.00. SCORE! I bought that bad boy, and it sat in our apartment dinning room for...well...a long time. But I just KNEW that someday I would have a purpose for it and it would be magnificent. And you know what? That day was yesterday! I grabbed that $4 lamp, some spray paint, and went to town. 

First I lightly (and evenly) sprayed it with 2 coats of Rust-Oleum primer. 

Yes I am quite proud of my rigged up painting system. 

After the primer dried, I sprayed it with 2 coats of Rust-Oleum yellow spray paint. 

Eric helped me hang it up in the tree so I could make sure the bottom was completely covered. I thought this was important since that's the part of the light that people will see most often. 

After a few hours of letting it dry, Eric took down the original light fixture, and rigged up our new chandelier! I bought 5 globe bulbs from Menards  since I love the look of exposed light bulbs, and thought it would be a nice touch. 

Needless to say I'm OBSESSED with how it turned out. *insert HUGE smiley face*

We do have a ceiling cover to hide the wiring, but I guess Eric was just too excited and decided to hook the lamp up without putting the cover on first. Oh well, I'm still super pleased with the how much brighter our entry way is! 

While on the high of a new light, we finished decorating our dining room. The china cabinet is filled with dishes, the table is all set up, and we even hung some pictures on the wall! 

This is the table from my grandma I was talking about in a previous post. It's made from a tree from Valley Forge, which I think is pretty amazing. And yes we only have three chairs. One broke in the move to our apartment last year, but it's perfect for that awkward 3rd wheel date! 

Some close-ups of my little accessory arrangements. Putting these together are another thing that keeps me calm. Eric is pretty much convinced he married a crazy person at this point. 

Whenever I am overwhelmed by how unorganized the rest of the house is, I come in here to sit, and take in the happiness of a complete room. :) 

Phew! 

Sorry that was so long, it's just so much fun sharing our progress! 

Were any of you able to cross off a few things from your "To-Do" list this weekend?