How to make crystal shades for a vanity light.

I don't know what all of you think about vanity lighting but I have to say that it is very, very hard to find lights that are pretty and affordable. When I browse the aisles at Lowes and Home Depot or most of the websites, I'm always so disappointed with the selections. Most of them are so ugly.  And if they aren't ugly then they are way too expensive.
I'm a sucker for sparkly things. I just love crystals and have a few dangling around in my house. I guess it's a girlie thing.

my bedroom chandelier

my dining room (designer replica from Germany for $80)

my paperweight collection

hallway light

My hallway light is a very cheap "recessed to Pendant Light Conversion Kit" fixture from Lowes and a shade from a $30 lamp that I had bought at Homegoods several years back. I'm so in love with that tiny chandelier.

I think you get the point: I'M OBSESSED WITH CRYSTALS! Especially when the sun shines into the house and makes them sparkle and reflect onto the walls.



I really like vanity lights with crystals too.

Like this one on Amazon for $306.00

Or this one for $199.99 which inspired me to my DIY vanity light project.

A couple of years ago after Christmas I had bought a huge amount of crystal ornaments at 50% off at Target. They ended up being 50 cents each if I remember correct, which is a good price. I just knew that I was going to use them somewhere one day.
I went to Lowes and bought one of the Portfolio 3-light chrome vanity fixtures that come without the shades and you can purchase the shades extra. The light was $35. I couldn't find them online but they have them in our local store.
After that I searched through the whole store to find something that matched the fixtures finish and would work over the light bulb as a shade. I ended up in the plumbing section and found a spout cover (at $2.99 each).

It looks like chrome but is actually plastic, which made it a lot easier to drill the wholes for the crystals.
I spread the ornaments around the spout cover to determine the spacing of the wholes. I actually ended up alternating 2 styles of crystals, to change it up a little.

 

You can see that on this shade I had to use 4 slightly different crystals because I didn't have enough. But you can't tell when the shades are hanging up. I just put that section in the back.

I used 20 crystals per shade. If you can't get cheap Christmas ornaments like me, there are plenty of websites that sell cheaper versions like these black acrylic crystals at $0.79.


Don't you think black would look pretty too?
There was only one problem, the spout cover hole was a little too big for the part that screws under the shade to keep it in place. So I went the very cheap and not so pretty route. You can't see it anyway when it is all in place.

I cut 3 circles out of a coffee can with tin snips that fit inside the spout cover. Now when you screw the shade on, it stays safely in place. YEAY!

(one of my upcoming projects will be repainting this bathroom)

 This light ended up costing me $35 for fixture + $30 for crystals + $2.99 x 3 for spout covers = $73.97 (plus tax). This is over half the price of the above mentioned designer vanity fixtures. I'm very happy with it.

Another project for this powder room besides repainting it will be a new vanity top. I have had a piece of white marble in the garage that I want to make a vanity top out of. I have to find out how to cut it and polish it. It would look so pretty with a vessel sink and my waterfall faucet. Don't you think so?

Guten Tag fellow webbers and thanks for stopping by!