Follow-ups on older posts

I have been wanting to take pictures to finally be able to post a house tour but the weather has been terrible and there is no sun (natural daylight) in sight.

So I decided to finally post some follow-ups on 2 older posts.

1. My cat enclosure:
My most popular post! I would have never guessed that when posting it. I thought that people would just write me off as nuts (and I'm sure some have). My father found some pictures on his computer from his visit a couple of years ago. He had taken some photos of me while I was building the cat enclosure. Yippie! So here they are, just so you know I wasn't fibbing when I said that I built it myself.

2. My DIY flush mount ceiling fixture:
I have gotten some emails and a comment request to please post how I hung the ceiling fixture/bowl.
Here is my childish drawing that I came up with since I didn't take any pictures of the contraption. (I really am trying to take more pictures during my projects but when I'm on a roll it's hard to stop and get the camera). Next time I have to change a bulb :) I'll take a view pictures too!

First you have to hold the bowl to the ceiling and draw around it on the ceiling. Then cut small wooden blocks and attach them with screws to the inside of the circle. Remember if you don't screw into a stud, you need anchors! Then hold the bowl on the ceiling again, over the wooden blocks and screw the bowl into the wooden blocks from the side. I hope that helps!

 3. Remember the paper deer head that I bought in Germany? (click here) I bought it from the German version of etsy. Well I finally put it together! Wow, what a giant paper puzzle. It's amazing how this artist came up with this paper construction! I have even more appreciation for him now!

paper foldable decor objects by "golemobjekte"

So I'll keep working on my projects and hope for better weather.
Have a GREAT weekend fellow webbers und guten Tag!

HomeGoods clearance bowl as DIY ceiling fixture

The other day I found this big white metal bowl at HomeGoods for $15 and immediately thought about a ceiling fixture.

One of my kitties disagreed because he was convinced it's a cat bed, haha, but I had different plans!

I hate, HATE most ceiling fixtures, especially the standard builder ones.

This is my hated UGLY light fixture!

The only fixtures I ever like are ""mucho dineros" and if you ever sell your home, they usually stay behind. Not good!
I found these light fixtures on Houzz and if you could breed them and they had babies, the outcome might look somewhat like my NEW flush mount ceiling fixture.

While this isn't a revolutionary idea, I still think it's pretty cool.
I could have spray painted the circles in a different color but I like the white metal and picked some light grey tissue paper that I already had and mod-podged the paper to the inside of the bowl to give it that transparent look.

It took me several attempts to figure out how to hang the somewhat heavier thing. But it's up and hanging and it's "purrty". If you are wondering, I used two small wood blocks that I screwed into the ceiling and then I screwed the shade in place from both sides. Works like a charm. Should I draw up one of those childish pictures to show you what I mean???? Well let me know!

This is what my upstairs hallway looks like now and I'm really happy with it!
What do you think?

You can see the dresser "before and after" here and the lamp "before and after" here.
The lamp shades and rug were also purchased at HomeGoods.

Update:
Click here to see how I hung the light. I made "a not so nice" drawing!


Stop by again soon fellow webber "und guten Tag"!

(YouLEEya)

I hit the mother-load of ugly brass lamps!

I know that painting brass lamps (and these aren't solid brass, lick here to see and updated post) isn't a new idea but I have been looking all over craigslist for some nice shaped lamps to paint. So when I found these 7 brass lamps for $30, that's a little over $4 a lamp, I was thrilled. (Click here to see another one of my painted lamp projects which was featured on Better After)

My friends just shook their heads because they couldn't understand why I would want 7 disheveled lamps that weren't working right. What they didn't know is that I like changing out lamps around the house like other people change shoes. And I was itching to try out some bold colors.
Although I'm starting to love brass again and I see it is sneaking it's way back into fashion and decor, these lamps were rusted and had mismatched gold finishes.

Now if they would have looked like this great pair of Curtis Jere mid-century brass lamps, I would have definitely kept them the way they are. At $3700 I can only say "keep dreaming"!
 

 

At least I had 3 matching pairs of lamps in my pile.

I had to buy some parts at Home Depot for $25 which included 2 Make-A-Lamp kits with harps and 2 packs of switch knob sockets. If you look at the picture, you can see that there were 4 lamps with the old 2 bulb style and a pull switch and I didn't want that. I only wanted one light bulb on each lamp.

Westinghouse Make-A-Lamp-Kit

I was actually amazed how easy it is to change out the wiring and bulb sockets. And for some of the lamps I was able to re-use the old bulb sockets.
All I had to do is unscrew all the sockets and expose the wires. For the 2 bulb lamps I had to unscrew everything and disconnect the wires that led to the single wire threaded through the lamp base. Because of the previous connection it has a split end. You have to feel for the one split end/wire that is ribbed. The ribbed wire should be connected to the silver screw, and the other wire should be connected to the brass screw. If you use new lamp sockets, make sure that the instructions aren't different then what I just wrote.

I cleaned the lamps really good with TSP cleaner and a tack cloth. They are a must for most painting jobs and if you have read any of my other posts then you know I use them for every project.
And of course you have to tape all the wire, bulb sockets and any other area that you don't want to spray paint.
Then it was priming time!

And NO, I didn't spray them in the house.

I decided on a couple of colors for the lamps: bright yellow for the one matching pair, tangerine for the other matching pair, dark grey and the good old glossy white for the last remaining pair. I like taking them out for my "white Christmas" which is always my favorite.

So I primed the grey lamps with grey Valspar spray primer and the rest of the lamps with white Valspar primer as you can see in the above photo.

The funnest part is playing around with were to put them now that they are done.
My favorite is by far the tangerine pair of lamps. I was lucky to have a pair of off-white shades with silver lining for $6 each from Ross. (When I find great lamp shades I just have to get them and hoard them in my attic).

The lamp color is Hacienda Tile by Valspar.

The shade on the yellow lamps are from target at $15 each. And I made the fun squirrel and bird pillow out of an Ikea fabric.

The pair of yellow lamps.

The grey lamp.

I think you get my point! It's fun to have different colored lamps and play around with them.
The white ones are in my attic! Maybe I'll just have to spray them another fun color! Pink or Coral?

(POST UPDATE: you can see here that they are not solid brass lamps and that I actually like brass)

Thanks for stopping by and Guten Tag!

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!