Hi! Since my last post we got the absolute cutest puppy on earth, Charlie, and it hanging out with him really ate into my project time! Here he is on the day we got him. He is growing so fast!

Between that and some technical difficulties with this project, it took a while, but I am ready to tell you about the light fixture I made for our little bathroom. After the sisal mirror and the painted floor, the only thing left was to update the light. Specifically this dated little blob:

I think this is a little better, do you agree?

Materials

• plastic keyless lampholder 
• Garden orb – I got mine at HomeGoods about 8 months ago, but I have seen some there recently
• Spray primer for rusty metal
• Spray paint (with spray paint trigger)
• Dremel tool
• Phone cord – not the coiled kind
• Silver dipped bulb – I used this one 

First I primed the orb and socket with primer for rusty metal. I don’t think the existing finish was actually rust, but the the other kind is for clean metal, and this was not clean. I stuffed a paper towel inside the socket, and made sure to paint the inside of the orb completely as well.  Side note – I tried to paint it yellow on the outside and silver inside and it just didn’t work out. So ignore any yellow paint in these pictures.

After the pieces dried, I lined the orb up on the lamp holder and drew lines on the lamp holder where the three metal strips touched it. I also marked the strips so I remembered which ones I was using. Important: I made sure the light bulb I was using fit through at least one of the triangles so that I could screw it in.

Using a Dremel tool with the sanding attachment, I started making flat sections for the straps to rest on. Once I had a nice flat spot, I used one of the finer grinder tips to go all the way through the plastic.

I originally considered gluing the pieces together, but while it might have worked, it seemed flimsy. I then considered wire, but we didn’t have any that looked like it would hold up – the Dremeled slits are still pretty sharp looking. Wire would probably work, but I settled on phone cord because a. we had some, and b. it was easy to pull tight and once wedged in the slots the rubber really made it stay put. I threaded the phone cord out through the hole, around the strap and back down through the hole and repeated for all three straps. The I pulled it as tight as I could, pushed it down around the screw holes and tied it off with a square knot. I shook it around a bit and those pieces are not loose at all.

I taped over the business side of the socket and I spray painted the whole shebang silver, using a bunch of light coats. I love Rustoleum’s Bright Coat Metallic Finish in Silver. Using a spray paint trigger like this one saves my fingers from some serious cramping when I have to do several coats.

Stay tuned for my next post on how I hardwired this baby and learned a lot about circuits in the process!

There are a few other things I wanted to do to the bathroom – a coral painted trashcan and some coral details on the door, but no I think it is time to call it a day in there. A tiny space can only handle so many projects before it looks like Pinterest got ill in it and I am getting dangerously close… (Already there?) After telling you how I installed the light, I promise that will be all on this bathroom for a nice long time!

XO

Julia