ORC Week 4 – The Lighting Plan

Last week was a bit of a lighting bummer. I returned my ceiling light and was waiting for one pair of sconces to arrive on my door step. This weekend the lights all arrived and were all installed. This week I want to share a;; the details of all things lighting for my master bedroom, including the easiest DIY Vintage ceiling light that anyone can do. Yes, even those who don’t do electrical. This is actually a trick I have up my sleeve, a little high end “dupe” for old house remodels.

I have three places for hardwired lights. The sconces over my bed….

the sconces over my dresser (FYI the picture above was literally my bedroom reality for 3 years) …

and my ceiling light. ( I know you are wondering why I would even change this light LOL)

Let’s start with my DIY ceiling light

I originally thought this sputnik light would work in the space. It arrived, I put it together (whew what a task), and I hated it. Let me rephrase… I loved the light but hated it in my space. Here is why:

• Too big
• Too many things literal mid-century. I like to mix it up.
• The light is centered on the room and fireplace but not over the bed. We would have to walk under it and it hung too low
• The light needed to have presence but not be a statement.
• With so many lights in the room it needed to be more muted. One light in a glass shade would be perfect.

I decided to go with the style of my house rather than the style of the room. I live in a 101 year old home built in 1917. A school house light, like the one above, is very common in these old houses. I love how the light in the picture above has presence but does not take over the room. It’s delightfully noticeable but doesn’t make a huge statement. It is also off center of the bed and just the inspiration I needed. The ones you can buy off the shelf at Lowes or Home Depot in my town were the wrong finish and wrong size. They are very affordable but they are kind of small.

The best place to go buy a store bought vintage fixture is Rejuvenation, Schoolhouse Electric, Barn Light Electric or Etsy.   While many sites have vintage options (very pricey) most are reproductions.

In my town we have an Architectural Salvage Store. It’s called Old Town Architectural. They have tons and tons of beautiful and unique vintage shades. These are the real deal…not reproductions. Some come with light fixtures that need to be rewired. Some come with fixtures. All fixtures taken out of renovated, run down, or demolished old buildings. There is a light fixture section but you can find glass globes are all over the store. I searched and searched and searched…. and look what I found for $25.

I knew this vintage shade was the one.  It’s a school house fixture but more round like a mid century orb light. Is it a school house shade trying to be a mid century orb? Maybe. Or maybe its what happens when a midcentury orb pendant and a school house shade have a child.

Of course my new/old shade needed a hardwired fixture…

These beautiful shades without fixtures are usually pretty cheap. So here is a quick DIY on how to make a really cool vintage shade into a working light fixture. It is sooooooo easy. If you know how to purchase online you have the skills for this DIY.

How to DIY A Light Fixture Using a Vintage Shade

Materials:

• Vintage light shade
• Hardwired fixture
• Universal bracket (not needed for everyone… see why you might need it below)

 

Step 1: Find A Vintage Shade.

Sources for Vintage Shades:

Architectural Salvage Store: If you have a salvage store look in the section of shades with no light fixtures attached to get the bargains. People don’t know what to do with these so they price them lower than vintage fixtures with working light components. Most of these stores have an online presence as well. Most people don’t know they have them. If you live in a big city you probably have one.

Home Re-Store: They are not as common but I have found a few there.

Thrift Store: Rare but possible.

Etsy: Lots of good options here. This search is a good one.  I really like this glass shade. I think anything between 0-$60 is a great price for a shade.

Ebay: Great stuff here too. Here is what I search. Check out this wonderful Art Deco Shade.  A reproduction would cost you $250-$400 for the really unique shades.

Step 2: Measure the opening of the shade

My opening was 6 inches. The Large shades typically have a 4, 5 6, 8, and 10 inch openings. Sizes 4-8 are commonly found in a semi-flush base fixture, which was the look I was going for.  The shades with 10-12 inch openings have to fit in a more flush mount base.

Step 3: Buy a wired light fixture without a shade.

The above fixture is from Grand Brass Lamp Parts. It is my favorite place to get lamp parts. You can get ready made fixtures in all types of such as: unfinished brass, polished nickel (more like chrome) and brushed steel (more like brushed nickel but a little darker). Some fixtures come in copper.  I wanted unfinished brass. Its the perfect color of brass in my opinion.

To help you… here are the shades I would use for the different size vintage shades. Your local hardware store sells fixtures for 3 inch shades in the masses so I will start with the ones that harder to get locally.

• Light fixture for a 4inch shade
• Light fixture for a 5inch shade
• Light fixture for a 6 inch shade (the one I purchased)
• Light fixture for an 8 inch shade (a little DIY with this one) Here is the shade holder. The easy thing to do is buy the 6 inch shade fixture and swap out the holder for the 8 inch holder. So easy. Yes it’s $18 more but store-bought school house shades this large are over $300 and you would still have a fixture for under $100-$150.
• Light fixture for a 10 inch shade (more flush mount)

Note: If you want to go cheap you can order all the parts for this light fixture and put it together. It is actually not hard at all, but I had a few other DIYs I wanted to do in this space so I decided to pay a little extra to buy a wired fixture

Step 4: Purchase a universal bracket (optional)

You might not need to do this step. This depends on your light junction box.  The hardwire fixture comes with all the hardware to mount the fixture but it did not fit my light box. I always buy these universal brackets (available at Lowes, Ace, or Home Depot or any local store) They have never done me wrong to make a fixture fit. Again, you might not need this step.

 

Step 5: Install your fixture per the instructions

This is a little preview of how I had to use the universal bracket. Since my light fixture was a cheap bulb holder fixture I had no hardware brackets from the fixture I was replacing. If you have an existing ceiling light you should be okay. Notice the screws that hold the canopy on were bigger than the junction box. Just drill a few pilot holes where they should go and it will tighten into your drywall.

Step 6: Attach the shade

Voila! Easy Peasy!

Cost Breakdown:

• Vintage Shade $25
• New Hardwired fixture $60 ($45 + Tax + Shipping)

Total Cost: $85

A Sneak Peak of the Two Sets of Sconces….

I have LOVED these light fixtures for a while. I knew I wanted to mix up the metals in my fixtures because I knew all brass fixtures would be too much, especially if I wanted to style the room with brass accents. The above fixtures from Chairish are out of the budget.

I was on my way to Menards to get light bulbs and I walked right past these sconces from Patriot lighting. They were $24.00 a sconce PLUS an added 11% off. PERFECT!!!!  I wanted a metal shade because it was going to be a reading light.

These light fixtures are seriously good looking and are perfect over my new bed.

We decided to put the sconces over our bed on two separate switches. We placed the switches on the two sides of the bed. Putting our reading lights on TWO switches allows us to actually use them as reading lights when the other person is sleeping. AND… the switch is reachable from where you lay in bed. Smartest light decision I have ever made.

The Menards sconces were super easy to install. In five minutes they were installed. I tell you that because I splurged on my next set of sconces and they took an entire afternoon to install… an afternoon that included three trips to the hardware store.

The second set of sconces are over my dresser. I considered just getting four of the black sconces (and actually did) but again, it felt too “matchy matchy”.  The placement of the two sets of sconces was not like a long hallway that needed the same sconces because they are in the same sight line and have the same function. Most people don’t have scones over their dressers and instead put a lamp or two. OR… they do have sconces over the dresser and lamps on their bedside tables. I figured if you can mix lamps and sconces you could mix up your sets of sconces in a room… especially if the sconce sets had different functions. The CB2 sconces I wanted to be more dim… like a lamp light. Something you would turn on to have light in a room but not bright reading light.  I also wanted these lights to have a little character like a really cool lamp would. I picked the Nina Sconce from CB2.

We actually really love this splurge. They are not budget busters at $79.99 ($59.99 on sale a few months ago), but I generally buy really cool lamps at thrift stores so it was a splurge for me. They were a BEAR to install. You almost have to install a light box specifically for these fixtures.

My husband is a “make it work” master. He figured it out for me and I am thankful because we LOVE them. Honestly I would have returned them after the first trip to the hardware store but they are so unique and so stunning that we just pushed through. I might do an entire post on the rework of these lights because the are amazing for such a good price.

Lighting is done in this room. The only lamp I might have in this space is a light next to the chair. The chair is right next to a window with amazing sunlight so it might not need a lamp. We will see.

Next week…. textiles! Those windows need some curtains right?

Make sure you check out the featured designers and other talented guest participants!

If you want to follow the progress of my One Room Challenge Master bedroom makeover Check Out Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3.