Copper Pendant DIY

 Today marks a milestone. Not because I discovered the joys of metallic copper spray paint, although that was pretty exciting, but I detached my hardwired pendant light and reinstalled it all by myself and I lived to tell the story.

Turns out all those TV decorating show people are right, it's really easy to change out a hardwired fixture. I just made sure the power was shut off (like triple sure) and used a screwdriver to take off the pendant hardware. Then I took the two caps off that connect the black and white wires remembering that black goes with black and white with white. When it was time to put it back together I just reversed the steps. 

This pendant light has been long overdue for a makeover. After experimenting with some glass shades (one from another fixture upstairs and one from a thrift store) I found this 99 cent lantern at a thrift store and got an idea. I decided to turn my pendant into a nautical style light with something like this in mind. 

With the original pendant light detached from the ceiling, my lantern, pipe plates from the plumbing section at the hardware store and a can of copper metallic spray paint I got to work. 

See the hole in the bottom of the lantern? I decided to skip trying to saw open a hole on the top and just hung it upside down and put the cord and bulb through hole. The washer held the lantern in place above the bulb. I got the clever tip about using a pipe plates here.  

I taped off the cord so it wouldn't get painted (oops I forgot to pull the cord all the way out and there's a little paint on the top part of the cord). You're probably better off just separating the metal pieces from the cord before painting. 

 I thought painting the original pendant hardware the same color as the shade would make it look more polished. 

I took all the parts (the pipe plate, pendant hardware and lantern) outside, cleaned them off and painted them. As soon as that paint was dry, I hooked the fixture hardware back up. Then I placed the lantern (upside down) right below that dome of the hardware. Next, I slid the washer through the bulb thread, screwed on the original piece of plastic that held the fixture in place and put in the bulb.

Total cost of makeover = under $10

spray paint $7
pipe plate $1
thrift store lantern $1

If you don't already have the pendant hardware you can get one for under $20. I bought mine a couple of years ago, but I think this is the one.

 Mr. T came home and I heard a, "WHOA!" coming from the kitchen. My cheeks flushed with pride. "You bought Asian pears!"

Haha. Maybe he'll notice the pendant at some point tonight.

This post went to this Link Party!