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Old Lamp. New Life.

One of my Saturday favorites is to hit up some local thrift stores for unusual finds and inspiration.  Unfortunately it doesn’t happen as often as I’d like, but a few weeks ago when the kiddos were with the grandparents, the Mister and I hit up one of my go-to places.

We scored a couple of cute things, like a brass owl bell (which my kids love to ring) + a new chair (which will soon get a spray paint makeover)…

Thrift Store Finds

…as well as this brass wall sconce for $15.  It was something that I’ve been searching for, but others I almost bought (new and old) were much more expensive.  I was thrilled to find this treasure and I knew the perfect place for it!

Wall sconce - thrift store find

The blue room (a.k.a. my home office / family room) has been complete for over a year, but I’m always ‘changing things up’ and switching out the layers of pillows + accessories.  One element that I was on the search for since finishing the space was a wall sconce to attach to the side of the painted bookcases.

My new found treasure worked out perfectly…

Home Office / Family room with new wall sconce on the side of the bookcase. The perfect thrift store find brought back to life!

Here’s how I gave this old lamp new life…

The back of the lamp had no “guts”, which worked fine for me because I took a piece of scrap wood and cut it to fit snug inside the round plate.

Thrift Store sconce

Thrift Store sconce

Once I knew the fit was just right, I took the piece of wood out of the lamp.  I determined where I wanted the lamp to sit on the bookcase, and then attached the piece of wood to the side of the bookcase with wood screws.

Once the wood was secure, I stuck the lamp base onto the wood.  The round base fit so snug that there was no additional screws needed.  The base simply is held in place by tension…

And voila, it was complete (almost)…

Process of bringing a thrift store found wall sconce back to life...

After giving the brass a good shining + adding a new lampshade (the old one was garbage bound), this was the result…

Home Office / Family room with new wall sconce on the side of the bookcase. The perfect thrift store find brought back to life!

Home Office / Family room with new wall sconce on the side of the bookcase. The perfect thrift store find brought back to life!

And how the room looks now with this new found treasure…

Home Office / Family room with new wall sconce on the side of the bookcase. The perfect thrift store find brought back to life!

And the best part, it works…

Home Office / Family room with new wall sconce on the side of the bookcase. The perfect thrift store find brought back to life!

From start to finish, the lamp literally took minutes to install + there was no electrical needed.  The cord was attached to this thrift store find and all I had to do was plug it in.  And a little tid-bit ~ to keep the cord taught on the bookcase, I used a piece of duct tape to keep it in place.

Thrift store wall sconce

I’m simply smitten over my new trash to treasure!

Home Office / Family room with new wall sconce on the side of the bookcase. The perfect thrift store find brought back to life!

It’s amazing what a little outside-of-the-box thinking can do.  I’m thrilled that I waited it out to find just the right piece and in the end, it only cost $15!

What have been your favorite trash to treasure finds either from a garage sale, thrift store, or on the side of the road?

Let There Be Light: How to Make a Pendant Fixture

You may have noticed a pretty little pendant in some of the pictures I’ve been sharing of projects throughout the progress of my master bedroom revamp.  Guess what, I made it. Well kind of.

Let there be light: How-To turn a pendant into a light fixture; Tutorial by @Jenna_Burger, WWW.JENNABURGER.COM

So I didn’t actually make the fabulous fixture, but I did electrify it so it could work as a light. Let there be light: How-To turn a pendant into a light fixture; Tutorial by @Jenna_Burger, WWW.JENNABURGER.COM The fixture I am referring to is the capiz hanging pendant from World Market, one of my favorite resources for interior decor.  I had originally intended on using the pendant on our ceiling fan.  I’m not crazy that we have a fan in our room instead of an amazing chandelier.  But since it gets super hot during the summer months and the Mister vetoed the removal of the fan, it simply IS.  So making the best of it, I had planned on adding the pretty pendant during the winter when the fan isn’t in use.  WELL, the size and the mounting didn’t work once I had it in hand, so instead I thought it would make for an interesting light at my newly revamped desk. So to make this pendant glow and actually function as a light, I purchased a light kit from Home Depot (I’m a Lowe’s gal through and through, but they didn’t have the parts that I needed). Let there be light: How-To turn a pendant into a light fixture; Tutorial by @Jenna_Burger, WWW.JENNABURGER.COM For this project, these are the supplies I used:

  • Decorative Pendant (try a mason jar or an unconventional fixture to use as a light)
  • Light Kit
  • 8′ length of extra wire
  • Decorative Chain
  • Wire Cutter
  • Screw Driver

Here are the steps I took to make this pretty pendant into an actual light… In all the light kits I found, the wire cord length was only 8′, but I needed it to be 16′ long.  Solution: I purchased the light kit + extra wire that Home Depot cut for me, which cost an additional $3 for the extra 8′ of length. 1. At home, I first connected the (2) 8′ lengths of wire.  First, using a wire cutter I cut about 1/2″ of casing off one end to expose the wires inside. 2. Then I cut the ends off the other 8′ length wire.  So I was left with 4 exposed wire ends. 3. I connected (2) ends together and (2) ends together, and then sealed them with electrical tape.  It doesn’t matter what end goes with what end. These steps are very easy and take minutes to do. Let there be light: How-To turn a pendant into a light fixture; Tutorial by @Jenna_Burger, WWW.JENNABURGER.COM Depending on how long of a pendant you want, you might be able to skip right over the steps above and start with the following steps of connecting the wires to the socket. 1. Start off by removing the cardboard and the socket shell.  Then create an Underwriter’s Knot with the end of your wires.  This type of knot will prevent the wire from loosening inside the socket. To make this type of knot, first separate the wires, form a large loop with each wire, and thread the end of each wire through the other loop. Complete the knot by pulling the ends of the wires so the knot will tighten. 2. With your fingers, twist the wire strands together to form a partial loop.  Then wrap each wire clockwise around the socket terminals (the inside of the screw). Then tighten the terminal with a screwdriver. 3. Once the wires are secured and tightened into the terminals, slip on the cardboard sleeve (YES, LEAVE THE CARDBOARD ON), and put the socket shell back into position. 4. Let there be light! Let there be light: How-To turn a pendant into a light fixture; Tutorial by @Jenna_Burger, WWW.JENNABURGER.COM For the bulb, I used an old fashion style that I found at Lowe’s (like this one).  They give such a great look since the bulb is slightly exposed.  FYI, these style light bulbs won’t be available much longer because the US in no longer producing or importing filament bulbs.  So grab em’ while you can! Once the wiring was complete, I added the decorative chain… Let there be light: How-To turn a pendant into a light fixture; Tutorial by @Jenna_Burger, www.sasinteriors.net Here’s a close up.  Isn’t it pretty?! Let there be light: How-To turn a pendant into a light fixture; Tutorial by @Jenna_Burger, WWW.JENNABURGER.COM And here’s how the new pendant looks in the room… (psst…  I still have to cover the black electrical tape where I connected the 2 wires) Let there be light: How-To turn a pendant into a light fixture; Tutorial by @Jenna_Burger, WWW.JENNABURGER.COM Let there be light: How-To turn a pendant into a light fixture; Tutorial by @Jenna_Burger, WWW.JENNABURGER.COM Let there be light: How-To turn a pendant into a light fixture; Tutorial by @Jenna_Burger, WWW.JENNABURGER.COM Let there be light: How-To turn a pendant into a light fixture; Tutorial by @Jenna_Burger, WWW.JENNABURGER.COM I’m in love.  And surrounded by my newly painted desk + my newly custom-made (for little $$$) window panels, I’m a happy girl! The bulb is only 40 watts, so it gives a beautiful glow when lit.  Definitely nice for the evening while watching TV.  And I’ll tell you, I’ve been spending alot more R + R time in my room lately!  I’m just loving the space.  Next area of the space to show you…  The Galley Wall!  And then the final reveal. If you want to see another lamp project of mine, you can check it out here when I guest posted at my friend Lindsay’s blog, Makely Home.

Are you a fan of shell style light fixtures? Have you ever made something/anything into a light? If not, what do you wish you could electrify?