Happy #100reveal Thursday!!

You guys. I have got the COOLEST project for you today. As I was brainstorming ideas for these fun GE reveal® light bulb projects my natural train of thought was obviously to do something cool with light. But we’ve already rewired a light, and made an amazing chandelier for the entryway.

Something different was just what the Dr. ordered.

Something new.

So armed with $100 to The Home Depot, and a GE reveal® light bulb I set out on my quest.

You know when you get an idea that just seems so crazy, and when you tell everyone in your life about it they genuinely don’t understand what you are explaining? No? Just me?

This project describes that perfectly. I have been super obsessed with shadow art lately, but it is always done on such a grand art installation scale.

I wanted a way to be able to simplify it enough to use it in my house. And probably not use it to make human shapes because that would be terrifying to stumble across in the middle of the night.

So after thinking long and hard about it for a minute or 2 I set out to see if it would work. If I could actually do something using light and shadow.

I conducted a little experiment and here is what I learned:

It is entirely possible…IF you have the right kind of light bulb, and the right angle.

The light bulb is critical, it needs to give off enough light to cast a strong shadow and it also needs to be focused. A regular style light bulb disperses the light too much, but a reveal® indoor flood light worked perfectly.

The angle of the light, will lengthen + shorten your shadow, and the distance from the pegs will straighten out the letters (the further away the less skewed they are.)

So with this in mind we started with a little trip to my version of Disneyland…The Home Depot.

I bought a GE reveal® indoor flood light (and a regular one for the before and after) (4) 8’x1”x6”, a 3’x1”x1” wooden dowel and a 2×4’ sheet of underlayment.

After you’ve measured the exact size of the underlayment (this will serve as the backboard for everything) you are going to cut 2 pieces that measure the width of the underlayment horizontally (2’) and 2 pieces that measure the vertical distance between the 2 horizontal boards. This is a backer frame and will give you something to attach the face frame and the underlayment to.

Next you are going to cut 2 boards with 45 degree angles that have an inner measurement that match your underlayment.

PSA:  For the LOVE cut these angles so that they look like this:

Not like this:

Court, I’m talking to you.

If you did not heed the above advice, head back to The Home Depot and buy yourself another couple of boards…#fun.

Once you have your boards cut the right way, use a nail gun to attach them to the back frame.

Then put your underlayment on top and secure it with a few nails.

To make the light I took apart this cute desk lamp that I’ve had laying around and a few spare parts from the Bent Arm chandelier build.

All I did was deconstruct this light that I bought a while ago:

And put it back together with the long arm in between the base and the socket (I wanted to be able to adjust the light angle as much as I need to.)  I also swapped in my favorite twisted lamp cord that looked better and had a higher wattage rating.

Then I drilled a small hole in the center of the frame and fed the cute new wire through. The last bit of light construction was wiring a plug on the end. Its time for a common sense disclaimer, these bulbs can get warm, this isn’t a light that you will want to leave on for hours and hours. Yes? Yes.

Once the light was hung inside the frame (with a small screw) it was time to place the dowels.

I did this part last so that I had complete control over the way that the shadow cast.

Once I measured and marked where my short dowels (they measure 3.5”) were going to live, I used a small amount of Titebond III wood glue to adhere them to the board.

A roll of painters tape works wonders to hold them in place while the glue dries.

Want to see what it turned into?

When the house lights are on and the spotlight is off you have this curious and delightfully inoffensive bit of wooden art on the wall.

When you shut off the house lights, and turn on the spotlight you get a friendly little message:

Amazing right?! I mean, who doesn’t want your decor to actually greet you!!? And for a grand total of less than $50 no less!

Because of the closeness of the light onto the board I was a little curious if you would even be able to tell a difference with the reveal® light bulb. Oh ye of little faith Mandi. Of course you can. Directly on the light it’s a little hard to tell a difference, but look at how much cleaner white the reveal® side is, and how much sharper the shadow. (Bulbs used were 40 W Soft White Spotlight vs 45 W reveal® Halogen Indoor Flood bulb.)

What do you think? Do you love it?!

Its time for another giveaway!! You know the drill, (10) winners will win a $100 Home Depot gift card, and a GE reveal® lighting package, all you have to do to enter is leave a comment and let me know what level of DIYer do you consider yourself to be and/or tell me about your favorite DIY project that you have completed!

The post DIY Shadow Art + Video appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Building lights is sort of my thing. It is honestly my DIY spirit animal. That being said this light pushed me to the brink. Not because it is hard, but because I was trying to figure out the best way to do it in the most uncomplicated way possible (which complicates things). So after trying out 3 different types of wires and few hardware swaps I am SO excited to share with you the most simplified version of this brass bent arm chandelier!

A few weeks ago I was thumbing through a magazine and came across this gorgeous light from Circa lighting. I loved all of the different angles and the whole feel of it. I also love Lindsay Adelman and her branch lights so hard. I knew that I could use both of them as a jumping off point for an amazing light in the entryway.

After spending a few hours on Grand Brass looking at all of the parts that they had, and a lot of sketching I came up with a plan (and ended up with a lot of parts.)  All of the serial numbers for the parts are listed after their description.

a. (12) 8in. X 1/8 IPS HOLLOW BRASS PIPE STEM (PIBR08-0X8)
b. (12) 6in. X 1/8 IPS HOLLOW BRASS PIPE STEM (PIBR06-0X8)
c. (6) 1/8F sides X 1/8F bottom X 1/8F top SMALL CLUSTER BODY (BOS2X8)
d.(12) 3-1/4in. SPOKED HOLDER CAST BRASS with 1/8F TAPPED HOLE (HO3-1/4S)
e.(12) PORCELAIN SOCKET (SO10045C)
f. (1)1/8F sides X 1/4F bottom X 1/8F top JUMBO CLUSTER BODY (BOJ6)
g. (3)* 12in. X 1/8 IPS HOLLOW BRASS PIPE STEM (PIBR12-0X8)
h. (1) 1/4IPS PIPE PENDANT HANGING CROSS BAR SET (CB208)
i. (6) 1/8F X 1/8F ips. ADJUSTABLE FRICTION SWIVEL (SV140)
j. (2)* 1/8F THRU 5/8H X 5/8W STRAIGHT COUPLING (NE438)
k. (1) 1/4 PLUG WITH SCREW DRIVER SLOT (FI1/4PLUG)
l. (6) 1/8 PLUG WITH SCREW DRIVER SLOT (FI1/8PLUG)
m. (1) 8in. BRASS FLAT BASE W/RETURN (BAFL08NW) (We had to drill our hole larger, so if you dont have a                 tool to do this they have some that are smaller in diameter with a bigger hole.)
n. (12) OPAL 3-3/4″ DIAMETER X 4-1/8″ HEIGHT WITH 3″ FITTER ROUND BOTTOM CYLINDER TUBE (GLC304)
o. (12) 22-10 Crimp Sleeve
p. (2) large wire nuts
q. (2) Medium wire nuts
r. (1) Wire stripper/cutter
s. Lamp wire

*dependant on the height of your ceiling

While this project isn’t horribly hard (now that we know the right way to do it) it’s definitely not on a beginner DIY level.

You are going to start by assembling your short arms (these are the arms without the bend) using the 8” brass pipe (a.), the spoked holder (d.), and the metal base for the socket. (Make sure that once everything is assembled you tighten the small screw on the socket base.)  This will keep your entire socket from unscrewing when you are changing the light bulb.

Next you are going to assemble the longer arms using 2 of the 6” pipe (b.),  the spoked holder (d.), the metal base for the socket (e.) and the friction swivel (i.)

Take apart the friction swivel (dont lose the little bits!) and attach each side to the brass pipe.

Wire your socket by checking for the textured edge on your lamp wire. The smooth one is hot and will be connected to the gold screw inside your socket. The textured edge is going to be connected to the silver screw.

Then feed the other end of the wire through your socket base and brass tube.

Attach the socket to the base.

When you get to the friction swivel you will have to split your wire to go around the post in the middle (I just split mine from the bottom, up to this point).

Reassemble the swivel using all the little parts that you didn’t lose (because you are AWESOME!!)

I didn’t tighten the screw down all the way until I was completely done with the light (it made things a little floppy) but it gave me a little more play with the wire.

The next step is connecting your short arm and long arm to the hub and adding a 3rd wire that will connect everything to the main body of the chandelier. This was hands down the most complicated part of the entire light.

So here is what I learned.

Starting with the fact that the wires in this picture are WAY too long. But it is all I had to show you so sorry about that ;).

Make sure that the wires that are coming into the hub are on the same sides (hot, hot, and hot, neutral, neutral, and neutral)  this will give you a little more room because they aren’t crossing over each other and adding more bulk to the situation.

Cut and strip the wires as short as you can while still being able to mange them (I think ours ended up about 1/2”-3/4” long)  Twist the wire together and clamp it with a wire clamp (we had to trim a small amount of the plastic off of the edge of the wire clamp)

Lay it in as flat as possible. Once you have both of your wires clamped and sort of inside, gently pull on the 3rd wire (it is still exposed at this point, it hasn’t been covered up by the brass tube) and suck everything inside the little chamber.

Then add the cap and the screw plug.

Thread your 3rd wire through an 8” piece of pipe (a.) and connect it to the main body of the chandelier (f.) The body of the chandelier is an egg shaped brass piece that screws apart. When it unscrews, the piece with all of the holes is the bottom section. (This is a mini version)

Repeat for all 6 arms. When you are attaching them make sure that they alternate which arm (long or short) is on the top.

Once you have all of your wires in the main center hub take all of the hot and twist them together,  adding one more long length of wire. This will be the main wire that runs up the stem to the ceiling. We found that it worked best to twist one group and then after the wire nut was on to tuck it down inside so that it was out of the way before twisting the second group.

To assemble the stem that comes out of the ceiling you are going to use the 12” pieces of pipe with the straight couplings. The amount that you need is based entirely on how high your ceilings are and how low you want your light to hang. This will attach to the hole in the top of the upper body section. The bottom section has a larger (1/4”) hole that you will cover up with the screw plug.

Add the large screw ring for the canopy (it comes attached to the hang straight coupling), the canopy, then the hang straight coupling and the cross piece in that order. Tighten everything up. I mentioned above that the canopy that we ordered had a hole that was too small. We used a hole saw that we had left over from this project to make it bigger.

Now comes the fun part. MAKE SURE THAT YOU TURN YOUR BREAKER OFF BEFORE YOU WIRE YOUR LIGHT! (yes that was me yelling, it is critical.)  Attach it to the ceiling with the cross bar, wire it to the house wires and bring the canopy to the ceiling and tighten the screw ring. Dont attach the cross bar first, and then try to screw the light into that, it will just twist your wire up. Get the hang straight attached to the cross bar first.

Apparently the ceiling beams are good for more than just looking awesome. How’s that for MacGyver?

When everything is wired, tightened and light bulbs are in, flip your breaker back on and cross your fingers that everything went smoothly!

The last thing is to tighten the screws on your swivel elbows, and finish it off with the glass shades.

If you make it through this entire tutorial, you are a rockstar!

So what did I learn rewiring the same light 15 times?

The first thing that I did was try a different type of wire because lamp wire was super thick. Even though it had a good amount of insulation on it, it was no match for the sharp edges of the pipe. Lamp wire was the only kind (I tried 3 different varieties) that didn’t have the coating stripped off of it. Go with lamp wire.

When something seems too small, that is because it is. The original main body of the chandelier was teeny. Too teeny to fit 6 wires into. Trust me I tried.

The bigger one that the final light ended up with was SO MUCH BETTER.

The last thing that I learned? The projects that push you to your breaking point and you hang in there and dont give up, usually end up being your favorite.

We’re thinking of adding them to the shop, so stay tuned!

Dont miss the Shop My House sale that is happening over at Joss and Main!!

The post DIY Bent Arm Chandelier appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Dun dun dun duuuun! Its #100reveal Thursday!! Do you know what this means?! A tutorial for a project that you can create for less than $100 at The Home Depot, the before and after transformation of GE reveal® light bulbs, and 10 more chances to win a $100 gift card and GE reveal® package!! (check out last weeks project here!)

The living room makeover is well underway (you can check out the posts here) and lets be honest, you cant have this awesome loft living room with an entryway that looks like this:

The whole industrial loft vibe that we are going for is being carried into that space as well (because of course!)

Step one was to get rid of the purple chandelier. I am pretty sure that it was the happiest moment of this journey thus far.

Step two was painting over the herringbone ceiling.

The challenge for this project was to create beams for less than $100 from The Home Depot. The space is pretty teeny, so big chunky beams (4×4’s or 5×5’s) would completely overwhelm it, and I needed an even number so that the chandelier could hang in the center. I decided to run with the industrial vibe and decided to use joist hangers to hold them. (If you remember back to the first video in this series when I am talking to Court and he is ignoring me? That is what I am trying to explain…)

This is a horrible picture, but it kind of gives you a size of the space we are working with.

Somehow (miracles do happen!!) all of the studs running up the wall lined up with exactly where we needed them, except the last one (furthest away from the door). We used drywall anchors to secure that beam and it’s not coming down without a fight.

To tone down the unfinished construction vibe, the joist hangers got a coat of Rustoleum Gold spray paint.

The wood that we used is 2×6 pine board from The Home Depot (naturally) just like the ones that we used for the shelves in Macie’s Boho Bedroom.

Once they were cut to size, the boards slid right in!

Thennnnn I took them out and sanded the markings off.   And added a light.

Much better.

Tell me that you’re not COMPLETELY obsessed with the light?! Do I dare you. Well guess what? It’s a DIY!

How is this for a before and after? GE reveal® light bulbs are basically magic. This picture was taken at 10:00 at night.

Before you go don’t forget to enter the giveaway for 1 of 10 $100 Home Depot gift cards and GE reveal® LED packages that I’m giving away this week!

I’ve been thinking about the giveaway submission and I’ve decided that we are going to play “Would You Rather?” So leave your best “Would You Rather?” questions in the comments below! Please keep it clean, any offensive comments will be deleted and will not be eligible for this week’s giveaway! (Giveaway rules and info are here.)

I’m so excited to be a GE reveal® #100reveal sponsored blogger. Opinions are my own, projects have been chosen by me, and additional products used in the project were selected by me and provided by GE reveal®. 
 
 

The post Industrial Ceiling Beams in the Entryway + Video appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Its HERE!! The moment that I officially un-officially move into a loft!! There is a lot of information and awesome things to remember in this post, so if you are a skimmer, settle in cause you wont want to miss this!

First things first, I have teamed up with GE Lighting to completely overhaul my living room AND entryway in 4 short weeks. We are doing it real time Nugget style (hopefully with a few less redoing it twice projects…)  Every Thursday I will be sharing a #100reveal project that you can duplicate for less than $100 from The Home Depot and showing off the transformative power of GE reveal LED light bulbs (which will basically give you a room makeover in and of themselves) and a video (!!!) from the series that the unicorn sisters and I have been working on.

Also every week we are giving away (10) $100 Home Depot gift cards and a GE reveal® light bulb kit.

For all 4 weeks. (Enter at the end of this post!)

That’s $4,000 to The Home Depot and GE reveal® LED light bulbs for 40 of my luckiest friends!

So lets’ kick things off with the first episode in our video series shall we? Janae did SUCH an amazing job on it. Please pay attention at :33 and note how Court is TOTALLY ignoring me. Its real life yo.

The living room. I feel like having images that live forever on the blog makes people think that what they see is the reality at all times.

You guys. How about a little reality check?

When the orange couch died we had to have some seating in there. So I moved the Laundry Couch out of my bedroom and into the living room. You know what a Laundry Couch is right? The place that you store all of your clean laundry? (Now that it is in the living room, we have a laundry floor.)

There are random chairs. No rug or coffee table. No art. No desk. The entire thing is just really depressing to look at. Amiright?

The obsession with living in a loft is what pulled me out of the funk. I think its a great idea before you rip everything out and start completely over to stop and look at the space and see what things you LOVE and keep those. Looking at the living room, the things that I loved were the black moulding around the windows. I feel pretty confident in changing everything else.

If you’ve been reading for a little while, you might remember the awesome Craigslist light that I had installed in Ashy’s room that was too little?

That cute light has haunted my dreams. I knew that it needed to be in the living room, but the problem was that we had cut the cord seriously short when we were hardwiring it to the ceiling. It is really easy to look at a light that has a less than ideal cord situation and feel like its not going to work, but the simple fact is that rewiring a light is one of the easiest projects you can tackle.

*One thing of note that will make you probably want to hurt puppies if you forget. When you are wiring a light with wire that already has an outlet on the end you have to work backwards. Start with the elements that are closet to the plug and work your way down to the socket…ie the chain will go on first, then the fixture loop, all the way down to the socket being last. If you miss a piece or forget to do this you’ll have to rewire your socket.

Lamp cord has 2 wires. The way to tell them apart is by the ridge on the outer edge of one. The smooth wire is Hot and will connect to the gold screw in your socket. The ridged wire is neutral and will connect to your silver screw.

Ok so have you guys ever used GE reveal® LED light bulbs? I never had, and I was sort of dumbfounded at the difference they made. They just make everything prettier. Seriously. I feel like I have totally been missing out my entire life not knowing about them!

Check out the difference. (Both of these light bulbs are 60W)

So not only is the GE reveal® light brighter, but can you see the color difference? All of the dark yellow tones are gone! You guys. This is like Photoshop in real life.

The post Let the Living Room Makeover Begin!! + Video appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

You guys. This is serious. I cant stop making things with copper. I don’t want to stop. It is such a pretty and inexpensive material and is everything that my hopes and dreams are made out of. **sob

So before you guys schedule an intervention,  I thought it would be prudent to point out that I am not the only one that loves copper. EVERYONE loves copper. (Do you know where this is going?!)  Yep, it’s time for the Fall Color Challenge!!

If you are new, you are in for a treat. Me and 5 of my blogging besties team up quarterly to inspire you in every area of your life with one common color. This round? You guessed it, COPPER!!

A little later this week I will be showing you a fun weekend paint project that we did in Ivie’s room, but today you get a little sneak peek and the most basic light building tutorial on the planet!

I had a few left over parts from the wood and copper chandelier that I made for Ashy’s room, so I thought it would be a good idea to use them before I lose (errrrr….lost?) them.

This project is totally inspired by these copper sconces that Courtland made on Design Star. I just love how simple and pretty they are!!

You just need a few supplies:

1/2” x 3/4” Reducing Coupling

3/4” x 1/2” Fitting Reducer

1/2” 90 degree elbow 

1/2”  T

1/2” Copper Straps

10’ of 1/2” Copper Pipe (its much cheaper if you just buy a 10’ piece!) cut to:
5”
2”
8’ (or the desired height of your light)
Pipe Cutters
Wall Anchors
Lamp Wire
Porcelain Socket
Plug
5 Minute Epoxy

Start by connecting your Reducing Coupling to your Fitting Reducer. (Use a small amount of Epoxy to stick them together.)

Take your porcelain socket apart and glue the bottom metal piece to the inside of your Reducing Coupling.

Then add your piece of 2” pipe into the fitting reducer on one side and the T on the other. (Make sure to glue this!)

Glue the 5” piece into the middle of the T, and add the elbow downturned onto the other end.

Glue this onto your 8’ piece (or however long you choose to make yours)

That is IT!

Freak yes it is!!

Wire your light socket (more detailed instructions on that can be found in this post!) Thread the wire through the open hole on your T, underneath the socket.

If you are lucky (or smart) the holes that are in the copper straps will line up with a stud. If not, you will need drywall anchors. This will hold your light tight against the wall without any sagging or loosening.

I CAN.NOT. WAIT for you to see this whole project!! But until then, you will most definitely want to check out what the other ladies have been up to!

Feel free to confess your love for copper below, it will make me feel better about the problem I am having…

The post Fall Color Challenge: Copper Wall Sconce appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Do it yourself lighting is one of my favorite types of projects to tackle. Lighting (well beautiful lighting) can be seriously expensive. But guess what?! It doesn’t have to be! There are so many cool components that you can find around your local hardware store that can be put together to create a serious show stopper.

Originally the plan for the lighting in Ashy’s room was to hardwire this light. I mean, the design is perfect for the space, right? We got it installed and had a problem.

A one light bulb problem.

This room is so ginorm that having a light with just one bulb was not cutting it. As I was problem solving different solutions (where to put wall sconces, lamps etc.) I realized that we really just needed a different light.

Just a side note, if you are at your local hardware store and you see a crazy looking lady in paint clothes, sitting on the floor surrounded by pipe fittings with a wild look on her face, just keep your head down and don’t make eye contact.

The great thing is that after the wild look passes, she probably has a pretty great plan.

Here is what you need: (I bought the hardware supplies at Home Depot and Lowes. Locally, Lowes seems to have a bigger selection of copper fittings.)

(4) ceramic light sockets

(4) 1 1/2” x 3/4” Reducing Coupling

(4) 3/4” x 1/2” Fitting Reducer

(4) 1/2” Threaded Adaptor Fitting (Male)

(5) Washers

(5) Pipe Nuts

(4) 10” pieces of 1/2” pipe

(1) 8” piece of 1/2” pipe (or measured to the length that you want your fixture to hang)

(2) 1/2” copper push-fit male adaptor pieces

(1) Threshold Utensil Caddy

(1) Threshold Bowl

12’ of lamp wire

Loctite 5 Minute Epoxy

Drill with 1/2” Drill Bit, and 3/4” spade bit

Start by taking apart the ceramic sockets. Right now, we just want the metal base.

Using your epoxy, glue it to the inside of the reducing coupling (make sure that it is straight!)  Let it set for at least 5 minutes. (Be aware of any drips down the inside, they will cause problems when you attach your next piece)

Add a small amount of glue to the inside of your Reducing Coupling, push the Fitting Reducer into the bottom of it.

Add a small amount of glue to the inside of your Fitting Reducer and attach 1 of the 10” pieces of pipe.

Repeat 3 times. These are your arms!

The heart of this light is a wooden utensil holder from Target (couldn’t find it online, but it is still in store). Originally I was picturing 2 wooden bowls sandwiched together, but I think this worked out to be significantly easier. Using a 3/4” spade bit, mark and drill a hole in the dead center of each side of your box. Even with a 3/4” hole, you will need to ream it out a little bit more so that the Male Fitting Adaptor will fit inside.

These were a little hard to hand screw in, so on some I used a socket wrench (you can see the mark that it left on the top of the box). Just be careful to not make your hole too big when you ream it, this adds a lot of stability to your arms. You are going to do this on all 4 sides, as well as the top. The only difference is that the top gets a Push-Fitting, instead of a simple adaptor.

Next, put your washers and nuts on the threads inside the box.

Attach the top piece of copper (mine was 8” long) to your push fitting.

Cut 5 pieces of lamp wire so that they are 20” in length (this will give you some wiggle when you are wiring) and thread one through each of your lamp arms.

Wire your socket according to the instructions found on the packaging (don’t forget to put the red rubber piece on first!)

Because we are making a light with multiple sockets, be EXTRA sure that you are wiring the hot lines to the same colored screw in each socket (i.e. all of the hot lines go to the gold screw, and the neutral lines go to the silver one.)  You will be able to tell which wire is hot because there is a small ridge on the edge of that wire to differentiate the hot from the neutral.

When all of your arms are wired, put a small amount of glue on the inside of your Male Adaptor Fitting and push them on, so that the wire is INSIDE your box.

Using large wire nuts, join all 5 of the hot wires together (4 from the arms, 1 from the top) and all 5 of the neutral wires together.

Now its time to install!

We had to move the junction box so that the light could hang in the right spot of the room. Please please please for the love of all that is good in this world, DO NOT do this if you don’t know what you are doing. Hire an electrician to spend 25 minutes at your house. Ok?! When we moved the junction box, we left the electrical inside the old one and piggy backed the new wire from there. It is illegal to permanently cover a hole that still has live wire inside it. To disguise it (without making the ceiling feel like a land mine) we used a simple cover and put putty on it to sort of match the ceiling pattern. If you look at it, it is very clearly there, but if you aren’t trying to notice it, it doesn’t jump out at you. The most important part is that it is a temporary solution and can be spotted and opened up easily.

For our ceiling mount, I bought this bowl from Target, and used my table saw to cut most of the sides off. I left a small 1/2” lip. If you don’t have access to a table saw, you could use a wooden plate, or even a regular cover and spray paint it copper.

Drill a hole in the center of your mount, and attach the second Push Fitting as well as the washer and nut to the opposite side.

Measure on your junction box the distance between the screws, and drill into your mount. If you are using screw caps like we did, you will need to have them hanging down before you can mount your light (if you look closely in the picture below you can see the screws.

This is where you wire your light. No pictures, because I was the one holding it up, but don’t forget this minor step.

Put the mount on the ceiling with the screws coming through the holes, and attach screw caps. I was a little nervous about just having the screws holding the light up, but after talking with an employee at the hardware store and having him point out giant hanging lights that had the same style mount, I felt so much better about it.

(The pic below was of the dry run, you can see that there are no wires coming through. When you are installing it for real,  the light will be hanging down.)

Once the ceiling mount is installed and wired, push the copper pipe into the Push Fitting and TA DA! your light is done!!

I didn’t cover the hole at the bottom because the wires are tucked up inside it so far, but it would be cute to put a piece of copper contact paper or something on the bottom if you feel like it needs it.

Questions? Leave them below!

The post DIY Copper and Wood Hanging Light Fixture appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

You guys, this tutorial is an easy one! Get excited for amazing lighting!!

This little hang out corner of Macie’s Bedroom was just itching for a really great statement light. Keeping with the laid back boho theme of the room I thought that a bunch of swaggy lights would be perfect. I was totally inspired by these halo lights that my girls over at A Beautiful Mess created last year. But of course like all things that inspire, its fun to make it your own. And wood and brass? Best combo ever.

To make this light you will need:

(1) Brass Socket Cup

(1) Brass Gas Cap

(1) Brass Tube

(1) Porcelain Socket

Cord

(1) Embroidery Hoop

Button Plug (unless you are hard wiring it)

Glue

FYI: You can find some of the supplies at Home Depot. The brass tube can be found in the plumbing section but the longest length that it comes in is 4”,  if you want something longer you need to order it from Grand Brass. You can also buy the light sockets and plug at HD.

If you are ordering from Grand Brass you will need to um…tread lightly? Their website is really hard to use, so I have linked everything that I have used in the supply list. If you venture off of the beaten path make sure that you check the measurements of everything before you hit purchase. Otherwise you will end up with a few things that don’t fit together. Like me. Whoopsie.

Start by taking the cap, pipe, cup, and socket end (the metal part of the socket)

Assemble them with the cap on one end, the socket on the other and the cup in the middle, with the open end facing the socket.

Thread your wire through the pipe.

Wire the white part of the socket.

Attach it to the metal part.

Wire your plug.

You can leave it like this and enjoy the crap out of it.

Or you can attach the halo (halo, halo.)

For this we are using the outer ring of the embroidery hoop (the one with the metal tabs)

Basically you are just going to glue the tabs to the brass pipe. To hold mine in place while the glue dried I wrapped it with a little piece of leather (of course it was leather), but you can be a patient soul and just hold it if you want.

Hang it up and let it dry (that way it will dry straight!)

Make 1, 5, or 32. It is amazing however you group them.

In Mace’s room, we had a light fixture that we removed and had a perfect spot to hardwire them. But if you don’t have that option it is still awesome!

The post DIY Wood and Brass Hanging Hoop Pendant Lights appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Happy Friday!!! Let’s get this party started (of course by party I mean the tutorials for Macie’s Boho Bedroom Makeover!)  If you are looking for sources for the items that are in the room check out this post.

Up first are the incredible wall mounted task lights that are on either side of Macie’s bed.

First things first, you need to get your happy self to Target. They have these really great stick lights that will make your life SO much more simple and you sort of need them to do this project….

Start by taking the light off of the base,  you will just have to loosen the screw, and it should come right off.

I decided to change out the cord because I am obsessed with cloth coil cord right now, but that is 1000% optional!

*If you decide to leave your cord on you will need to tape it off while you are painting!

Give it a few LIGHT coats with the color of your choice. I used Black in satin for mine. Let it dry completely before you manhandle it. Rewire it if you chose to change it, or take the tape off if you didnt.

Now pull out your wooden dowel and copper fittings.

You will need:

Super glue (DO NOT use Gorilla Glue for this. Trust me.)  I love this type from Loctite

Start by painting your dowels (or leaving them plain if you are a hippy and just love things natural.)

The assembly is simple folks. Just put the glue on the dowel before you put it into the elbow.

Let your glue set for the recommended time (usually around 24 hours) before you attach your light.

Once your light is on you can glue on the caps that will on the end of the dowels.

Mount them using pipe straps and enjoy the amazingness day and night!

Total cost? $23.00

I just wanted to update everyone on the Target Copycat situation.

First I need to say thank you for your support, you guys have blown me away with your love and concern. I think the term Target used was very devoted readers. You guys are amazing. That is all there is to it.

I did have a conference call with Target,  they were so nice and understanding. They will be doing a really fun Q&A on the Bullseye View blog in the next few weeks (I will be sure to let you know when that is live!) and we are thinking of some some ways that we can work together in the future! I am a firm believer that you should date a brand before you expect them to propose a lifelong commitment to you. So Target and I have had a little bit of an awkward first date, but I am really looking forward to seeing what kind of relationship I hope it can blossom into. Because I think we both like each other. Hopefully in the next while everyone on the playground will be singing “Vintage Revivals and Target sitting in a tree….”

There is a really amazing secret project in this week’s newsletter, you probably wont want to miss it! Sign up below!

The post DIY Wall Sconce Task Lights & A Target Update! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

When I got home from Home Depot a few days ago,  Court was cleaning out the garage. I am obviously a hoarder of amazing things that look like garbage. He doesnt have the vision and frequently throws away treasures. You can image what this does to me.

I flew out of my car and was like “What are you throwing away?! I need it alllllllllllll!! (and possibly an intervention) Court held up a few ugly lampshades that would not work for anyone. ever. to try and prove the point that not everything is worth saving.

Unfortunately for him my best ideas are spontaneous. Bring it. Oh it has been brought-en.

I LOVE a good lamp. The subsequent reality of the situation is that I have about a million ugly lampshades. Every time I look at them I die a little inside. I know they could be something amazing, so I hang onto them, but lets be honest, they are not shooting to the top of anyone’s must do list.

That is, until today.

All you need to make these eye popping lights, is an ugly lampshade with a wire frame inside and a few simple supplies. (I posted a picture of the shade on the right on Instagram yesterday and it became immediately clear how much better filters make everything look. It didn’t look half bad, but IRL it is granny…and not in a cool hipster way. In a mother-of-the-bride dress sheathing kind of way.)  Sorry to fool you guys with my mad filtering skillz.

Lets get started!

Cut off all of the fabric and pull off all of the glued on bits until you are left with this:

Its is the skeleton of the lampshade! Get it? Skeleton shade?!

I gave my lamp bones a coat of Krylon Copper Spray Paint.

Then I used some lamp wire I had from another project and wired a basic socket on the inside of the lampshade. To do this you will need:

(1) Pull String Light Socket ($3.49) at Home Depot

(1) 1/2” threaded nipple

(1) Washer

(1) Hex Nut

The desired length of Lamp Wire.

* If you are spray painting your socket do it before you move on to the next step!

Start by threading on your cord the hex nut and the washer. Feed the cord through the top of the lampshade.

Then thread your cord through the nipple and the base of your socket.

This next step is super important so pay attention! The weight of the skeleton shade is going to be on the socket. Normally you would buy a special tension socket for this, but because our shades are so light we are going to use  everyone’s favorite DIY Fix All…Hot Glue!

Tie a knot in your wire and fill it nice and full with hot glue. I like to pull the wire up while I am doing this to make sure that it is inside the nipple too. This is going to take the pressure off of the actual wiring and move it to the entire socket. Also please make sure that you leave enough cord that you can still wire your socket!

Once it is wired push the 2 pieces together REALLY hard. You will hear a soft pop when it is connected.

Then just stick the nipple into the top of the shade and attach the hex nut.

That’s it. Not even 10 minutes later we have these fun and unique light fixtures.

And you can get as creative as you want. I had a lot of extra cord so I tied it up and let the socket hang on this light. It breaks up the monotony a little.

 (Tutorial for the leather pillow here)  (Need another simple lampshade update? Click here)

I win. Sorry Court.

UPDATE! The light bulbs that I used can be found at Home Depot and Lowes. They are not going to be available once the supplies sell out (because the US is no longer producing or importing filament bulbs) So get them while you can!

I have also had a few questions about where they plug in. I pulled the cords out of the picture, but they run down the wall and plug in behind the couch. They look really cute like that (because of the sweet cords).

Now to the fun part that involves YOU! Whenever I bring a new treasure home Court just looks at me and says “Where are you going to put that?” And then I happily float into the garage and add it to the treasures that are taking up my half. (Ok it is more like two thirds. But who is measuring?)

The problem in this situation is that I have treasures that I have long forgotten about. And who can forget the ever present “But I cant get rid of that, I might use it!” excuse?

So here is what we are going to do. It is a fun thing I like to call MOTIVATION! Once a month we are going to have a Rock What Ya Got party. You can play along on Vintage Revivals by linking up a blog post,  or on instagram using the #rockwhatyagotparty hashtag.

Here is the other deal. This link up is for new projects only. I get it,  you are excited about that dresser that you painted last June and still want everyone to see it. But this is not that. We are doing NEW projects. New. Like sparkly newborn baby new. Yes? The whole point is to do something new. How about if I throw one more NEW in there for effect? New.

So here are a few things you need to know about our fun new club:

The Rock What Ya Got party will be opening the 3rd Monday of every month and will be open for one week.

Feel free to link up any type of project, as long as it is using something that you already had at home. (You can obviously buy a few supplies to work your magic)  The project has to be (say it with me!) NEW!

I will be sharing some of my favorites every month on my social media channels and in the Vintage Revivals newsletter!

If you have any fun fight for the garbage stories, I want to hear all about them!!

The post Rock What Ya Got: Upcycled Copper Wire Pendant Lights (from ugly lampshades!) appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

So the other day I was hanging out at Tj Maxx looking at clothes and wishing that they were just fabric on a roll so that I could make something amazing out of them. This happens more frequently than I care to admit…

anyways…

I saw a pair of super cute tribal leggings and thought “Mands, that would be such a cute pillow. Or maybe a lampshade.” Then literally light from Heaven shone down on me I was like “WHAT?!?!?? LAMPSHADE!!! I could use the leggings to cover a lampshade!! Oh my gosh. Has anyone done this before? (insert quick Google search that came up empty) WHY has no one done this before?!” And then I skipped all the way to the checkout line.

I also rummaged through my underwear drawer for a few pair that I was willing to sacrifice for the sake of project mode. Because I am motivated like that.

You will need:

Small Lampshade (this one from Target is what I used and it is the perfect size!)

Tights or Leggings in the largest size that you can find (because lets be honest, xs is not realistically going to happen.) If you want some really cute on trend ones check out Forever 21, they have some fantastic patterns!

Hot glue gun

Scissors or Rotary Cutter

Colored lampshades are hard to come by. I mean, you can spray paint one, but have you ever seen what a spray painted lampshade looks like when the light is on? It is not good friends.

But tights/leggings? Freaking fantastic!

First cut the top of the leg off from the body (use the highest point possible to get maximum width!) put your tights over the lampshade.

Glue along the edge.

Trim the excess off the top leaving about 1/2” to work with that you can trim off later.

Glue along the edge.

Step back, pat yourself on the back because you my friend, are a genius.

So now that you know the process, let me give you the skinny on the leg huggers.

Nylon Tights work AMAZINGLY well. (You can find the tights that I used for $4.75 here the color is Hot Coral) They will stretch like the day is long. You might have a little bit of color variation where some is stretched tighter, but I think it looks cool. To combat it you could run a pencil or something long and skinny between the tights and the shade to loosen the grip up a little bit. To prevent running you need to cut it with a rotary cutter, so stretch it over your shade and mark where it needs to be cut. Then take it off the shade and cut it with a rotary cutter.

Cable knit tights work really well too. They have SO much stretch. In fact the reason that I decided to use these leggings, is because they get saggy after a few hours of wear, so I knew that there would be zero problem with the stretch.

Woven leggings are sort of like a Chinese finger trap. When I did this the first time, I measured the length of the lampshade and added 4” to it. After putting the bottom on and about 1/2 of the top,  I was having a hard time stretching the rest of it without denting the shade. It worked so much better the second time around. So learn from my mistakes and put them on the shade, glue the bottom edge down, then cut the excess off and glue the top edge down.

A few things that I learned:

Buy the largest size that you can find. I wouldnt go smaller than at least a medium.

Shop the stuff you already have. I mean, dont lie. Everyone has at one time or another bought some funky tights at Forever 21 that you were a little too scared to wear once you got them home and showed your husband. Those? Perfect for this project.

Can you even believe that this is such an easy fix for a boring/ugly lampshade? If Billy Mayes were alive and sold blog posts on infomercials he would be lovin this idea. (Did anyone else love that show as much as Court and I did?)

Make sure you check out the other posts in the Mandilicious Christmas series!

The post Turn Leggings Into A Lampshade! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.