A couple of weeks ago, Kristina wrote in with her question about what to do with her ugly pendant lamp belonging to her rented apartment. With lots of great suggestions and thoughts, she decided to cover it with a new shade from CB2. She writes:
Here goes a picture of what we did, and how we did it. We got this shade from CB2, which apparently they don't technically sell separately, but they hooked us up nonetheless, and thank goodness.
And perhaps our way of attaching it to the pendant lamp isn't the smartest or prettiest, but it works for now (as long as we don't leave the light on for very long):
As for the quick-fix packing tape solution, we're thinking maybe you should try extra long and tough twisty-ties or just a general type of thin wiring to attach at each section. Home Depot could surely help with a huge variety. Anyone else have suggestions?
Let's not forget the Before photo of the un-loved pendant lamp:
Thanks for sending, Kristina. Your solution looks great! And we really love the oval table...what can you tell us about it?
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Yes, go with the twisty ties (just rip off any of the paper), that looks scary right now. Great solution though.
view Lisa from VA/lsaspacey's profile
Kristina - so you turned the lamp shade upside down and fastened it right over the old fixture?? (head smack - why didn't I think a that?!)
I'm rolling now... thanks for posting this!!!
view oceandreamer56's profile
What I've always done is remove tacky furnished fixtures and replace them with my own. When I moved I would just take the originals out of storage and re-install them. It doesn't take an electrical degree and it's really simple.
Your building wiring is always color coded - black is hot, white is neutral and green (or a bare wire sometimes) for ground. Just turn off the breaker, remove the fixture, and put the new one in. The wires on the new fixture are also color coded. Just connect black to black, white to white, etc and you're good to go. Always make sure to connect the ground wire too.
Also - when you buy a new light fixture, the first thing you should do is take the wire-nuts that come with it, and toss them in the trash. Use good wire nuts. Usually the ones already in your ceiling are a lot better than the ceap orange junk that comes with most fixtures these days. Also make sure to get the wire nuts good and tight.
It's really really easy, and will save you from having to compromise.
view boomer's profile
Actually, the shade is on right-side up - luckily the apparatus for attaching the shade to the stand is on the bottom of the shade, rather than the top. Our pendant lamp had a diameter of 21" which was disheartening because the shade we wanted had a diameter of 20". So again, yay for CB2. There might have been cheaper options elsewhere, but since my roommate bought the shade, I win all around.
In regards to the table, I got it for $80 from Ikea a few years ago - the wrong legs were attached (I'm actually thinking of going to get the proper legs, if that's possible to do) so it was marked down from $400. My favorite purchase ever.
view KristinaXI's profile
Nice fix! Though I'd use craft wire from Joanne Fabric to rig it up in a more secure, safe-like way.
view tequila red's profile
Nice DIY buuuutt....I understand it is a rental, but a pendant lamp is the easiest/most inexpensive change you can make to a rental...simply hold onto the existing fixture and swap if need be beofore moving out.
view regus_fillman's profile
Kristina, great fix, but that tape makes me nervous! Get some black colored multi-purpose cable ties to attach it to your ugly fixture and you'll be all set.
http://www.pcloft.com/caor.html
regards,
trillium
view trillium's profile
That's a really good idea! Thanks!
view KristinaXI's profile