I have a cool old 50s cowboy glass shade that I used to replace the generic dome like you have. I just took the dome down, hung the square cowboy frosted glass shade up, and used the little screwy piece to hold the new shade on. Super easy, and I can take it down in 5 minutes if I want to.

Here's an eBay sample like the one I have. I'm sure they come in other, less "funky" and more "chic" models.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270707471993

Good luck!

i had the same ugly dome light fixtures. I threw away the dome, and instead put a regular lamp shade up there. It worked beautifully, just make sure either round end on the shade fits the circumfrence of the piece in the ceiling. I went to the hardware store and bought an extender that allowed us to affix the shade through to the small hole on the wire of the shade. Hope this make sense.!! try it~

why not simply replace them? if cost isn't an option, lighting is very easy to replace (from an electrical POV) as the switch itself cuts the current... if the switch is off, there's no current flowing to the light. from there, the disconnections and re-connections are usually fairly easy.

OMG YES! AT, sometimes it is FREAKY how you read my mind. My apartment lighting is the bane of my existence...I have one (eerily similar) light fixture in my kitchen which is obnoxiously off centered and, having recently moved, not nearly enough lamps.

I can't wait to hear the suggestions!

Around my house we call them boob lights. And we hate them. Would your landlord let you replace them if you kept them, and put them back if you moved? Try telling him that you find them morally offensive.

we took down a few of our boob lights and replaced them with new fixtures. the lights are still hiding in the back of a closet, so we can put them back before we leave.

why not just replace them with something less ugly - store the ugly ones in a box and put em back when you move! we have done that in our rental.

It stinks that you can't temporarily replace it. I did that when I rented, it was so easy and made a huge difference.

I like the idea of taking the dome/boob off and putting a standard shade on there though.

Ugh, that thing is hideous! There was a post awhile back about painting over that ugly gold crap, which maybe you could do? The person used glossy white spray paint, and it made a world of difference. You would still have a boob on your ceiling, but at least it wouldn't be very noticeable.

OMG this post just took the words right out of my mouth! I just moved into a new apartment on February 1st & my kitchen & dining rooms are plagued with the same AWFUL fixtures. I've been wondering how to changed them easily & affordably. Now, I have two great suggestions. I think I'm going to try both. I'll comb Ebay tonight for a vintage lighting fixture & a vintage lamp shade for both rooms. I'll looking forward to the change. The rooms serious need it.

I have these too. I like the lamp shade idea. Also one could spray paint the brass white (like Door sixteen did) so at least it looks better.

apparently we live in the same apartment! cause I've got four of these scattered about my studio. The only problem I have with them is that my lightbulbs don't fit.

Just paint your ceilings gold with big white polka dots. They'll blend right in.

I had them too. My lease says not to replace fixtures, but who's going to notice if you put them back up when you move? Unless they are somehow permanently affixed to the ceiling they are very easy to disassemble - the "nipple" part of the boob screws off (sorry), the glass piece will come off after it, and then there should be 2 screws within the piece attached to the ceiling. Once those are unscrewed the entire thing will come off, and you're left with a nice hole where you can put up a new fixture of your choosing!

OK. Assuming you don't want to paint the ceiling, here's what I would do if I were you:

Find some nice lightweight fabric and some less ugly 3M hooks. Cut the fabric into big squares, put grommets in each of the corners, and attach them to the ceiling over each light using the 3M hooks. Assuming you still want to see the light from the lights, you'll need the fabric to be somewhat sheer. But even a cheap white would probably still allow a bit of light through.

Another option might be using a vellum (aka less flammable) paper and try to attach it between the fixture and the ceiling using straightened out paper clips or something.

That second to last sentence should read, "But even a cheap white sheet would probably still allow a bit of light through".

So that's what the "Preview Comment" button is there for.

I had the same things but the small electrical box inside was blown. I told my management company that I wanted to replace it with something better, showed them the model, and did the job myself in 20 minutes. And I was able to write it off rent. Just ask. Seriously. Most places will let you if they don't have to do any of the work.

if you can't replaced the whole unit, just replaced the dome part. Most are just screw in.

It's not super hard to swap out light fixtures if you're even mildly handy. Look for something where the shade/base is close to the diameter of the current fixture so you don't have to look at or paint the ceiling to cover where the old fixture was - but even then, I didn't do this in my last kitchen and no one ever noticed (for THREE YEARS) but me.

I should add that I did swap back before I moved...which just means that you can swap out the nasty fixtures in your next place with the same ones you know you like! ;)

I'm such a scaredy cat with electrical stuff -- I always have an electrician do it, but I always procrastinate calling them. I have a new light dimmer that is sitting in a cabinet for 2 years waiting to replace the one that quit dimming.

Meanwhile, if you either are a brave enough soul to do it yourself, willing to invest in an electrician OR... if your super (if you have one) will change it out for a couple of greenbacks, one advantage of temporarily changing them out would be that when you move and put the crap back, you could take the good ones with you to the next place!

HAHA. Boob lights! We had them in every bedroom, but the previous owners tried to be cool and used brushed nickel. Ahh, nothing like staring up at brushed nickel boobs.

You could cut a globe in half, drill a whole in the top and connect it to the light fixture instead of the glass. If you cut it a little shorter than half I'm sure that would leave you a nice lip rim where light would pour out from the top and give you some dim lighting!

I had the same issue. I took off the glass bit to leave the exposed light and gold base, and then I covered that with a paper shade (I hung it upside down and you couldn't tell!). The shade has a shape that it's bigger at the top than the bottom so you couldn't see the ugly base.

Similar to Mary's comment, switching out the ribbed glass shades for some dish/diffuser shades is super easy. If you get plain ones, you can customize them with paint/markers, stencil a cool pattern, or line with a fun decorative paper.
It's true it's also pretty easy to switch out the fixture entirely - but if you do that, it's safer to shut off the circuit instead of just relying on the wall switch. Wiring configurations can get complicated, and there may still be a hot connection in the box even though the light is off.

I think switching them while you live there is a reasonable solution but another option is simply never to turn them on. Ceiling lighting is not nearly so nice as lamps.

I changed my dome light into a better looking option with a lamp shade. Check out my posts for the step by step.

http://beckschiclife.blogspot.com/2011/02/quick-fix-lamp-shade-light-fixture.html

http://beckschiclife.blogspot.com/2010/08/lamp-shade-turned-light-fixture.html

Yes, boob light or giant doorbell on your ceiling. Truly the worst.

Mary B C's suggestion is good. You can easily find vintage shades, or use new shades. Larger shades might even obscure that shiny brass base. Buying shades would require some outlay of $ on your part, but it is 100% reversible when you move -- which is what your landlord demands. And it would cost less than replacing the fixtures altogether.

I had the same problem at my last apt. I was not allowed to change the fixture what so ever.

I used strips of fabric about 3 feet long and 2 inches wide, and the blue tacky stuff to create a chandelier. I tied all of the strips together about three inches from the end and attached them all to the "nipple" of the light fixture.

Then used the tacky puddy to attach the other end of each fabric strip around the perimeter of the light leaving the ends dangling. It made an interesting pattern on the ceiling when the light was turned on.

Sherry and John had a great tutorial on their blog Young House Love, which I just LOVE. A very clever and beautiful idea with pictures so you can see the results.

http://www.younghouselove.com/2010/06/office-progress-let-there-be-light/

Good luck with your project !

Ask the landlord about replacing them at your cost - it might be an agreeable if he/she approves of the new ones or you promise to put these back when you move. If the answer is a solid no, just deal with it - nothing else use lamps and don't turn the overhead lights on - you won't notice them as much then.

mmmmm boob lights......

Takes me right back to my adolescence, if the Sears catalog was nowhere in sight, I always had my light fixture.

Buy your own fixtures, install them, and put these back when you move out. Your landlord will never know. Even if he comes in to fix something, chances are he won't even notice. Changing a light fixture is REALLY not that big of a deal.

If your landlord says no to stuff that is easily reversible, stop asking permission.

there was some uuuuugly stuff on ebay.. then I saw this: http://shop.ebay.com/718tlw/m.html

There are some really cool retro/modern shades among the licensed ones

My boob lights (domes, whatever) came with the condo I purchased. Luckily, there are only three and they're all white so they're not that annoying but I'm waiting for the day when I have the money to change them.

And yes, sometimes it's not just rentals with mirrored doors and dome lights.

Get a smaller size pretty paper umbrella from Pearl River, open it up fully, cut off the stem with pruners, and wire it on up there! You can get some wire and a small washer and make a faux lampshade spider that way, just use the exiting finial nut to attach it to the fixture. They ship ^_^ too if you can't get to NYC chinatown. Perfect and a bit Anthropologie.
http://pearlriver.com/v2/FramesCat.asp?iGroup=297

existing not exiting, typo, sorry!

kitkabbit stole my thunder... but alternately, and probably less costly, would be paper lanterns cut in half. White ones are dirt cheap, and even a soft pink would give a nice glow, like a pink bulb.

If they are like the fixtures at my mom's house (I'm assuming they are), you could take the fixture off, exposing 1 or 2 lightbulbs. You could get some small plug-in chandeliers and an adapter for lightbulb socket to outlet. You'll still see the inside of the fixture, but you could drape some fabric around the holes with thumb tacks, and you'd have no problems.

GREAT posting. Lighting is so easy to change, and it doesn't have to be expensive. Really like the lamp shade idea.
Tom

I agree with the person above who posted about the tutorial on Young House Love. I think it's a great idea! I have saved that one under my "list of things to do"

You could pick up a couple of different sized pieces of wood, build a frame, cover the frame with material or an appropriate paper and hang with 3m picture hanging Velcro.

Simple, popular frame style: http://www.affordablelamps.com/arr-gcm-8.html

We just removed the glass dome on our boob fixture and are attempting the Young House Love idea. We bought a lampshade that's 20" in diameter which is big enough to obscure the outer rim of the light. Now we need to find some fabric to cover the bottom. The only thing to add is that when you unscrew the glass dome, you're left with a threaded rod (that's what you attach the shade to) and our rod only had threads halfway up so that when we screwed the shade on, the gap between the shade and the ceiling was too big and you could see the light bulbs. But you can replace the rod with a fully threaded one...my husband got one at Home Depot for a few bucks. A really fantastic alternative for renters!

As a landlord, trust me that its hard to find a decent light fixture that is (1) somewhat neutral, (2) sturdy, (3) not instantly dated, (4) affordable, and (5) not going to be stolen when your tenants leave. That's why you see these things everywhere, including all of our rental homes. And, yes, we call them boob lights too.

With that said, we don't expect everyone to love them - only to recognize that they're a million times better than the typical alternatives - no overhead lighting at all, fluorescent tubes, or tacky brass pendant lights from the 70s that never seem to align with where you want your tables and furniture. We allow our tenants a lot of leeway in decorating and would probably let someone swap out the fixtures, so long as its (1) safe, (2) reversable, and (3) doesn't damage the ceiling.

those boob lights are everywhere! landlords like them as they are cheap....

Just go to a lighting fixtures store (not Home Depot, a place that specializes in lighting.) They usually have a variety of replacement domes of various sizes. Take one of yours along so they can show you things that will fit in the same fixture, and just swap them out while you live there. Replace the originals when you leave.

I always have had good experiences with landlords, and I'd ask them if I could improve the place with permission, and deduct the costs (with receipts) from my rent. When I asked they never said no. (I have a trustworthy face!)

Love,love,love BecksChicLife's DIY suggestion. I'm off to Home Goods tomorrow to grab acouple of lamp shades to create my own sassy lamp shades too. Thanks for the tip!

I love finding excuses to work with plaster paris. I decided to get creative and plaster paris my lamp shades. I'm looking forward the project. I'll update you guys afterwards.

There was a fix featured on AT a while back that inspired me - I just took the glass dome off and hung a nice drum lampshade up there instead. Easy, looks great and relatively cheap: link

it sounds like this company has made millions of dollars and could make more calling them boob lights. I have 3 of them and found this entertaining. Thanks

I have the same exact light fixtures and bought some new ones. Took the old boob down and the friggin guys that sprayed the texture on the ceiling forgot to texture under the light fixture.

I have one of those exact light fixtures in every room in my apartment except the kitchen. I hate them. I like the idea of just replacing the dome, I don't like messing with electricity, no matter how easy.

I feel your pain!!! Check out the overstock/sale/discount areas of the websites for Home Depot, Lowes, and Menards. Lighting is effortless to replace and those stores have super awesome cheap deals. I also adore lampsplus.com! Request their catalog too... They have great, very affordable products! Be sure to post pics after - cant wait to see how it goes! B

Boob lights! I just wrestled with this very question.
http://www.smallvictory.us/everything/2013/2/17/rental-lighting.html