A Super Simple Trick To Turn Budget Basics Into Serious Style Statements

In their original states, a white pendant lamp and an unframed mirror are blank canvases for creativity. Add the beauty of natural woven fibers and some hits of eye-catching color, and you have a sunny lamp that will brighten any room and a mirror that will turn heads. Put these two DIY ideas on your summer project list so you can enjoy the results all year long.

Materials

• MELODI Pendant Lamp, $10, from IKEA
• Montana Gold Spray Paint in Citrus, $11, from Dick Blick
• 3/4″ Double Raffia Braid, $5 per yard, from M&J Trimming (Note: 1 yard is enough to circle the lamp once)
• Optional (but highly recommended!): Porcelain Plug-In Pendant Light in Goldenrod, $35, from Color Cord Co.

Tools

• Hot glue gun and sticks

Instructions

1. Shake the can of spray paint for at least two minutes. Working in a well-ventilated area with plenty of newspaper protecting the ground, spray-paint the outside of the shade with an even coat of paint. Allow to dry, then cover with a second coat. Make sure the shade is completely dry before moving on to Step 2.

2. Attach the raffia braid along the bottom of the shade by zigzagging a line of hot glue along the base and securing the trim in place. When you reach the starting point, snip off the excess trim so that the two ends meet; attach the ends with a drop of glue.

3. If you’re switching out the boring white cord that comes with the MELODI for one of Color Cord Co.’s awesome Porcelain Pendant Plug-In Sets (choose from 15 different colors!), grab MELODI’s cord set and snap off the translucent plastic piece clipped onto the lightbulb socket. Hot-glue the piece to the inside of the opening at the top of the lampshade. Disassemble the Color Cord Co. cord set, slip the cord through the plastic piece at the top of the shade, and rewire it to the lightbulb socket, following the instructions that came with your Color Cord Co. set.

Materials

• 14″ Round Mirror, $8, from Michaels
• 5/8″ Manila Rope, $0.55 per foot, from Home Depot stores (ask an associate to cut it for you; to circle the mirror twice, you will need 8 feet of rope)
• Colorful embroidery thread

Tools

• Hot glue gun and sticks

Instructions

1. Measure and cut a length of rope to fit around the circumference of the mirror. Then measure and cut a second slightly shorter length of rope to fit inside the first loop.

2. Wrap colorful embroidery thread around various sections of the rope. Start by tying the end of the thread onto the rope, then begin wrapping the thread, overlapping slightly so that no rope shows underneath. This takes a bit of time, but the process is actually really relaxing (this is a great craft to do while Netflixing). When the section is as long as you would like, cut off the excess thread and tie a knot around the rope to secure.

2. When you’re done adding color, hot glue the ends of each piece of rope together so that they form circles. Hold the ends in place until they dry.

3. To hide where the two rope ends join, wrap another section of embroidery thread over that area, as shown above.

4. Hot glue the two circles of rope to the mirror, starting with the outer loop. Be careful to only apply glue to the bottom of the rope, not the sides, so you won’t see it when the mirror is hanging up. Adhere the inner loop—and bingo, your $8 mirror looks a million times fancier thanks to about 6 bucks worth of supplies.

If you try either the cheery, raffia-trimmed IKEA lamp or the rope-wrapped mirror, we’d love to see! Share the finished projects with us on Instagram, and tag them #ATinspired.

Re-edited from a post originally published on July 28, 2016