Blinded by the Light (DIY Branch Light)

Helllllllo there.  Me and Shane have been gone, but certainly aren't dead.  Yet.  The past month has been filled with every activity under the sun, and lots of Project Runway watching.  Lots.  Needless to say, something had to go.  So bu-bye blog for one month.  I've got a feeling things will start to settle down here within the next, oh, five years?  Regular blog sessions will ensue after.

One, or maybe two... probably two months ago I started another lighting project.  My favorite.  I came across this idea by checking out Home Depot's DIY section.  One of my favorite bloggers from Little Green Notebook hosted the how-to class in Tempe, AZ, and documented the process on her blog too.

Let's first begin by looking at the light we did have:

I think it was just too typical and boring for our personalities.  It isn't a bad light per-se, so if you have this light in your house and love it, good for you!  There could be worse things in life!  Hooray!

Our hallway doesn't see much for natural sunlight, and the dingy flush mount light just wasn't cutting it.  Half the time you could hardly tell it was on.

Enough is enough.  This little light of mine, I'm gonna make you shine, dammit.

First things first (I'll eat your brain then I'm gonna start rockin' gold teeth and fangs) thanks Nicki.  I started out by purchasing a very simple porcelain canopy socket for around three bucks and seven socket splinters- around $2.00 a piece.  I wanted to experiment with placement before painting the unit first.  While doing this the hubby kept looking over my shoulder.  He didn't even need to tell me what he was thinking, because I already knew, but decided to anyway.  Fire hazard.

After weighing the pros and cons, I decided it was too far to drive the two miles to Home Depot to return my goods and we have decent home insurance... so, I continued to tinker with the design.  

Once the socket splinters were positioned just right, I put a little painters tape in the sockets to protect any electrical parts.  In my opinion, spray painting the unit as a whole worked very well as opposed to spray painting each piece individually- then fitting them together.  Don't forget to remove any stickers and leftover residue.  

The unit started out being silver, but for some reason the metallic spray paint just wasn't cutting it.  It was a little too shiny and eclectic- especially when competing with a popcorn ceiling.  I know!  Gah-ross!  Moving on, I finally settled on a matte black finish.  For a little extra pizzazz, I purchased a ceiling medallion and spray painted it the same silver color I was going to use for the lighting unit.

I would have documented the installation process, but Shane was having a "get away from me moment." Nothing is ever as easy as you think it is going to be, especially for the hubs.  Once we got the stinker of an old light down, putting up the new one was cake.  Two wires, two screws, and done.

WAHHHHH!  So shiny!

No fires yet, but the in your face 40w light bulbs will most certainly have to be down-graded to 20's... or 5's.  So bright.  Sooooo bright.  I really like the look of it though.  Very old Hollywood glam perhaps?  Really excited to have our ceilings re-painted a nice bright white so that it stands out even more.  I think the design is a pretty cheap and original alternative to light fixtures you can purchase at your local home improvement store.  The materials used for this project cost around $35.00 (including spray paint, lighting pieces, and medallion).  

Good day and goodnight.