I’ve been admiring the painted industrial lights and pendants lights that seem to be popping up everywhere lately. However the price tags you see for some of them are a bit steep. I mentioned my new obsession to Mike, who walked out to his garage and came back in with a vintage green industrial light!! What doesn’t this guy have in his garage?! I decided I wanted to hang one in each of the rooms upstairs, so I needed to come up with two more.
Mike has quite a few clamp lights that he uses for work and one day after seeing one, I had the idea to try to turn one of those into my very own industrial light. It turned out to be an easy, very affordable project (under $20 a light, even less if you already have spray paint or buy a smaller size clamp light).
Supplies you’ll need:
- clamp light (mine is from Home Depot)
- spray paint
- adhesive remover, such as Goo Gone
- ceiling hook
- tape (painters tape is best)
- light bulb
- a good-looking man to do your dirty work – optional
How to do it:
- Remove clamp from light socket, it should just slide off.
- Remove any stickers that are on the light socket and shade, using adhesive remover if necessary. (Be gentle with lamp shade, it can dent easily)
- Tape the holes at the top of light so that when you spray the shade, it doesn’t go through to the other side.
- Spray paint the shade, following the instructions on the can you’re using. Your shade will likely need 2 to 3 coats. I, okay, Mike painted both the inside and outside of my shade (blue & white).
- After shade is dry, screw the light socket into the shade.
- Put in your light bulb.
- Attach the ceiling hook where you’re going to hang the light.
- Hang your light from the hook and plug cord into an outlet.
- Enjoy your handy-work!
Tip:
Glossy spray paint looks best! I tried one with satin spray paint and it didn’t look as good.
If you try this out, I’d love to see it, leave a comment with a link. xo. Manda
