DIY Glass Pendant Light Fixture (Knockoff)

When I last updated you guys about my breakfast nook in my remodeled kitchen, I had a plan in mind for what I wanted it to look like. But as design projects sometimes go, the things we once loved for the space no longer suit the room. That was the case with this light fixture:

After all the trouble to get it installed, I hated the way it looked. I didn’t like the light it gave off, and I instantly regretted the time I wasted struggling to make it hang correctly (spoiler: it was never gonna happen). So, like any disappointed DIYer, I began searching for new options. I covered them back in my breakfast nook update, but it was almost as if I had too many choices rather than too few. And since I’d already gotten it wrong once before, I was hesitant to pull the trigger until I was sure it was the one.

THE ONE.

Have you ever heard angels singing when you see the perfect thing? It’s happened only occasionally when I go shopping for this house (lots of trial and error), but when it came to this light fixture, I instantly swooned. The silvery finish wasn’t exactly the right choice for the kitchen with all of the black accents it has, but that was pretty much the only thing about it I didn’t think would gel with the room. In short, it was gorgeous. I was totally convinced that this was what I wanted and had my credit card at the ready. There was just one little problem… the light was sold OUT!

I waited a few months to see if it would come back on sale (with online shops, there is sometimes an option to sign up for alerts if something comes available again), but nope. If I wanted this light, I’d have to figure out a way to make it myself.

Aaaand that’s when the stars aligned and Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl decided to do a #DIYLightingChallenge. I was originally planning on posting it Monday with everyone else, but as usual, I had to run all over town to find the items I needed only to wind up lucking out in the 11th hour. It was too late to get things up in time for the blog hop, but in the end, I still got my new light fixture out of the deal. And? Saved myself some cash! Worth it!

As often happens on this blog, there’s pretty much a story with every project (if you just want to skip to the actual tutorial, scroll down until you see the dashed line like the one directly below). Let’s start with the hardest part to track down…

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The Glass Bowl

Finding a glass bowl that would suit this light should be easy, right? That’s what I thought. I tried to think of what types of objects where I might find clear or seeded glass, the right size and shape, etc. I came up with three possible options:

• a glass mixing bowl (or fruit bowl)


• a fish bowl (granted, a modernish style rather than the usual round one)


• converting a “boob light” (those hideous boob-like ceiling light fixtures that have nipples finials on the bottom… after reading one blogger call them a boob light ages ago, I can’t not see them that way!)

In theory, the boob light option would be easiest if I could find one. They are usually really cheap, already have a hole in them for the finial (which I could use as the spot I’d put the light kit through for hanging), and already made to work as a light. But the problem there is that nearly all of them are textured or frosted, and I wanted clear. I searched a few places, but no success.

The fishbowl idea didn’t pan out either, and so I was left searching for a glass mixing bowl, salad bowl, serving bowl, etc. The main issue I ran into here was just that most mixing bowls have a lip on the edge to make them easier to handle (like this one). I wanted something with a clean edge. I found a few modern salad bowl options at World Market, but they weren’t the rounded shape I wanted. Still, the price was right and I thought I could still make them work. I bought both and brought them home as possible choices to try out in the space.

But, I got lucky: after expressing my frustration to a couple of friends, I received a text message with a photo of exactly what I was looking for… “with bananas for size reference.” Ha!

Bananas: nature’s most delicious unit of measurement.

As it turns out, he picked this one up from Ikea (my BFF) for $10 a few months ago. So as to not simply steal his fruit bowl, I let him choose between the two I’d purchased as replacement (I’ve actually thought of a different use for the remaining one). But now you know where to look first and save yourself a hassle!

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DIY Glass Pendant Light Fixture

To make this light yourself, you’ll need (some links contain affiliates):

• pendant light cord kit or “fitter” (this one is the exact one used… you can find them at hardware stores usually, but ordering online is often cheaper)


• BLANDA glass bowl (story about how I found mine above!)


• decorative wooden bun foot (I got one at a hardware store, but fancier ones and more options are online)


• stain of your choosing (I used Minwax Pickled Oak) and poly


• self-adjusting grip pliers


• 1/2″ glass drill bit


• 1/2″ spade drill bit or Forstner bit


• sandpaper

I last spoke about my new Forstner bits back when I made my magnetic bottle openers for the fridge, and I was sure I’d need them for this project to drill a hole through the bun foot, but it turned out that the spade bit worked much faster for drilling through. I still used the Forstner bit to begin the hole because it gave me a cleaner end result, but I’ll get to that.

Step One: Take apart the pendant light kit.

The best plan begins with whichever actual lighting kit you have. The thickness of the wire will determine the width you need to drill through everything, and mine had a few extra pieces used for tightening the fixture that I then used to help secure the shade.

Step Two: Drill through the glass bowl.

Once I measured 1/2″ for getting the wiring through the bowl, I went out and purchased a diamond drill bit that could drill through glass. The actual process takes some patience (which I was screwing up at first, hence the scratches you see), so do yourself a favor and watch this video from Mandi at Vintage Revivals for tips. A few notes:

• Work outside. I got my jeans soaked through during this, but better to do this outside where there’s less mess in your house.


• Use a towel on the ground to keep the edge of the bowl from chipping (mine actually already had a tiny chip in it to begin with, but it was a used bowl… protect yours!).


• Start the bit at an angle to create a groove in the glass, then sloooooowly work it upward to 90 degrees so that the bit doesn’t slip and slide all around.


• It’s actually not as hard as you make it at first! :)

Step Three: Remove the screw from the bun foot.

Wooden bun feet were the perfect option for the carved wood top I was trying to duplicate for this light. They come with a screw on one end though, so I had to first remove this before drilling a hole through the middle. To do this, I used self-adjusting pliers to get a firm grip on the screw and rotate it out of the foot.

Step Four: Drill through the bun foot.

As I mentioned above, I started with a 1/2-inch Forstner bit to start the hole on each end of the bun foot. With the screw removed, it was really easy on one end, but use caution because it can slip (the pre-existing hole provides no friction for the middle tip of the bit to sink into). But once each end had the beginning started, I switched to a 1/2-inch spade bit because the drilling went a lot faster.*

Step Five: Sand, stain, and poly the wood piece.

I wanted to make sure I didn’t screw up drilling through the piece before staining, but you can just as easily do this step before drilling through. I wanted to keep the wood somewhat natural-looking the way it did with the inspiration piece, but I was afraid that just adding poly would be too yellowing once finished. So, I did a quick coat of Minwax stain in Pickled Oak to keep the tone more neutral. The stain itself looks very milky white, but if you do only one coat and quickly wipe it off, it won’t get too light!

Because I tested out a few different stains on the bottom of the bun foot before staining the whole thing, I covered this up with a quick coat of paint during assembly (looking up at the light, you’d be able to see the test spots, so I did a quick cover-up before assembling… but if you just go with the stain I recommended, you won’t need to paint the bottom).

Step Six: Assemble

It took a little trial and error to determine the order, but I secured the bowl to the light fixture first using one of the wire caps on the end (they are meant to secure the light socket along the wire, etc.).

Realizing that this meant I also needed to thread the wooden piece over this little black cap, I went back outside and drilled the bottom end with a 5/8″ Forstner bit to widen the area just a little, which allowed the cap to fit inside snugly. You can also just sand it with some rough sandpaper if you don’t have the bit until it fits; it will just take a little longer.

Step Seven: Hang

A buddy of mine gave me a Hammerhead cordless screwdriver for Christmas, and this was my first opportunity to use it. It is AWESOME! It has a wire stripper and circuit sensor built in, not to mention powered and cordless, making installation with one hand and driving screws a lot easier than last time. I plan on writing a full, separate review about some of its features and might even do a demo video for Youtube, just because I really like it when tools work really well and make solo jobs 1000% easier to complete. Especially since my procrastination peaks when I think the project is going to be a hassle!

And here is the end result!

At first, I tried out a smaller bulb. But I think I like the larger version better!

And here it is with the light on:

The cost of the inspiration light fixture was $150 ($130 if I had been able to get the discount, but was sold out anyway), but the total cost of this knockoff project was only $54! ($10 for the bowl if I’d purchased it, $9 for the wooden bun foot, $15 for the pendant light kit, and $20 for glass bit, which I’ll likely find excuses to use again).

If you enjoyed this project, you’re in luck… there are still a lot of ideas for the #DIYLightingChallenge yet left to check out below (and you can link yours as well, or use the hashtag on social media). And I’ve got two more lighting projects coming to the blog soon. Stay tuned for an awesome giveaway next! It’s been a while since the last one, so it seems like it’s about time for another. Check back tomorrow!



*How many “that’s what she said” jokes did you find in this post? A lot, right? I bet a lot.

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The Land of the Living

Ok, so that innocent little cold I thought I was already getting over? Early last week, it exploded like a Peep in the microwave and kicked my butt instead. And aside from putting out a few fires for work, I basically just camped out in bed. It sort of reminded me of that time back in grad school when I regularly fell asleep with books on my face.

Yup. Kinda like that.

I guess that's the thing when it comes to trying to juggle a schedule like mine: I'm not always prepared or ready to slow down. I have found that scheduling little breaks and vacations in between big projects helps a lot to keep some random little virus from staging a coup on my immune system -- but every now and then, it's human nature to turn into an ick monster for a few days, and all of the normal-life-pace stuff has to stop. Or at least, I do... even as my inbox grows and threatens to knock over buildings in Tokyo.*

Still, the world kind of went on doing its own thing without me for a few days, which also included a pretty aggressive storm and broke part of my backyard fence. After some of the recent fixes I've had to do this winter, I couldn't help but wonder how I still manage to break things even in my sleep. That's gotta be some kind of weird talent that wins cash prizes on TV shows, right? Asking for a friend who now has an even tinier home repair budget.

But as I was walking around the yard, I noticed a few other things, such as how the hellebore I planted last year is going strong on one side of the patio door. I purposely planted these so that I'd still have some white and green winter blooms while everything else takes a nap, and as you can see, the plan is going perfectly... except that the one on the other side of the patio door died. So, I'm at a 50/50 success rate on these (not unlike my usual success rate with plants, so the experimentation continues).

Also: I'm starting to draft some plans up for how I'm going to turn this boring old tree in the center of my yard into a spot that looks more welcoming. Charlie sometimes digs and also takes out most of the growth whenever she has to be leashed, so I think a circular bench would be a good project, especially after completing the garden beds last year on the side. SO many more plans for the back yard this year, so I am hoping for an early spring!

And last but not least, I have a surprise yard crasher near my A/C unit. It looks like the neighbor's magnolia tree took it upon itself to spread the love over to my side, so I'll have to replant this in a less potentially problematic spot (probably in the front, where it could get plenty of sun since removing one of the old pine trees). It would be yet another white flower blooming in the yard (and magnolia leaves are amazing for all sorts of other decor and smell amazing), so I'm going to try to save it and get it growing!

That's about it for the happenings this past week, which means I'm feeling the itch to catch up and start building something again. Stay tuned for a new light fixture DIY, some more window trim completion, and tips on how to stretch a dollar on your hot water heater!

*Honestly, the thing that took me the longest to write with this post was deciding whether to make a King Kong or Godzilla reference here. So now you understand a little more about how my brain was working today.

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Adding Trim to the Living Room Windows

DONE! Ahh. I love that word, don't you?

Too bad it so rarely happens in this house. Anyway, I am here to simply report that the trim-- also known as "window casing"-- that I've been meaning to add to the living room windows is finally up and nailed into place!

It's not a large or complicated project by any means, but considering I've been having to step over a pile of window casing in my hallway since before Christmas, I'm glad to get rid of… well… I guess not very much of it. There's still a pile, only less contained in plastic wrap, since I bought enough to finish off the rest of the upstairs rooms as well (purchasing in bulk = bulk discount).

Getting the casing up does have some significance though: it means that every window on the first floor of the house now has completed trim, and that's a pretty nice line item to draw through on my to-do list!

Since family members have helped me with this type of project in the past, I did this one solo and snapped a few pics with my phone as I went, just so that I could share a few things as I knocked it out.

• This was in a bay window, so I first shoved all of the furniture that I positioned there during Christmas out of the way to make more room for the air compressor and ladder. The new tree had some difficulty getting boxed up in its original package, so it's hanging out in the middle of the living room until I get a bin large enough for storage (classy, I know).

• As always, my trusty project supervisor was around to make sure the job got done and sit precariously under my feet at all times.

• This is an easy project because it doesn't involve a lot of complex math; I just measured the length of each window and made sure to remind myself that it's the shorter part of the 45-degree angles, then fit the top piece into the void that creates.

• Because I had a cold and I've started to notice how dry my throat was getting, I wore a mask pretty much the whole time I did this project. I've noticed that if I even have the slightest bit of a cold looming not to chance it with the sawdust (I mean, you're supposed to wear the mask anyway for safety while cutting, but I guess I take special notice of it when I know how miserable I'll make myself the next day without one).

• For a project like this, I needed just a few tools: a miter saw (doesn't even have to be a compound miter, mine isn't), a tape measure, a pencil, and a nail gun with finishing nails (I typically have 1″ and 2 or 2 1/2″ varieties strewn about the house during various projects, so I used the longer ones for this). I also eventually grabbed a small putty knife. Brad nails can work too for something as lightweight as door/window casing, but for anything heavier like baseboard or crown, it's recommended to use finishing nails.

• During one of my first years attending the Haven Conference, my pals Sandra and Brittany did a crown molding class where I learned that a nifty trick to make sure the molding would stay put for the long haul was to drive the nails in opposite angles as you nail along the trim. Meaning, drive one in a slightly upward angle, the next downward, the next either upward again or to the left, and so on. The lack of being able to pull them all out in a single direction prevents the trim from simply reversing straight out of the holes you've just created (walls and windows flex and shift over time and temperature, so it seemed like a good idea!).

• My walls and windows are super uneven and bumpy in places (especially the corners), and that led to a lot of problem-solving on the fly. For example, a heavy mallet helped to flatten out uneven bits where the previous owner had unsuccessfully patched and painted over lumps from (I assume) worn-out nail holes of previous window treatments. Sure, it caused some cracks in the surface of the paint when I got aggressive, but all of that got covered over by the new (and flatter-positioned) trim, so it's not visible.

• Because of uneven drywall lumps, there were moments when the top piece of trim wouldn't 100% line up with the side pieces (one would sort of "sink" into the wall more than the other). I either wouldn't notice this prior to trying to install or the mallet didn't get it completely flat, so I still had to finesse things a bit. This was when I grabbed a putty knife to slide under the trim and edge the sunken one out a bit to be flush with the other piece. Once I got the nails in, things stayed secure, but cardboard drywall shims (or just a random thin piece of cardboard if you live in a house like mine where it seems to multiply on its own) can also help to add a little something behind the uneven piece and bring it forward (usually this is far easier than trying to smack the one jutting out further against the drywall… you'd risk damaging the trim).

• I also wound up edging the trim ever so slightly off from the edge of the window where it met the drywall. I mainly did this because I knew that the line itself wouldn't be straight all the way down from the top of the window to the bottom, and this gave me some wiggle room. Once it's all caulked and painted, the edges won't be noticeable at all.

• I debated for a bit on whether I should try installing the trim in order of SIDE-TOP-SIDE or SIDE-SIDE-TOP (the bottom sill pre-existed on all windows), and I eventually figured out that it was far easier for me to get both the left and right sides done and then insert the piece on top (less measuring and math). Much like with crown, cutting the longest pieces first is a decent way to go.

• Speaking of sides, I found that once it came time to fit the piece on top, it worked out best to cut one 45-degree angle on the harder-to cut end (since I'm right-handed, cutting the angle on the left side of my miter saw made for a more awkward cut since my saw opens to the left and obscures the blade a bit as I'm cutting) and then make adjustments from the other, easier-to-cut side. And ONLY to make cuts on a single side of the trim rather than confuse myself and cut the wrong end. If you try this yourself, remember that it's always easier to cut a piece that's slightly too long and trim off a blade's width at a time to get it to fit rather than trying to get it right on the first try and coming up short (small brag: I managed to get an exact cut on the first try twice, but it was purely by accident because I thought I was cutting it slightly too long and wound up being wrong… so just goes to show you that cutting slightly longer than you think you need is better!).

So, here's a very subtle before n' after for ya:

Next steps are to of course fill in holes and caulk everything (and then add a few curtains), but it's a nice accomplishment for a week where I nursed a cold and really didn't feel like getting off the couch! What have you been up to this week?

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