Hi There,
Sometimes all a room needs to jazz it up is a light fixture change. You may be surprised to know that you can save money by making one yourself. With a few simple pieces, a bit of easy wiring and a little imagination, you can create an original piece of art that also serves a function. Here’s a couple of photos of the fixture I made, one with the lights on and one with the lights off. This newsletter is photo intensive. If you’d rather view this page in your web browser, go to
Back Issues for Decorating 101
and click on the March 6th Issue.
Well, let’s get down to business. Here’s what you’ll need. First of all the tools you will need are a wire strippers, a screw driver, a needle nose pliers, a sharp scissors and a drill to drill a hole in the shade. You will also need a drill bit that will make a hole that fits the steel nipple. I used a 3/8” bit.
You will need these pieces for creating your fixture. First of all you’ll need a fixture shade. This is where you can be really creative. You can drill a hole in just about anything! I chose a metal bucket that works nicely when flipped upside down. Then I drilled a hole in the center. This is where the wire will pass through.
Here are the parts you will need for the fixture. You will need a keyless socket. There are several types of these. You want the type that has a threaded loop at the bottom where you can screw a steel nipple. You can see this in the picture. Next you will need a steel nipple. This can also be called a lamp pole. They are threaded on the outside and hollow on the inside to allow the wire to pass through. I purchased a package of assorted sizes as you can see in the picture. The size you will need depends on the thickness of your shade. The nipple will fit through the hole of the shade. The socket will screw to it from inside the shade. The decorative loop will screw to the nipple from the outside of the shade. Then the decorative chain attaches to the decorative loop on the shade and finally to the decorative loop that attaches to the ceiling canopy kit. The ceiling canopy kit is what attaches to the ceiling and covers the wire terminations. Mine came with a decorative loop, mounting screws and crossbar to attach it to the ceiling. Last of all you will need a piece of lamp wire. You will need to measure how far you’d like your fixture to hang down and then purchase decorative chain and lamp wire accordingly. Always purchase a foot or so extra to allow for mistakes when you go to strip the wire. One more thing, you will also need a small screw and a bare copper wire the same length of your chain and lamp wire. This is your grounding wire. Attach the screw to the top of the shade. Wrap the copper wire around it and feed the wire up through the loops of the decorative chain with the lamp wire. If a termination on the socket would come loose, it would make the whole shade electrically “hot”. If you touched it, you would get a bad shock. The grounding wire prevents this from happening. One more note, it’s okay to paint the copper grounding wire. It’s also okay to paint the fixture. If you do paint the fixture, be sure to scrape the paint off the area where the grounding screw is placed because paint is a conductor and that would defeat the purpose.
I should mention now that I couldn’t find lamp wire, decorative chains, decorative loops or a ceiling canopy kit that was a desirable color for my décor so I spray painted them all with a couple of coats of a sliver metallic paint.
Okay, now how do you put all these pieces together? It’s not as difficult as you might think. First take your scissors and cut the lamp wire a couple of inches down. Use the wire strippers to gently crimp the plastic coating about an half inch down so you can peel it off. Do the same with the other end of the lamp wire
Next, take the nipple and screw it onto the end of the socket. Fish the stripped wire ends through the nipple and spread them apart.
Next, take each wire and tightly wrap one around each screw clockwise in direction. Use the screw driver to tighten down the wires. Trim wires so that no tails are left touching the socket. If you look closely, you’ll notice that one wire goes to the socket and one is wrapped around the gold screw which is hot and goes directly to the light bulb. Trace the “hot” wire from the socket to the other end of the lamp wire and label it “hot”. You’ll need to know this when hooking the fixture up to the wire in the ceiling.
Fish the wire up through the hole in the shade
Bring the lamp wire through the decorative loop on the outside of the shade and attach by screwing to the nipple/socket on the inside of the shade.
Pry open the loop on the end of the decorative chain and attach to the decorative loop on top of the shade. Then use the pliers to pinch closed.
String the lamp wire along with the copper ground wire through every other decorative loop on the chain all the way up to the top. Then fish the lamp wire through the decorative loop that came with the canopy kit.
Turn the canopy over and secure the decorative loop with the lock washer that came in the canopy kit. Now that the decorative loop is secure, pry open the loop on the other end of the decorative chain and hook it to the decorative loop on the canopy.
If you’d like, you can dress up the fixture by tracing a design onto the outside with a permanent marker. Then use a 1/16” drill bit to drill holes along the lines. Then scrub off the marker with an abrasive cleaner.
That’s all there is to it! You’ve built your very own light fixture! The only thing left to do now is install it. Take a deep breath, get a cold drink and come back when you’re ready. I’ll be waiting……………
Installing a Light Fixture
This is really very simple. It sounds intimidating but it’s not once you get the basic idea.
The number one rule to remember is.....Shut of the power to the circuit you are working on. Go to the panel and flip the breaker associated with the room you are working on. Use a voltage tester to make sure there are no “hot wires”. A voltage tester looks like a little pen. The tip lights up when it detects current.
Attach the mounting bracket (crossbar) to the ceiling box with the mounting screws, all of which came with the canopy kit. Usually there are instructions on the back of the canopy kit to guide you in completing this step.
Next, identify the neutral(white) wire in the ceiling and the neutral wire in the fixture. Remember when you labeled the wires? Yep, now you know why. No more than a half inch of wire should be showing. Clip if there’s too much. Twist the ends of each of the neutral wires together in a clockwise direction. Twist a wire nut on the two wires in a clockwise direction. Wire connectors come in various sizes according to the wire size.
Follow the same instructions with the black(hot) wires and then the ground wire. The ground wire can be a plain copper wire or a green coated wire.
Can you believe it? You’re almost finished! Now, match the screw tips with the holes and attach the canopy to the ceiling box with the cap nuts.
Place a maximum 100 watt bulb in the socket, hold your breath and flip the switch to test. Wow! Look at that! You should feel quite accomplished. You’ve definitely earned bragging rights! Invite some company over to celebrate (and maybe to toot your own horn a little too!)
Here’s a breakdown to show you how much this me cost to build.
Metal bucket 4.97
Silver paint 3.97
Decorative loops-used one 1.98
4 feet of lamp wire 1.24
Canopy kit 4.99
Decorative chair 2.27
Keyless socket 2.27
Copper ground wire 1.00
Nipples 2.24
A custom light fixture for under $25.00!
This is one of my very favorite budget decorating ideas. To discover more visit
the Inexpensive Home Decorating Ideas page
You may also want to take a look at
Great Ideas For Decorating on a Budget
It offers so many great ideas on how to decorate a home even if you’re pinching pennies!
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