A new lamp for our weird corner
This corner in our living room is stupid. There's a rather, um, vintage built-in air conditioner on one wall. There's a big radiator on the floor against the other wall. Apparently it's so heavy that over time, it has caused the floor to slant downhill. Which means the floor lamp that used to stand here leaned like it belonged in a funhouse. I'm all for fun, but it was also the perfect height to block the breeze from the air conditioner.
So we went for a hanging light, the Fillsta from IKEA. It's supposed to be wired into the ceiling, but we needed to hang it without making a big hole up there. Sure enough—we made it happen using some high-end supplies: cardboard and binder clips. 
We ignored the socket and cord gizmo that came in the lamp kit and used a stand-alone cord and socket that plugs into an outlet. We cut two cardboard circles out of the box the lamp came in. Then we poked a hole in the center of each and added a slit along the radius to fit the cord through. Rotating the bottom circle locked the cord in and we taped them together. We put a bulb in the socket and stuck it inside the shade, then clipped the cardboard circle to the plastic frame. At some point we might get totally crazy and replace the clips with more tape, but this seems to be working just fine.
And of course I couldn't stand the white cord against our mustard walls, so I painted it with leftover wall paint to help it disappear a little better. A couple of small, painted nails bent over the cord secure it to the corner. Kinda crude, but I don't care. I love this light.
44 comments:
It looks great, but I would replace the cardboard with something that is non flamable!
Don't want you to burn down your house.
I think it's plenty far enough away from the lightbulb not to get warm, but I'll check it. Thanks for your concern for my house. That would be a bummer.
I do LOVE that lamp. Oh, IKEA why do you persist in being at least three hours away from me!! Hmmm. Maybe that's a good thing...
Electrical cords really aren't meant for hanging things. I hope your lamp doesn't weigh anything.
Mum
lovely lamp!
we had Ikea light problems too, my husband fixed it by using cake tins as spacers, they are the same colour as the spotlights and we have never had anyone come in and ask why we have cake tins on the ceiling :o)
The fact that you painted the white cord makes the whole shebang rate much lower on the ghetto-meter.
I bought some of the flexy-make-it-yourself lamps a couple of years ago (they were the flowery-looking ones) and my dad came up with an ingenious solution using angled shelf brackets.
Love your idea, too! Lovely lamp. :-)
WV: ovely. As in, lovely. Coincidence? I think not.
I love this lamp! I have the table version in ORANGE, of course. The glow is perfect for Halloween!
Love the Fillsta! I have one in my living room and it is just perfect.
Where did you buy the light with the cord. I accidentally bought the same lamp from Ikea thinking it had a cord I could plug in. I was thinking that I would have to drive 2 1/2 hours to replace with another lamp.
It looks great. I don't think it's ghetto at all! It's a great lamp and you made it work!
It looks so good! And, I like the 'we'll make this work for us' attitude.
It reminds me japanese balls called kusudama. I once happened to do them it was real fun, yet it ate all my spare time *)))
Well anyhow, you can do this at home
Looks awesome!
We jimmy-rigged a similar fix in our living room a few months ago. The absence of overhead wiring breeds creative solutions:)
http://www.one-little-minute.com/2011/05/home-improvement-diy-swag-light.html
nice job finding a way to hang it up! i not-so-recently bought a drum pendant lamp from cb2 thinking to hang it over our dining table, but it's still in the box because i don't know how to deal with drilling the hole into our concrete ceiling. also the cord that came with seems to be a foot shy of reaching the outlet. i still need to find a way to make it work. having a desk lamp on the dining table isn't working for us.
E, a friend had an extra cord so she just gave it to me. but I think it said IKEA on it. I bet you can buy them at hardware stores, though.
I love the color of the walls. What color is it and by whom?
Behr's Expedition Khaki, although when we bought the condo, the seller was having painters do this room and asked what color we wanted. We gave them that swatch, and they had it matched by another paint company. I think maybe ours turned out just a hair yellower than the Behr color, but not by much. Hard to say. We love it.
I love "How About Orange," it's my go-to blog for daily escape and inspiration. So, please hear me with a loving voice when I ask you to refrain from using the term "ghetto" in a derogatory fashion. While I am not from the ghetto, or even African-American, I have wonderful friends for whom this usage is very hurtful. I know you don't mean it to be so!
You're right, I totally didn't mean it so! There, I changed it. Now that I think about it, I wonder if it would be offensive to Jewish friends, too.
There needs to be a slang word that means crappy or half-assed that's not offensive to anyone. Help me out, people! (Apologies for typing ass, also.)
We have 3 of them over our island in the kitchen-we have a long island-and we love them. Get lots of compliments and the price is right!
*whispered* ..." Redneck"??
Good thing you apologized for your a**!
Mum
Thanks! I knew you didn't mean to. Did a quick thesaurus check...how about shoddy, tawdry, ratty, or, oh wait - rinky-dink! That's it lol. I admit, around my house we just say, half-a**ed. :)
Oh no, Grandma G!!! I'm from Appalachia! You girls..sigh.
Uh oh! Wouldn'tcha know? Sure hit that one just right, didn't I!? I'm sorry. I was only being silly. Good thing I only whispered it so not too many people heard it. ;)
Jess, we need to clean up our language and quit offending people all the time, or nobody will come back here anymore!
Mum
Ha! This comment thread is entertaining.
Shoddy and tawdry are fine words, but they don't quite communicate the redneck ghetto half-assed gritty flavor I'm going for. I feel that I should say them in a British accent while wearing pearls. And grandmas say rinky-dink. Right Mum?! Heh. I think I've heard you say it before. Hmmm. What to do.
Guilty as charged. And dinky-dink definitely is not appropriate for your circumstances. :)
Mum
stupid corner ---> stupendous corner!
I love the gorgeous glow of that lamp. :)
We have that light over our dining table and love it. We get compliments on it all the time. Enjoy!
Lovely lamp. You are getting great alternative for floor lamp. You can sustain from damage issue.
I've never seen such one. It looks great!
we changed a c2 light with cord into a hanging drum light above our kitchen table. the hardest part for us was finding the case to cover the electric wires. i LOVE creative DIYers like you!!! i just found you and am now your newest follower.
aimee @ ItsOverflowing.blogspot.com
Awesome!
this is a simple lamp but i gave it to my baby's room - it looks awesome!
I like the design when it's lit. Far out, as they used to say! :)
Very cool.
wow that is so super cute.
I have a Ikea lamp that I want to hang in a dark corner as well. How did you anchor this to the ceiling? I don't want to have to put a chain on the cord, I think I would have to remove the plug.
Looks very cool.
This was the best thing I have ever read and I love the title "how about orange" man orange sure is a great color any way hope you make more soon.
I like this lamp, It looks beautiful, I think, It is good for my living room
That is a uber cool lamp and easy to follow instructions, I love the way you used the pictures to show each step...LOL Mustard Walls
Follow me back at
http://ismanthyhere.blogspot.com/
CraftyLadyLiz, we screwed a white hook into the ceiling. It's little, so the hole won't show much when we take it out. If it does, it will be easy to patch. This light is pretty light.
Post a Comment