In all fairness, I couldn't create a chandelier, because we have two lights in our laundry room (one in the middle of the room and one above the laundry sink). So, Jas and I brainstormed and came up with these slightly-smaller-in-diameter drum shades. And they look amazing!
And the best part was that most of what we used we already had on hand (I love when that happens!). We used the existing light bases, but changed them from two bulbs to one. We also used CFL bulbs to minimize heat. (The bulb sits pretty far from the clothespins, but still . . . ) Making the shades was super simple. We took a roll of hardware cloth (1" openings) and formed it into a cylindrical shape that would fit flush with the interior of our light base. Jason used the open ends of the cut wire to twist around the other side, making a fairly seamless cylinder. He came up with an ingenious method for attaching the cylinder to the light base. He drilled four small holes in the base, and then we used wire leftover from our drop ceiling installation in the basement to attach the hardware cloth to the light base.
Attaching the clothespins was the easy part. Sherry Petersik had already demonstrated on her blog the different ways to attach them, and I'd already decided I liked this zigzag pattern best. It was easy peasy (Anna even helped me do the second light!).
These lights look fantastic in the daytime (I love the added texture to the room!), but they really shine at night. (No pun intended!) The light pattern reflected on the ceiling is really, really pretty.
Total cost for this project? Well, we already had the hardware cloth and wire. We reused the light bases, so the only things we bought were clothespins. There are 416 of them here (208 per light), so we ended up spending $9 for these two fabulous statement pieces. Love them!
