Wow, I Really Can!

There's a lamp sitting on my dining table. It's the only source of light for that half of the room and without it we can't see our food. Well, we can see it, dimly. We just can't really tell what it is. So, when we have a guest or two who need to sit at the table, someone gets a lamp-tan. . . usually me. After all, it's not nice to make a guest deal with our strange lighting and I can't bring myself to make the kids or my sweetie sit under it.

I've been on the hunt for a chandelier that A) plugs into an outlet since we are in a rental and I'm not about to pay an electrician to work on a rental and B)is not $250. I found one. At Ikea. The white paper thingy didn't really go well with the craftsman style dining table and our new, lovely red wall. On the plus side, it was only $8. But it only had one small socket that only allowed a 40 watt bulb. Not enough light.

So I discovered that they sell something called a Swag Light Kit at your local home improvement store. It lets you wire any lamp to be a chandelier and to plug into your wall outlet. COOL.

Then I asked on freecycle for anyones old chandelier. A kind family had just replaced theirs and they had a lovely simple one with 5 arms that hold 5 candelabra bulbs and each is topped with a cute little shade. Know what color the shades are? RED!

So, yesterday, I sat down and rewired that lamp. Yes. I rewired it myself with only a little help from the internet. Know what else is cool? It actually works and it didn't explode or catch fire when I tested it!

Once it gets hung over the table, I will show you a picture of our 10$ light (had to buy the wiring kit . . .)