Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Useless Boobs and a DIY Ceiling Medallion

Forgive me, but I happen to have a particularly strong hatred toward boob lights.  Whether it's their generic brassiness, their overwhelming prevalence (my house has lots of them, and I bet yours does, too), or that silly nipple, I don't know.  But I can't stand them, and I'm on a mission to eradicate my house of them, one by one.  (Current count: 2 down, 4 to go)

image of standard brass ceiling fixture that looks like a woman's breast

OK, rant over.  You may recall seeing the brand new light fixture in my bedroom makeover the other day.  Well, when I first replaced the original fixture (no, it wasn't a 'boob' this time), I ran into a bit of a problem:

close up detail image of gap around new smaller light fixture on ceiling

There was an unsightly gap around the base of the new fixture, because it wasn't as wide as the old one.  I immediately thought that a ceiling medallion was the answer, but since this makeover was on a very tight budget, I didn't rush to shell out the $30-$40 it'd cost for a (small) new one.  I figured there had to be some way to make my own, so I started searching online and looking in thrift stores for something I could use.
Then one day the proverbial 'lightbulb' went on.  Being of the 'waste not, want not' mentality, I figured, why not use one of those useless boob lights I've been amassing in my bid to rid my house of them?  Perfect!
 
image of interior of flushmount boob light fixture

I stripped the 'guts' out of it,

image of brass boob light fixture with lighting components removed


removed the socket that the bulb goes into, and the foil lining, and used a few coats of leftover white ceiling paint to get rid of the brass look.

DIY drum pendant light with DIY ceiling medallion made from boob light

Et voila!  No more gap around the fixture, and the 'boob' has regained its usefulness and been kept out of the landfill.  Total cost: $0 - my favourite kind of DIY!

alternative image of DIY pendant light and ceiling medallion from directly below lightbulb

6 comments:

  1. LOL! Boob lights! I never realized how much you are right!

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  2. what a creative repurposing! Apparently I don't share the same hatred of the boob shape, but brassyness.....GRRRR. A couple coats of ORB has been my approach. I'll keep your idea in mind if I ever splurge (haha) for new fixtures

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  3. You never cease to amaze me! Nice work. :)

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  4. I'm really late here, but I also hate the titty lights. I was going to tell you that Home Depot sells those small medallions for under $10, but your solution looks EXACTLY like them for free! Wheeeee, you are awesome!

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  5. I thought I was the only one to think this when I see these kinds of lights. "Nipple lights" is what I call them. Eww...not a fan. Your idea is brilliant and beautiful.

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