As I mentioned in my last Love Affair of the Week post,  I decided to tackle a DIY Schoolhouse light. If you didn’t make it through the entire post in order to read that, I won’t hold it against you. I’m not one to hold grudges…usually. Anyway, I finally gathered all my supplies together and I’m here to tell you how to create the classic schoolhouse light for under 30 smackeroos.

First I scoped out the schoolhouse globe, also known as a milkglass globe/shade if you are googling. I found the perfect 9″W shade on ebay for…wait for it…$7. There was one for $0.99 but I missed out on that one. Let that be a lesson learned. Never hestitate when ordering on ebay. Especially if it’s only $0.99! Moving on…this is the little guy that I settled on.

He was the perfect size and in my opinion the perfect price. Now before I commited, I did a little research to make sure the rest of the light could be purchased separately. I know that may sound silly but I’ve never had to buy parts and pieces for a light fixture, just the whole package. So with my trusty friend Google, I determined that (1) I needed a canopy and glass shade holder and (2) you could in fact find these sold separately from a shade. I finally stumbled upon Light Fixtures for Dummies MyLampParts.com. This website offers every possible thing you would need to create your own light fixture. Including the perfect canopy and shade holder.

 

Now of course nothing is that easy. Once I determined that this was the canopy/holder I needed and wanted, I had to make sure all the parts and pieces were included to actually make this a working light fixture. Thats where the wonderful people at MyLampParts.com come in. I e-mailed them a description of what I was trying to accomplish and they e-mailed back a complete list of the parts and pieces I would need. My order came to a whopping $11.

Now I know you’re thinking…”White? I’m not sure I love the white.” And you would be right. I was hoping for an oil rubbed bronze finish. But I didn’t let the existing finish get me down. No, no, no. If  I’ve learned nothing from my constant blog stalking, it’s that you can spray paint anything. Enter my weekend project:

Using our household staple, Kilz Spray Primer, and a magical can of Rustoleum Metallic Spray Paint in Oil Rubbed Bronze, I created this!

I followed the same steps as when I created my darling yellow lamps (which you can find here). Don’t you just love it! And for only $18 plus a little bit of shipping, you can’t beat that! To avoid some shipping costs, you could also try to track down the globe at a local thrift shop or Habitat for Humanity ReStore. As for the canopy/shade holder, try a local lighting distributor. This was my first attempt at a DIY light fixture so I found the internet to be my best friend. Maybe for my next venture, I’ll try to use local resources.

So what do you think. Was this project a success or what?! I have to give myself a pat on the back honestly. Not only did I create my first light fixture from scratch but I also saved us a minimum of $75!  Every schoolhouse light I’ve found was nearly $100 at least!

Well enough about me. What have you created lately that saved you a ton of money or was your first attempt at DIY-ing something out of the norm?

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