The dreaded boob light fixtures. Most of us have them somewhere in our homes and most of us want to get rid of them….ASAP! They are cheap, unattractive, and look like giant breasts hanging from the ceiling, so what can be done?
1. Work with it.
Sarah from The Yellow Cape Cod shows how a boob light can actually look fantastic dressed in black and as the center of a compass decal! 
Contemporary Cabaret shares a whimsical solution to working with your boob light….put a feather boa wreath around it. Hey…why not?
And although I wasn’t able to find a DIY version of this idea, I’m sure one exists somewhere out there! Why not create a starburst wreath for around your light fixture?
2. Hide it with a shade.
This is the option I chose to do in our kitchen. It’s not a permanent solution, but in a pinch it can get you by until you’re ready to update your fixture!
Young House Love also chose to hide one of their boob lights using the same method.
You can also replace the shade with a paper lantern as shown on Apartment Therapy.
3. Disguise it with capiz shells.
Whether it’s with wax paper, vellum paper, or real capiz shells, this is a fantastic way to disguise your ugly flush mount fixture! Freshly Picked has one of the best tutorials for making this fixture if you are wanting to create your own.
Spilled Milk took her inspiration from a Pottery Barn Teen fixture and created this lovely below.
And Making House a Home took notes from Freshly Picked and created this fun DIY light.
Whether you choose to work with it, hide it, or disguise it, there is a creative solution for coping with your boob lights. How about you? Do you have boob lights in your home? Any plans for updating them in the near future?
By the way, you don’t have to change the entire light fixture . Just unscrew three or four very small screws that hold the cover in place, remove cover. If you don’t trust your tape measuring, take the light cover with you to any store , Hardware, lighting store, any store. Take your new light covers home and use the little screws to put it on. No wiring to bother with. I enjoy crafts and decorating, too! I’m just not willing to complicate my busy life and tie up my time with something I can do so easily without a hassle.
This is too easy ! If you really don’t like the covers on the light fixtures , take them off and put new covers over the bulbs that you do like.
I like the cmpass idea but I think the E and W should be reversed since you are looking up at it instead of down
Hilariously enough, every design other than the compass is much more hideous than the original boob fixture; but who said brainstorming had to all be good ideas (they don’t).
Ha! This made me laugh. 🙂
I think the best way to spruce up builder lights is to replace with crystal lighting such as a Waterford. Can be found for fraction of price on Ebay. I replaced my globe for my foyer which fell and broke to pieces during installation. Original cost $299 at time I bought it. Replacement globe including the shipping and handling was less than $80.00. No other lighting makes a sparkle like Waterford. Worth the price. Try it you will love it.
Great ideas, thanks! However, I don’t really mind my ‘boob’ lights… I think they are nice and clean and very functional for the rooms.
Thanks so much for sharing these awesome ideas! Just what I was looking for! I loathe these mammary lights!
Thanks for stopping by Angela :)!
Love these ideas! I went with the drum shade ultimately, but the shells are pretty too!
Amanda @ Serenity Now- My husband never understood either, what was so wrong
So…the general consensus is that a mastectomy is in order for our ceilings?!? Then what? Tie a pretty pink ribbon around the replacement / prosthetic fixture & march around the house?!? IS THAT WHAT YOU’RE SUGGESTING WE DO?!? WELL IS IT?!?
Hi Beth! I just wanted to tell you that I think your blog/website is beautiful and inspirational. You are incredibly talented and I hope you continue this endeavor for a long, long time! Thank you, Diana
I’ve seen so many of these lights in the local Habitat for Humanity Restore, but never thought of calling them “boob lights”. I know the next time I volunteer I will be giggling all day. Of course I will only giggle AFTER I buy one to make the flower pot bird water/feeder. Thanks for sharing.
Love, love, love this post!! I am so inspired to change our fixture!! Thanks for sharing!! Woo-I am so excited to get started!!
This is so funny. I always thought of boobs when I saw these too and could never imagine who thought this design up in the first place. I didn’t read the post at first because I don’t have any (ha ha), and I don’t know anyone who has any. Until today! I walked into a new client’s home, and lo and behold, BOOB LIGHTS EVERYWHERE!! She can’t change them because she is renting, these are fantastic solutions. Definitely going to share with her.
Hi Beth – I love your blog! I recently realized how amazing DIY blogs are and my sister and I finally started our own DIY blog. Your site is definitely inspirational all the way from your logo to your mission statement. Keep up the amazing work!
Ha! I thought my husband and I made up the term “boob light”! Guess not, but it’s comforting to know that we’re not the only ones who think that’s what they look like, and that they absolutely must go. Our builder-basic house is riddled with them, and we’ve fortunately made progress is changing many of them out. We don’t even laugh anymore when we talk about replacing the “boob light” in any given room. It’s purely matter-of-fact speech to us now. You know what’s even more ridiculous than a boob light? A boob light on a VAULTED ceiling. It looks so, so, so dumb. And that’s what the situation is in our master. I’m thinking this weekend is its time to go.
Beth – I am SO glad we aren’t the only crazies who refer to these as boob lights! 😉 They are all over our brand-new, builder-grade home. Ugh. Thanks for the ideas for how to make them a bit less bleak!
These are all brilliant ideas for the “boob” light! The starburst one is awesome!
I have these in my house and have never noticied the “boob” until now! 🙂 lol…Thanks for this post and all the great ideas!
I have never thought of them as boob lights….I just thought them ugly! Now I will chuckle everytime I walk down our hallway…at least until I diguise them! Thanks for the ideas and the chuckles.
My boob lights are on the walls and not on the ceiling, any suggestions?
Hmmmmm. Hop on over to my facebook page and post a picture so we can collectively come up with a creative solution.
I love you! Finally an answer to these ugly lights that won’t cost me hundreds of dollars and I don’t have to worry about installation! These are ultra fabulous and oh-so- clever! a big T H A N K – Y O U!
You’re so welcome Christy!
LOL!! I have NEVER heard this term before (which probably says a lot about my DIY aptitude), but you can rest assured I WILL frequently use this term from now on. =) In spite of my inaptitude in all things decor, I do hate those fixtures, for the record. I’ve exchanged several out in my years of homeownership, er, I mean, I’ve watched Bryan change them out!
I have ALWAYS thought they looked like boobs. Those are great disguises.
A woman I knew called them “bubbies” (Jersey speak for boobs)!! Luckily, when I built my house, I chose all my lighting – not a boob in the bunch!
Kelly
love your lampshade idea! need to do that in my kitchen! but the feather boa option had me thinking MAJOR hairy nipples – ack!!!
How come you never suggested to paint them like real ones? (lol)
HA! The dreaded boob-light! I have a couple of them (lights! and actually the real ones, too – ha!) and just put a drum shade around the one in the living room. It is so much better than the boob-in-the-sky look!
I’ve been ‘blessed’ with 4 different boob lights in one apartment! I just took these quick for sharing purposes:
http://thesnarkyblogger.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-boob-lights.html
Good heavens! EVERY Apt I’ve ever rented has had boob lights! And when I use table lamps, the shadowing on the ceiling/walls is … not what one would want. I unfortunately can’t use the majority of these options because I’m a renter but it’s GREAT to know there are options!! I love the drum shade idea! I’ll have to see if there’s some way to finagle it that it can be used in an apartment that won’t tick off my kermudgety landlord! Thank you!!! 🙂
The rental I’m about to move in has lots of these light fixtures :/ I’m not sure our landlord is going to let us actually change them out so some of these diy options are great ideas on how to hide them!
book lights so funny I haven’t heard that before. I never thought of shades but I actually really love that idea!
lol I thought I was the only person to think these light fixtures looked like boobs. Thanks for a great laugh!
There all great ideas….love them….
Loved this! We have several boob lights, and my husband just doesn’t understand what’s wrong with them. 😉 These are great ideas…I like the direction you and YHL went.
Great post! Thanks so much for sharing. Booby lights are the silliest things and always make me laugh. I am down to only one now, but these ideas make it cheaper for me to replace.
Ohhhhh and you totally could have titled this post, “How to make the breast of your boob light fixtures”.
We have one in the foyer that I stare at trying to decide what to do with it every time I am in that room. I tried the shade, didn’t like it, but I think I need a filter for the bottom/open part, that might help.
I really like the sunburst idea, might have to look into that…. Boob be gone!
Will you be changing yours out?
I want to replace all the ones in the hallway but it’s not on the top of the spending list right now. I’ve replaced all the ones that really bug me :).
Oh my gosh ~ I do have boobs in my house and they never bothered me until now!!! Yikes 🙂
Fabulous post, Beth! I need to do something pronto with my boobies 🙂
lol your “giant breasts” and first image totally made me laugh
this is hilarious. I thought I had some freudian based fixation on {the lack of boobs} because that is all I can see with these fixtures! yay! It’s not just me! laura
When my firstborn was a baby, he would get all excited when he was in his bouncy seat looking up at the brass “boob light”. We used to call it the “big golden nipple in the sky”!!
Thanks so much for the ideas! I have one of these in our hallway & have been trying to think of ways to update it without taking it down (we rent). These are great!
haha I have to show this to my husband. We have a few in our house, but I had never thought of them in that way until we had friends over for dinner one night. After a few drinks, one of our guy friends finally came out and said that our light in the kitchen looks like a boob. Of course this led to a lot of conversation about the light! 🙂
I’m pretty sure it was a man who designed this dreaded light fixture!!
LOL! I agree :).
I never once thought of them as boob lights until I saw this post! OMG, I could have lived in boob light ignorance forever! Now I know I must replace them. It will be slowly as money is tight, but it will be done, oh yes it will!
Just for the record, I still have seven of these babies in my home. Most are in the hallways and closets and I try not to look at them :).
Love the idea of adding a drum shade! Going to check out that post now!
This is just awesome! Too funny too. We’ve always called them nipple lights (snort! snort!)
I am laughing because I was just thinking about how I am going to fix all the ones in my home!! Thanks for the ideas!!
Oh, no! I never that they looked like boobs until now. Now I won’t be able to get it out of my mind. Luckily I only have three.
Same here, this is too funny. I guess I will refer to my boob lights now as “The Girls”! LOL
Thanks Beth, you just saved me a boatload of money! I’ve been looking around for a new light for our foyer…I never thought of working with the boob light! Now, where can I spend the money I just saved? ; )
I have too many in my house and don’t want to spend the money to replace them right now; mine are nasty shiny brass ones so I am going to just paint mine with a metallic oiled bronze finish so at least they will match my other fixtures!