Home Stories A to Z

Creating beauty out of chaos and sharing my home decor stories

Creating a Drum Shade Pendant Light

If you’ve been following me for some time now, then you know that I have struggled and struggled with my kitchen.  I want a white kitchen.  It’s dark brown and it’s not changing.  I want new lighting, but I simply can’t afford it.  So I have been messing with the darn thing for a few YEARS now, and I think I’m finally on the right track!  I have a plan and a commitment from the hubs to help me with it.  Hopefully I’ll be showing you the entire kitchen update (still brown–don’t get your hopes up that it will turn white) within the next few weeks!

For now, it’s back to my kitchen lighting.  The burlap basket thingy I hung up there just wasn’t working for me.  I thought it was a great idea, but it wasn’t.  Thank you for being kind and not telling me!  I went to my inspiration file and found all of these beckoning to me…

CreateGirl
Coastal Living
Small But Mighty Interiors
Shine
Isabella and Max 

Drum shades in the kitchen!  I love it!  You can find them for less than $10 (if you’re clever), and you can cover them in fabric to add a pop of color.  Voila, instant cute lighting update!

So let’s review all the many befores!

1.  Here you can see the (awful red kitchen) Tiffany-style pendant and my first attempt at making skeleton/cage lights (which were originally Tiffany style globes).

2.  I then wanted a wire basket look for my pendant so I came up with this… Meh.
3.  I finally got around to painting the kitchen and my lighting was bugging me all bare and nekkid, so I clothed it in burlap.  I really was happy with this look!  For a whole two weeks or so…

4.  And here we are today!  Did I finally get it right?  I think as right as a girl can get jerry rigging her lights for the third time!  If you missed the post about the lantern lights, click here to see how I did those.

I found the drum shade at the Christmas Tree Shop and covered it with some fabric I purchased awhile back from fabric.com.  To cover the shade I followed my method outlined here.
Basically just wrap your fabric around the shade and secure with clips.  Using scissors, cut closely around the clips.  Remove the clips and use some spray adhesive (lightly!) on your shade and smooth the fabric as you go to adhere.  Cut the edges of your fabric again as close to the edge as possible and hot glue the edges underneath.  

If you follow this method, you won’t have to use anything to cover the seam because it will look very clean from underneath too!  To attach the shade to the light, all I did was use some beading wire to secure it in place.  Sigh.  I love beading wire.  It’s like my own special girly version of duct tape.

And here she is all lit up and glowy!  I love it!

So there you have it.  Third time is the charm? 

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Comments

  2. That looks amazing, and I love the fabric you chose! You've inspired me…I have some leftover fabric from a sewing project that I'm going to use to cover lamp shades for my bonus room using your tutorial! Thanks for the easy to follow instructions!

    ~Julianne

    repurposedlifedesigns.blogspot.com

  4. AWESOME! I have wanted a drum light for my living room and just realized…DUH! I can make one! Thanks for the inspiration. You did a great job.

  5. I love this! I am so glad I am not the only one who changes my lights, like they are shoes 🙂 I was already talking about repainting my chandeliers and my husband said they had to be up a full year first!

  8. @The Jongejans I agree that it would look better lower but I can't afford a new fixture right now, and I'm not able to lower the current light.

  10. Girl, you definitely got it right. Looks great. I love all the looks you have had. However, it's just right now, love the fabric you chose and the lantern lights are so cool.

  11. Love it…I've been looking for a reasonably priced shade to do the same thing to it…glad to see how you rigged it up there with the beading wire (which I have loads of from making jewelry too!) Thanks for the tips…Fab-U-lous as always!

  12. I LOVE that fabric!! I'd love to see what the light looks lower down though, its lost up there 😉

  14. Beth I love your drum pendant light fixture and the fabric you chose really looks lovely all lit up. Kathysue

  17. Love the drum shade! Especially love the fabric you chose to cover it in! Gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.

  18. Third time is most definitely the charm!! Even though every light fixture you've done-up has looked great 🙂 But those lanterns & that drum shade are fantastic!! The fabric you chose is better than perfect 🙂 I love how that bird ties in with the wall, absolutely lovely. And thanks for sharing the how-to! I may have just found the type of light to go over my island!

  23. The 3rd time certainly was the charm Beth. LOVE IT!! Martina

  25. Love it! I just love anything you do to your house really!
    Have a de"light"ful day!
    Jenn

  27. I absolutely LOVE drum pendants! I enjoyed those that you featured. It gives a room such an instant update without being fussy. Love the fabric you chose as well. I'm a huge chocolate brown/blue fan. The bird is adorable. Congrats on a superb job – it couldn't have been easy! Way to go! Stop by Gracious Spaces & like me when you get a chance. Thanks for the fun post!

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