Archive for the ‘lighting’ Category

DIY CEILING MEDALLION

Thursday, September 26th, 2013

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One problematic quirk of this ‘ol brick house which isn’t always apparent despite some bold ugliness and a real talent for causing deep boiling frustration inside me. Hey wait, is it that awkward looking ceiling medallion?

Nope.

Well, sort of.

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Nightmare. Electrical. Ceiling. Boxes.

Roughly carved into every ceiling, these 14″ square holes of wires and chaos forever need to be concealed when installing any hardwired light fixture around the house. Lacking any sort of clever or modern option to cover these monster holes, I’ve always grabbed the cheapest and least gaudy ceiling medallion available. Afterwards I’ve tried to ignore how much I hate them and the way they look. Stupid medallions.

So, after five years of endless light fixture swapping, hoarding and medallion tolerating all I wanted was to be free of clutter and simplify down to the basics. This need to minimize down to the simplest base of form and function was how I eventually built the Simple Light. So now that the simple light is being installed throughout the house We need a simple medallion to match. So?

DIY TIME.

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DIY MINIMALIST CEILING MEDALLION

Simply a minimal plywood circle for covering up your holes, you know, modernly.

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MATERIALS

Drill + Wood Drill Bit
Tape Measure
Pen / Pencil
16″ Birch Plywood Disc
ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape

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HOW TO

1. Find and mark the center of the circle. (Here is a guide)

* I used 12″ strips of ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tapeto figure out the center points (aka 6″) of the two sides of the circle. Using that 6″ mark as a guide, I taped two straight lines across the middle of the circle. Where the two tape lines cross is the center point!

2. Drill a center hole through the plywood disc that is large enough to easily accommodate lamp wire or your particular light fixture.

* TIP: apply ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape over the spot you plan to drill through and then drill through the tape. The tape makes it easy to drill a clean smooth edge hole and will stop any splintering.

3. Depending on how your fixture installs, thread the lamp wire or fixture body through the new smooth drilled hole.

4. Install it all up!

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I ended up taking the white lamp down and installed a brass one. Why? ‘Cause I’m fickle. I don’t know.

Depending on your fixture and how it installs, you can attach this medallion like most others. I installed these lights per their normal method, but added the medallion by threading the pipe nipple through the center hole and then twisting it into the fixture bracket until everything was tight and flush.

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Overall? DIY Medallion? Success.

Modern, minimal, easy and super cheap to do. Simplify covering up ugly holes without making a big fuss about it. So, heads up other lamps around the house, looks like its updated medallion time for you crazy weirdos.

 

 

scotchblue, scotchblue painter's tape, painter's tape, tape

 

This post is a collaboration with ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape. To join the creative community, visit the ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape Facebook Page, tweet us via th ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape Twitter Page or get inspired by the ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape Pinterest Page.

 

DETAILS

Friday, July 6th, 2012

Now with the immediacy and ease of sites like Instagram and Twitter, I’m tending to neglect this actually blog. Seriously, when did blogging start to feel so archaic? Or is this just creeping laziness? Is this July? What’s happening?

Anyway, here’s a compilation of small changes and additions around the house from the past months (or so).

1. Return of the massive white ceramic lamp (I prefer my lamps huge)
2 & 3. Updated OFT Potence Lamp (now with more BRASS tip)
4. Vintage Navajo Two Gray Hills weaving from eBay (now without awful smoke smells)
5. Few more thrifty ceramics (plus a Home Depot CACTUS)
6. Brutalist hallway lamp fixture from eBay (replacing this one)
7. Hey, it’s a consignment store pillow (maximum PINK achieved)
8. Too Blessed 2 be Stressed poster in need of hanging (via reference library)

SIZE MATTERS

Thursday, June 28th, 2012

BOOM.

This is the biggest cork lamp your face has ever seen.

So big. So beefy. So corky.

So yes, a supersized steroid popping cork tower of a lamp exists and now lives with me. Getting this lamp has taken more than a years worth of persistent needling and negotiating with a local antique type consignment shop. I waited and stalked and waited some more for the lamps price to be slashed down 50% and that still wasn’t the price I was willing to pay. So for the next six months I’d check in and whittle the price down further and further until the poor sellers spirit snapped and this baby came home with me.

I will hunt vintage for years. That’s dedication. Or madness. Or sad.

Speaking of size matters, I’ve slowly been updating the fireplace with a fancy new coat of white paint and now a comically undersized mantel.

Six inch short-cut to failure.

Dammit.

This. Is. Dumb.

I screwed up. After writing down tons of numbers for little projects in my handy notebook, I somehow misread the width needed while at Home Depot and ended up bringing home a chunk of wood six inches shy of what was required.

Dumb.

Now I don’t have the energy to go back and find, cut and re-buy wood, so I’ll be taking a few days to recuperate. Screw you mantel.

Having this screw up time to live with the white might actually be for the best since I’m not sure I even like the white?

Then I do. Then I don’t. Then I’m like ugh, more paint? No. Yes. No.

I’m about 50/50.

Whatever. BIG LAMP. I like that crazy thing.