The house that we live in and have been in for the past 10 years is about 150 years old.  It’s quirky to say the least.  It began as a humble 1-room farm house and over the years a room here, a room there, a bathroom, an upstairs, a kitchen, etc. have been added on.  You can tell pretty easily which rooms came in which decade because of the styling and materials used.  It’s…. unique.  It’s also challenging.  Nothing is standard. Not the windows, not the doors, nothing.  It’s all it’s own house.  That can make upgrading and remodeling difficult at times.

Take for instance this light fixture:

Ugly old light fixture

It’s awful.  It’s practical in many ways.  There’s a place for two bulbs, a pull chain, an electrical outlet on the ceramic base.  But… there are NO shades/covers, etc. out there that fit it.  I’ve been looking for 10 years to find something to replace the 1960′s corrugated and yellowed plastic tray type cover that was on it when we moved in, all to no avail.  I’ve known for a while that it was going to be on me if it was going to get covered, and avoid having to have an electrician come in and modify the wiring and everything else that’s underneath this thing to get a shade on it.

I came across this post recently (HERE), and was inspired.  It’s very pretty, but because of the construction, it lacks movement, and it’s really not suitable for actually using as a light cover anywhere.  It makes a lovely dangly thing, but that’s about it.  Still, it got my juices flowing, and that’s good enough for me.

As I began gathering up the materials I would need, I stopped in the paint department in 3 different stores for paint samples.  As in the linked page above, and in several other projects I’ve run across lately, I would need lots and lots of paint samples to do this.  The reason why I needed 3 different stores was not for the amount of samples I would need.  It’s because every time that I nearly took a big stack of them, I just felt icky.  I couldn’t do it.  I know they’re free, but they’re meant to be free by the singles, not by the dozens.  It’s just not right.  Crafting shouldn’t make you feel dirty… so I headed over to the craft store to the scrap booking section for paper instead.  While I was there I also picked up a 1-1/2″ diameter circle cutter and got to work.  I cut out however many you can get from 18 pieces of 12″ x 12″ paper.

Lots and Lots of 1-1/2" Circles!

Next I began my assembly.  To go around the 12″ square frame that I had chosen for my shade base, I would need 32 sets of ‘dangles’ on the bottom layer.  6 circles long was the right length to cover the ugly of the fixture.  For the top layer, I would need another 32 sets of dangles that were 4 circles long each.  For each piece, I cut a length of sewing thread and doubled it up, put a spot of tacky glue right in the center, and sandwiched two circles on the thread on top of each other, and butt to butt with the circles next to it.  This will give movement with double sided effect (no paint notations showing on the back or need for scotch tape to prevent movement!) and with the circles butted up next to each other, the thread is for structure only, and becomes invisible while still allowing that flow.

Making my danglies

This took a while.  640 circles total of a while.  I’m not going to lie, it was tedious business and more than once I wanted to take a break but I was afraid I might not come back to it so I soldiered on!

Lots and lots of danglies!

So, now I’ve got a billion sets of danglies, and I’ve got my 12″ square wooden frame pre-drilled with the holes I will need to fasten it to the ceiling with screws when I’m done, and I’m ready to begin assembly.

Ready for assembly!

I hung all of my pieces from the back side of the frame.  This made it so that the face of the frame which would be against the ceiling would be completely flush to the surface, AND it gave me two distinct areas for hanging my danglies to give the layered chandelier look. I did the inside first, with the longer pieces which were 6 circles each.  I attached each one with a thin line of hot glue, then after all of them were on, I trimmed the excess sewing thread and went over the top with another bead of hot glue to make sure they were secure.  This part actually went reasonably quickly.

Interior layer of danglies being affixed to frame

Next I went around the exterior of the frame with my shorter 4 piece danglies, attaching each with a thin bead of hot glue again, and trimming the excess sewing thread after I had them all in place.  Once I had all of my danglies glued on, I glued some 7/8″ matching grosgrain ribbon around the outside of the frame to cover my work and finish the project.  All done!  Very tedious, but simple too!

Once complete, I used long screws, got a hand with holding the piece centered around the fixture the way I wanted, and 4 quick zips of the power drill later I had it attached to the ceiling and in place.

All done - with lights off

All done - with lights on!

All in all, I was super pleased with how this turned out.  I’m very happy with it, even if my husband says the upstairs is beginning to resemble a 70′s love shack.  I am thrilled, regardless!  No more ugly fixture! YAY! (or at least, it’s hidden well!)

This one I started early, and I thought I would be able to get lots done because it really is a fairly quick project… alas, I only managed to do 4!  Haha, oh well.  I’ve already started a bag to put odds and ends of yarn along w/ the pattern and my DPN’s, so that I can use scraps throughout the year whenever I have a minute, and have a small army of jingle balls done by the time next Christmas rolls around!  I used the 4 I had to tie onto the top of packages as a little extra ‘something’ with the gift.

I got the pattern from I Like Lemons, which I found on Pinterest, of course.  It’s quick, easy, and versatile, as you can see from what I did to embellish mine:

Knitted Jingle Balls!

I have one more Christmas craft to share with you… just waiting on the pics from the recipient, as I didn’t have the time or space to take a pic before I wrapped them up…. on Christmas morning!!!  Then, on to the New Year!  (Hope your celebrations were fabulous!)