DIY pendant light

05
Jan
2014

categories: DIY

i got sucked into the pendant light trend.

but they sure are priiiiicey if you don’t make them yourself. so head on over to Snake Head Vintage and get yourself some supplies, because we’re making pendant lights today! for JUST UNDER $30! buying one of these already made will likely cost you between $50 and $100. and it’s so easy. with only a teensy bit of guidance from mr. cogs, i finished this in well under 30 minutes.

i actually made seven of these. two are for our newly-decorated bedroom (check back soon for a big reveal of the reason for so much blood, sweat and tears in our house lately) hanging on a bracket mr. cogs made out of a square dowel. you can hang yours on anything, like a shelf bracket, a hook, or a branch mounted on the wall. the other five lights i made are wired together above our breakfast bar. i love love LOVE them. so lets get started, because you need one of these cute vintage-style lights.

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tools: wire stripper (click here to see what that looks like) and a phillips screwdriver
materials: desired length of 2-wire cord, light socket, plug and lightbulb
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unscrew the socket into 4 pieces.
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attach the cord to the socket

{1} tie the end in a knot, leaving 1-1.5 inch tails. strip them a half inch from the end. twist the wires and wrap them around your screwdriver to create little hooks.
{2} unscrew each of the screws on the socket until there is enough room to slide your wire hook around the threaded part of the screw. hook the wires around the screws, black wire to bronze screw and white wire to silver screw. hook them so that the wire is traveling in a clockwise direction. tighten the screws and pull on the wires to make sure they’re secure.
{3} thread the two parts (including cardboard piece) onto the other end of the wire and pull it through to the socket.
{4} screw all the socket parts back together.
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disassemble the plug
by pushing a screwdriver through the hole until the parts are loose enough to pull out.
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attach the cord to the plug
(hopefully your dog didn’t chew on your plug, too)

{1} slide the cord through the hole in the plug base. strip 3/4 inches off the end of the wire and create a hook again.
{2} similar to the socket, attach the wire to the prongs. again, black to bronze and white to silver.
{3} insert the prongs back into the base, screw heads facing out.
{4} insert the center piece between the prongs.