Green Living

Upcycled Light Fixtures to Holiday Decor

When I painted my main room and entry way earlier this year, I was undecided on what to do with the old light fixtures that we replaced.  But then it hit me, these fixtures would make awesome holiday lanterns with a few adjustments.  It’s the best kind of project, the upcycled kind of project!

 

 

These fixtures come apart quite easily, I didn’t even need any tools.  Start by unscrewing the very top ring and continuing piece by piece working your way down until you can remove the inside light unit.

 

After the light bulb center and cords have been removed, unscrew the top and bottom round head screws. This will allow for the glass panels to come out for cleaning and then you can spray paint the rest of the lantern piece by piece.  It may sound like a lot of work but this was far easier than trying to cover the glass and spray paint the entire fixture.

 

I chose the red above because my plan was to make these holiday lanterns.  You could easily do black or any metal you prefer.  Once dried, it’s time to reassemble:

 

 

These could go anywhere inside or out but my plan was for outside the front door.

 

4 Comments

  • chaosqueen

    Hi Tanne, Yes the glass is added back in during re-assembly, but you really wouldn’t have to…I guess it’s up to you and what you are going to use it for.

  • Susie Harrelson

    I had written you a rather lengthy ” comment ” after your original post on hometalk . I’m not going to re-type all of it again ! However, I will say that I had recently come across two very similar lanterns , that had been thrown out and were in a heap beside a non operating old store . As I said they were ‘ thrown out ‘ , many of the beveled glass pieces were broken , some of the pieces had engraved smaller panels along the bottom . These panels were also done with the channel method (?) . I have done stained glass before but I did it with the soldering technique . I still I thought that I could put it back together , by purchasing the channels and glass that was broken, as well as recreating the engraving , if I decided to use the other engraved pieces……. Thank you for sharing your idea here , the dismantling will go much easier for me now ! ! I am now going to be following you ! So , Hello !

  • chaosqueen

    Hi Susie! Sorry you had to retype your post. My posts have to be approved, so that’s probably why you didn’t immediately see it. Good luck with your project, it sounds interesting!

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