Upcycle Your Old Light Fixture Into The Perfect Bird Feeder!

6 Materials
$10
1 Hour
Easy

Don't throw out your hanging light fixture the next time you are doing renovations. You can easily turn it into the perfect bird feeder for your feathery friends and keep it out of the landfill.

Prepping the Light Fixture


Do you have an old light fixture hanging around that you don't know what to do with? If so, don’t get rid of it yet… especially if you love birds as much as I do!


I found this old light fixture at the dump Reuse centre ( see what else I have found there here...) last summer and loved its lines and curves. At first, I thought I would find a place to use it at my house but that plan went out the window when I dropped it and broke the glass insert! Oops!


To prep your light fixture for painting, make sure that you have removed any electrical wires (after disconnecting the light!) and that all dust and debris has been wiped off.

Painting the Fixture


Since I had broken the glass on my fixture, I needed something to fill the hole. Thankfully I found a plate that was small enough to slip in and large enough not to fall through. If you have the glass to your fixture though, you can always use it as the base for the feeder.


To paint the fixture, I used a nice bright red spray paint. Remember that when you are using spray paint, several light coats are better than a thick coat. The lighter you apply each layer, the less likely you are to get runs and drips in the paint.

Hanging the Fixture


For my particular fixture, I wanted to hang a bell of birdseed. I didn’t want to dump the birdseed on the plate in case it got wet and soggy. Since there was no loop to hang a bell from, I threaded a piece of doubled-up twine through the former wire pipe. I pulled it about a half an inch out the bottom and then added hot glue around the top so that it wouldn’t pull back through. If you are going to place your bird feeder in a spot that is protected though, you could fill the plate with bird food instead of hanging something.


With the jute twine threaded through the pipe, I make sure to leave enough to use it to hang the feeder as well. I left several feel of twine so that it could be tied around a tree branch.

All that was left to do was hang the bell and the feeder. The bell was easily hooked to the twine loop and then I chose a branch to tie the remaining twine around.


I love the look of my new feeder and I am so glad another light fixture didn't end up in the dump.


To see more projects like this, check out my new book Recreated Designs - Cottage Projects With a Vintage Flair here...


To see the original Recreated Designs post, please click the link below to head over to the blog.

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Recreated Designs
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  1 question
  • Cindy Carter Ott-Bales Cindy Carter Ott-Bales on Nov 06, 2020

    I love this idea. I am curious, however, whether or not rainwater will collect in the uppermost portion (assuming this is the part that would've been mounted to the ceiling).

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