DIY Wood Pendant Light

12 Materials
$45
1 Week
Easy

Can't seem to find just the right light fixture? Build it!

Sooooo, this is the third fixture we've had in our foyer area in seven years now. Not including this off-center recessed can light. And second paint job too, heh.


You know what's great about can lights? You can buy a conversion kit and turn the can into a pendant or any other fixture. Yep! Come check out part one of this two part post for a link to the kit!

After the first light I wasn't happy with, and the second my husband uh, hated, I found one we agreed upon but couldn't swing the price tag. So build it, I thought, and I did.


I had a lot of these supplies on hand which was helpful in keeping the costs down so I personally didn't need to buy much.


But you can build this too! I'm offering the plans for free to this light fixture! Keep reading on for info!


First, I purchased the pendant light kit seen here.

Next I purchased some 1/4" plywood and drew up the shapes. To transfer the shape onto the plywood for cutting, I used powdered charcoal and a sharp pencil. Then, cut them all out.

To hold the whole fixture together, I cut out this circle and 18 notches for the decorative parts.

Actually, I cut two circles, one slightly smaller in diameter for added strength. After gluing the two circles together, I drilled out a big hole for the pendant light kit.

I wanted to replicate the original for its visual interest (varying heights of the wood pieces) but you can also keep them all along the same plane. Here I was painfully trying to do the math for 9 different placements of notches.


There are lots more details about this project over on the blog, Flipping the Flip, plus all the other projects around it so be sure to stop by for this and so many other fun projects!

Time to stain! I used a wood conditioner first and then Golden Mahogany.

Time to seal! I used paste wax here as I find sometimes water-based polyurethane leaves a plastic looking finish and I definitely didn't want that.

Time to assemble! This was, heh, a lot of trial and error but there was only one glue that worked for this. Swing by the blog post to find out which type!


And while you're there, read part two of this saga plus sign up and you can receive the plans I drew for this light fixture for free! Free!

Turns out the pendant kit is of foreign assembly which means parts were smaller. A bit of jury-rigging and no problem, light fixture installed!

And voila! Suuuuper cool, right? And at night, the shadows it throws are amazing!

This is it, the final light fixture in this location for as long as we live here!


My husband was so excited about this fixture! Whewwww!!!


Be sure to swing by the blog for all the action!

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Becky at Flipping the Flip
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Thea Thea on Oct 24, 2020

    Becky, this, as well as the mural? behind it, is spectacular!!

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