We Hung The Moon {DIY a Statement Making Light Fixture}

So waaaaaaaaaay back in November I put this pic up on Instagram.

And then…never got around to telling you what I was up to!

I’m finally getting around to remedying that!

That little up close pic turned into this!

Christmas two years ago I was in Anthropologie and saw this amazing light fixture/installation/artwork deal. I loved the look. Loved the statement. And loved that it was made from easy to come by and inexpensive materials!

And just for good measure look at this old picture of Miss M that I just found on my phone while look for this Anthro pic. Awwww….

Anyway…enough baby drool.

I put it on my “to do” list thinking a single orb would look pretty cool in the family room. And then got around to it about a year later. Yeah, that’s how I roll.

Let’s start with a before shall we?

Oh! Better yet…How about a before the before?!

This is what was here when we moved into the house in early 2010.

Actually…Now that I think about it. We just passed the 3 year mark of being here! Woo hoo!

So, yeah, the light fixture. {I’m apparently easily distracted today!}

Ain’t that light lovely?

Did you want a closeup?

Actually, there’s really nothing particularly wrong with it. If you have, like…a pool table or something. But we don’t. So the light went. Actually, removing the light was one of the first things we did. Mainly because it hung so low we constantly hit our heads on it.

At some point after removing it, I had Nolan install this beauty.

Which would be fine in a smaller room. But it was waaaaaay too small for our good sized family room. And ::yawm:: kind of boring. {PS – excuse the needed to be folded towels}.

Here’s a closer picture… It’s a lampshade Nolan wired to make a pendant light fixture.

So that’s where we started!

To mimic {more or less} the Anthropologie light fixture, I used a basic paper lantern from Ikea, a light kit from Ikea, and styrofoam cups. Here’s how it all went down {it’s super-simple}.

Big ol’ Ikea Morup paper lantern. {I’m not finding it on their site. Maybe they don’t sell it any more?} I think it ran us about $5?

If I were to do it again, I would either find a white paper lantern or spray paint this bad boy. When the light is on it’s not a big deal, but when the light is off there are gaps between the cups and you can see that yellow-brownish paper. Not a big deal, but – word to the wise. No likely the paper-y, use-y some spray paint-y. {Oh.my.word! What is my deal! Can you tell I’m a mother of three?}

And styrofoam cups.

Nolan was convinced I’d need a lot of cups, so he had me get a box at Costco. They came it at $20 for the box.

That would be 1000 cups to be exact.

That’s a lot of cups!

I did not need nearly that many!!! I’m not sure how many I used, but not even close to half. So…If I were to do it again…I’d buy maybe five sleeves from the grocery store to start with. I think it would have been cheaper in the long run. But oh wells.

In order to get those cups on the lantern, I hung it from my chandelier in the dining room. Klassy.

And then with my trusty hot glue gun, I just glued, glued, glued!

I stated with trying to do some kind of pattern, but because of the curve of the lantern, I wasn’t so successful, so I just smooshed and glued them as close together as I could get them. It’s not perfect by any means!

I don’t particularly recommend trying to reposition them after gluing. But then again…Just glue the cup right over that hole! No one will know! Well…now you do.

After I was finished with my gluing, Nolan hung it using the Hemma light kit from Ikea {another $5}. He hardwired it because he’s smart like that. I’m so blessed to be married to a guy who knows how to do house-y kind of stuff like that!

And there we have a huge statement light fixture!

This baby is about two feet in diameter! The perfect size for our family room.

When the kids came out in the morning and saw it, Mr B’s first words were “it’s the moon!!!!” So we giggled and joked that we “hung the moon.” And it looks much more moon-like when it’s on because it kind of has that incandescent orange-y glow to it.

Alternately, it kind of looks like a golf ball on mega-steriods.

This room looks super-different now than it does in these after shots. But I wanted to show you the “moon” before I showed you anything else that’s changed in this room.

Close up! {See the gaps I was talking about?}

From the bottom looking up…

This is looking back from the sliding glass doors towards the kitchen and the burgundy {blech} wall. Burgundy wall should be gone soon! {As in, by this time next year. Lol! Hopefully sooner than that!}

So there ya go! A little statement light fixture in the family room for ya!

Honestly, though, for the time and money invested in this thing it has major statement-making wow factor. It cost us about $30 total and we have a bazillion cups left over. That’s a pretty good price for a unique light fixture that’s so big!

I’m pretty much over the moon about it!

{Linking to: Best DIY Projects of February at Beneath My Heart, Tatertots and Jello, Pinworth Projects}