DIY Cloth-Covered Wire Pendant Light

I made this pendant light for my little boy's room, and I love it so much I just had to share it.

Cloth-covered wire makes me swoon.  I want to re-wire everything in my house with it!

I have a vision for a magical little corner in my son's room, and this night-light is step one in seeing the vision through.  I ordered this wire and plug almost a year ago, and finally got around to rewiring a pendant light I found at the Sundance Outlet for $10. I was lucky to happen upon the pendant, but I was originally going to use this Brass Socket, which would look great with an Edison-style light bulb. I found the gorgeous cotton-covered wire at Sundial Wire, which is also where I got the Vintage-Inspired Plug.

I've got my eye on this Green-Cotton Twisted wire for my kitchen pendants. Isn't it just perfect?

I took apart and rewired the pendant myself, and although it was super easy, I'm not going to step-by-step it, because I don't want to be responsible for burning your house down.  But if you have a little knowledge about this sort of thing, this is a really simple project. And fun. But I like taking stuff apart.

You could also take it to a lamp shop, and have them do it for you pretty inexpensively.

The pendant actually started as a hard-wired fixture, and I switched it to make it plug-in.



And that plug in the wall-- which is normally kind of an eye sore-- is just so cute I can hardly stand it!

To make the cover, I just spray-painted the inside of a canning jar. 



I can't wait to finish the rest of the little corner where I plan to hang this.  I hope it turns out as magical as it is in my imagination!

 

Check out my pinterest board for more light-fixture parts inspiration. 

This Boy

Gives me kisses on the mouth when he leaves my side, or the room.
Climbs on my lap and strokes my face. Says, "My Momma," and hugs my neck. 
Still likes to nurse, and when he wants to, he cups my face in his hands and looks straight in my eyes and says, "PEEEESE?"
Asks "Wa Doin'?" and "Wah Doin' Now?" all day long.
Gets called a girl every time we leave the house. I know it's his hair. I'm not cutting it.
Love to ride his "bikes" more than anything.
Roars like a dinosaur.
Really likes Gotye's, "Someone That I Used to Know".  He sobbed when I tried to turn it off.
Is delightful and darling. He listens and minds (usually).
Has the softest skin I've ever felt.

I love him immensely.

And I was serious about the Gotye:

Rain Dance

Sometimes...

The skies open up and rain such a good hard rain,

That you can't help but dance around in it,  not minding if your clothes get soaked,

Or better-- in no clothes at all,

And suddenly,

Everything that seemed hard about that day,

Is washed away,

And you can't help thinking--

 

That it was just for you. 

Drawer Liners

Have I mentioned we're remodeling our house? Well...the truth is we've kind of lost momentum. It's in livable shape but far from finished. Sometimes to get me excited about tackling larger, super unglamorous projects (digging up some part of the sprinkler system for the 12th time), I do a little fun project.  I've been working on Ollie's room (s.l.o.w.l.y) here and there and I finally got around to putting these cute drawer liners in his dresser. Yay! At this rate he'll have a finished room by the time he's 16.



So my mother in law is a crazy good thrifter. She's got an eye for the good stuff-- and lucky me because I have been the beneficiary of her hard work and generosity on several occasions. One (of the many) things she's given us is this dresser for Ollie's room, which frankly couldn't have been more perfect if I'd have plucked it from my very own imagination pinterest inspiration board.

Oh...did I say she gave it to us? What I meant was that she bought it, hauled it home, painted it to my specifications and then delivered it all the way from Washington all ready to go. Yeah... I'd hate me if I were you too.



And since it was free to us, I splurged and bought these drawer liners. I don't know... I guess I don't really need to explain why right? You get why little details like this are so fantastic!

Now, the truth is the "after" isn't like crazy better than the before since everything is all coordinated and folded neatly, but when the drawers are full of stained onesies, the liners make a huge difference. Just a little detail that makes me smile, and makes the room feel more finished.

Before:


After:

I know this is off topic, but can I just say that I LOVE dressing a little boy? I always heard how much harder it was to find cute boys clothes before I had one, but I totally tend to find more things for him that I love, than I do for Avery. It's so fun!



Anyway, just a word of caution...if you want to buy liners from this company, make SURE that you order a free sample of the pattern you want in the exact material you want (they have 4). I ordered the sample and loved it (in fine weave fabric), but got a less expensive material (laminated vinyl) when I ordered the roll, and the colors were totally different.



Ollie's into it.

The Children

One of the best things about Ollie,

is that

the skin on his cheeks is the softest thing I have ever touched in my entire life.

And if you catch him in just the right mood...

he'll let you nuzzle them to your hearts content.

Project Run And Play Week 2

Whew! I made it through another week of furious sewing. For those just joining, I am competing in Project Run and Play, a childrens' clothing design and sewing competition. This week's theme is "Boys Week", and I sure had fun making this little outfit for my little boy.

Head on over to vote,

And then come back and check out this gratuitous display of photos.

I tried to get him down for a nap all day so I could finish sewing those darn pants, and then once he finally went to sleep I had to wake him right up to get some photos before the sun went down. Poor kid. He wasn't happy about it. I wasn't wither. I was hoping to get some good shots of his pretty blue eyes to play off his blue pants. Too much to ask?

It looks like his shirt is too short in this picture, but I had pulled it up so you could see his belt.

Carving supplies for making the print on his shirt. It was easier than I thought it would be.

My paper mock up of a shawl collar. The first one didn't work but after a few tweaks number 2 was a success!

I am aware that some people will HATE this belt for a boy. I don't care. I love it. Fashion is all about taking risks right?

Couldn't get him to put his little mitts in those pockets.. Love a pocket though.

This is the only photo I have of the pants pattern making process. I really wanted to use a pair he already had as a guide, but I didn't want to take them apart because I like them so much so I contorted them around and carefully pinned tracing paper to them and employed various other maneuvers I learned in my pattern-making class to get the basic shape, then added pockets etc., and somehow it all actually worked! No time for a test pair. I started this pair at like 7 pm on Wednesday night.