Posts tagged: lights
Two DIY Natural Chandeliers.
By ChrisjobAs if by synchronicity, two back-to-back Instructables offer how-tos for creating large scale chandeliers using natural elements.
The first, The Castaway, employs vines and twigs and lamp/cord kit for a more controlled look:
The second tutorial utilizes a tumbleweed and string lights for a bit more craziness.
Build Your Own DIY Grow Lights.
By Chrisjob
Sure, you could go to the fancy indoor garden/hydroponics store and buy speciality grow lights that mimic the color spectrum of the sun's rays. Or you can make these LED spikes from Popular Science.... Goodness, even the name sounds cooler. "These bulbs actually work best as a supplement to sunlight during the day; however, they’ll also provide enough light after dark to ensure that your plants get the 12 to 18 hours a day they need to thrive » READ MORE
Caution! Christmas Light Safety Tips.
By Chrisjob
Whether they're outside, inside, or perhaps a bit of both, Christmas lights are connected to your home circuit, and as with anything, especially those outside, you gots to be safe.
Here's a few tips from Suite101 to keep the fires in the yule logs and the shocks on your face when you open the perfect gift.
• Leaving lights on while not at home
• Christmas Tree Advice
• Extension Cords
• Stringing lights together
• » READ MORE
Blinds with Built in Solar Lights
By DIY Maven
These vertical blinds by Yoon-Hui Kim & Eun-Kyung Kim hold a little secret, a solar lamp. Here's how it works: the blinds, which are closed during the day, are outfitted with tiny solar pads mounted on the blinds' vertical slats. As the sun goes down, the pads lighten, revealing a luminescent floor or table lamp or even a chandelier. Why not just use some phosphorescent material? I'm guessing it might not cast as much light as the solar option, » READ MORE
The Future of Fluorescent Fixtures
By DIY Maven
Nearly every office building in the entire world is plagued by ghastly fluorescent lights hanging overhead. Can’t you just feel them suck the jelly from your ocular cavities? I can. So why do people use them? Because of their energy efficiency of course. But why do they have to be so ugly? They don’t. At least Ross Lovegrove’s System X by Yamagiwa isn’t. Described as a modern, sculptural lighting system, the x’s are actually an ‘interconn » READ MORE
Need tranquility? Try a Himalayan Salt Lamp.
By DIY Maven
I lust over the Himalayan Salt Lamps at my local co-op. Is it because my aura is attracted to the lamps’ infusion of negative ions in the air making me fell tranquil and relaxed or is it just the warm amber glow? Who knows. Either way, they make me feel all yummy inside. For a nice selection, check out Salt Lamp Creations where you can find a variety of styles like the large salt lamps pictured above ($50) or the affordable salt tea lights pi » READ MORE
Another Light Cover
By lilybee
This is yet another way to temporarily hide a less than ideal light fixture. You'll need:
- Some garden or jewellery wire.
- Some glue.
- Some paper.
Wrap your wire around your light fixture, avoiding direct contact with the bulbs. If you're got unsecured electrical wires then a. don't try this and b. call your super!
Cut out some shapes from your paper, You could draw something freehand or try googling flower silhouettes, but bear in m » READ MORE
8 Ways to Cover Ugly Light Fixtures
By lilybeeSure it's super easy to change light fixtures, but sometimes you just can't. If your space is really temporary, like a dorm room or a short term let, or even if you don't have access to switch off the electricity then a refit is out of the question.
Here's a few ways to deal with oogly light fixtures that won't lose you your deposit.
1. Chic Scarf
A student classic that can actually work really well. The old scarf-over-the-lamp trick:
How to turn egg cartons into flowery fairy lights.
By DIY Maven
Who says cardboard egg cartons are only good for making fire starters? These sweet little flower 'shades' are actually constructed of the section between the cups themselves. All you need to make them are several empty cardboard egg cartons, a scissors, a paper punch (optional) and a string of LED fairy lights.
For the entire tutorial, visit Esprit Cabane (via Crafty Crafty)
Billy May’s Torn Lights
By DIY Maven
These walls looked sliced, if not delicately so. While, from inside, light pours like blood.
Seeing the fixtures naked takes something away from their mystery, but if your curiosity must be satisfied, go to Billy May’s website. Via.
Origami Lights
By lilybeeI heart paper lanterns. They make everything prettier and shinier and awesomely better. So I decided to make some in the simplest way possible.
Origami Waterbombs are SUPER EASY to do and can be whistled up in huge numbers while you're say, catching up on season 3 of Battlestar Galactica.
These pictures are of the finished lanterns, as I took a whole series of 35 step-by-step Origami 'how to' photos then discovered a nice simple instruc » READ MORE
Cereal boxes turned acrylic for the ultimate light fixture
By Doug Aamoth
This oughta bring back some memories. Cincinnati artist Matt Kotlarczyk has perfected the art of transferring everyone's favorite sugar cereal box artwork "onto heavy acrylic with ultra violet-protected inks. Some low-watt flourescent light bulbs get placed behind the delicious-looking stained glass, as it were, and hung on your wall or from the ceiling.
Pricing is available upon request from Matt's aptly-named Refined Sugar Studio web page. I » READ MORE
Ikea Hack: DIY Mini-Pendant Chandelier.
By Chrisjob
John Brown and Kristie English are a creative couple who've complete some excellent DIY projects, and taken some great photos of the process. Their flagship effort is this Mini-Pendant chandelier, which they built using Ikea's KRYSSBO lamps and some speaker wire. And they created complete instructions to inspire you to do the same.
Dandelion Lights
By DIY Maven
Dandelights by Designdrift are handmade using LED lights and real dandelion seeds. I repeat REAL dandelion seeds. How they prevent the seeds from scattering is a mystery, but I’d love to know so I could tell my neighbor, our resident dandelion supplier. The nine volt battery is the least expensive thing about these guys as one will set you back $99 bananas. Via Design Boom.
A No Cost, Tangle Free Way to Store Holiday Lights.
By ChrisjobTree lights are notoriously nefarious. They get twisted and tangled and knotted, and the bulbs burn and short out. Some folks even avoid the frustration and purchase new sets each year. But with a little planning 'round New Years, your lights can be in perfect shape come tree time.
Materials
- Rectangle of cardboard or shirt box lid/base
- Utility knife
- Cutting surface:scrap plywood, healing cutting mat, or workbench
- String of lights
1.Using the utlity » READ MORE
Ugly Christmas Tree Lights–the Website
By DIY Maven
I stumbled upon Ugly Christmas Tree Lights this morning, which is a website devoted to all those houses that grab our attention at Christmastime. Although the pictures are very entertaining to peruse, even better are the cranky e-mails the site gets. One writer even compares the site’s creators to Nazis. (Makes me wonder just who’s on Santa’s naughty list.)
Bricks 'n Plastic' by pushmearound; 'Velvet Rope' by Mandy Bird.
Do you enjoy looking at over-the-top Christmas displays?
Vote now!
The Simplest Lamp Ever
By Doug AamothLooking for a basic, simple lamp? Does it get any more straightforward than this?
The Cord Lamp, available from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art store, takes the old "ugly cord" thing and makes it into a work of art.
And it's priced like a work of art, too. At $150, this lamp isn't exactly cheap. I'm sure that some enterprising individuals out there might be able to figure out how to replicate this idea, maybe with a much more affordable co » READ MORE
Cocktail Umbrella Lighting
By DIY Maven
It’s not often that I’m completely bowled over by something I spot online, but today it happened. Heather Wells cocktail umbrella lights are not only beautiful; they’re also an unbelievably creative use of something so familiar! DIY-able? Probably, but I don’t want to go there. I want to put the spotlight on Heather Wells and her absolutely delightful creations. For more information, visit Heather's website, Bright Lights Little City.
Mushroom floor lamps, fungus among us
By Doug Aamoth
I have to admit that I'm not a huge mushroom enthusiast. I think they're kind of gross-looking out in the wild. But if you like that look, why not bring it into your home and plop it down on your floor? Actually, it's not quite clear if these will actually be sold (or are being sold) of if they're just concepts right now.
Either way, it's a pretty interesting idea. The light is provided by "interchangeable and adjustable LEDs embedded in their gi » READ MORE
sockets on sprockets?
By megrockstarhey! I havea hideous ceiling fixture in my kitchen. I havent gotten to changing it b/c I isnt a priority. I did, however, put energy efficient bulbs all throughout my house. I noticed that that fixtures blew out a regular bulb and 2 energy savers. I am changing bulbs about every 3 weeks...Why is that? Is there anything I can do??
Ty,
