Sun-burst of Inspiration

When we moved in, we replaced the light in the hallway because it was falling apart. The easiest thing to do at the time was to throw a "boob light" where the old one was and call it a day. We weren't really happy with it, but it would do for the time being.

We knew that we liked the look of more expensive light fixtures, but it is hard to tell yourself that it's worth spending $80 on a light that is in a hallway, so we put it on the back burner. Cool flush mounts light this kept catching my eye on Pinterest, but with crazy price tags.

That's right. $697.50 for a light. Sheesh.

That's when I came across an amazing Pin that answered all of our prayers!

Pam at Simple Details are the Difference had cracked the code! She had found a way to buy a sunburst mirror from Home Depot for $35 and a $10 light to make a $600 difference to her foyer. Happy Day! I showed it to Scott who was on board, so I looked up the Martha Stewart mirror we would need to check the measurements.

It was sold out. Completely. And not sold online. Great. We gave up again.

Until the other day. When Beth and I were checking out possible lighting solutions for her kitchen at Lowes, we came across this guy.

It was perfect! The inside of the clock face was exactly 7", which is the same width as the base for the simple $10 light that was sold in the next aisle.

It was meant to be! Not only did we come home with these...

But we had also done so for $10 cheaper than the knock-off. Total win.

I started by taking the clock out of the packaging and checking out the back. I needed to get the clock face out to allow the light to fit through it. Thankfully there were a bunch of tiny screws that allowed me to accomplish this with little trouble.

This left in the glass from the front, but I carefully pushed it out of the sunburst frame and was left with exactly what I needed.

I then went to the light fixture and took it out of the package. I found the base and double checked to make sure it fit. Once I was satisfied, I readied them to be painted.

I used the same oil rubbed bronze that we used on the door knobs so that it would be a nice match. I gave everything one good coat and let it dry. I then brought them back inside.

I dry fitted them together to see if the gap between them would leave any ceiling exposed. It did slightly, so I fitted the glass globe onto the fixture and checked it again.

Doing so had fixed all of the problems. The overlap from the globe would be enough to hold the lightweight sunburst frame up AND cover up any gap that might have been left. So far, this had been a real winner of a project.

Rather than waiting for Scott to get home (famous last words), I decided to put it up myself. I had seen him do this many other times and was pretty confident. I turned off the power to the hallway and proceeded to dismantle the old light. I then attached the white wire to the white wire in the ceiling and black to the black wire with wire nuts. The ground wire was screwed to the mounting bolt that was green, then the mounting screws were screwed into the bracket. The fixture slipped over the mounting screws and turned to lock it into place. I then just tightened the mounting screws and put in the light bulb.

All of that explanation had only gotten me this far, but the next parts are super simple. Put up the sunburst frame, then lock the globe onto the base. That's it. I turned on the power and checked out the awesome.

It's so cool and adds a nice little bit of interest to an otherwise bland space. It makes me want to go and use some ceiling pant to cover the crazy paint job that was left on the ceiling. It's not quite as impressive from the dining room, but it still has a nice presence. We have been referring to it as a 'stubborn octopus stuck to the ceiling'. This is in no way a bad thing.

And anything is going to look better than a light that is called "the boob light", lol.

We are really pleased with it (and my new found light installing skill). Not bad for about an hours time and $35!