Once upon a time, I lived in a house in which almost every room was lit by a bare lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.
And I was perpetually on the hunt for light fixtures. Not just any light fixtures, but beautiful, shimmery ones that made my heart sing a blissful little tune. One day, I happened upon this guy at Horchow:
It was only $549, so I almost bought it…
…but then I remembered that I do not live the kind of life in which dropping half a grand on a fancy non-essential is ever gonna happen.
I kept hunting, until I found this:
Target, $399. Closer, but still so far away from any amount of money I’m ready to spend on a light fixture. Like, so, SO far away.
So I put on my DIY thinking cap and decided it was time to make my own! I hit pinterest and searched it so hard for a DIY capiz shell chandelier, but I couldn’t find anything like it. I brainstormed, hunted, thought a lot, stared blankly into walls hoping an idea would strike… nothin’.
Until one day when I was blissfully shopping at TJ Maxx. I guess that’s a redundant sentence: all TJ Maxx shopping is done blissfully. I saw this capiz shell tealight holder out of the corner of my eye on a far away shelf…
and probably actually took flight across the store, landing a few feet away and sliding into the shelf like home base. I KNEW we could make this bad boy into a hanging light somehow. It was marked $59, but it had a bent petal so I asked the manager what she could do and she knocked 10 percent off the price. WIN.
It’s just like those hanging lights, except inside it there’s a place to put three tealights:
Andy just bent those metal tealight pieces until they broke off, and we started thinking about how to hang the light. We needed a metal downrod that would extend from the ceiling to the light to encase the wiring, and a way to wire a bulb inside. We found this Januari lamp at ikea, and picked it up for about $7:
The rod was the perfect length, and it was already made to connect to a lightbulb. Pretty sweet right? This was shaping up nicely!
We also grabbed two ceiling canopies – one we had on hand from an old light fixture and another from the lighting department at the hardware store. (Kinda like this, but I lost my actual photos):
We spray-painted everything silver and it was time to assemble!
Andy hot-glued one ceiling canopy to the inside of the capiz thingy. It was just a little bit wider than the hole where you insert the tealights.
(I like to point out when Andy is the one doing things in photos, so you don’t think that I have giant veiny man-hands and hairy man-knees.)
(Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)
Then Andy, with his hairy backs-of-hands, took the Ikea lamp, minus the base, and threaded it up through the hole in the ceiling canopy.
He threaded wires from the other end of the lamp through the second ceiling canopy:
And screwed it onto the ikea lamp base with a washer and nut.
And finally he just wired the ikea lamp to the ceiling and screwed the ceiling canopy to the ceiling.
No more hanging bare lightbulbs here!
Well, not in the office, anyway. There are still others throughout the house…
Update: We got a few questions asking how we change the lightbulb. You can see in this “before” pic that there’s a hole in the top and bottom, so we can just reach up inside it to change the bulb. Super easy!
This chandelier cost us under $65 total, plus a little spray paint we already had on hand.
That’s more like it!
Yet another reason why I love DIY: with a little creativity and a LOT of patience, you can have higher-end looks for a much tinier price tag. And that makes me, and my man-with-manly-man-hands very, very happy.
Have you ever made a hanging light? Do you have giant knobby knuckles? It’s a good look, guys. It’s a good look.
P.S.: If you’re on the hunt for some inexpensive lighting ideas, you’ll LOVE this page! It’s a collection of all our DIY lighting ideas, all done on the TINIEST of budgets!
Check out this $4 chandelier upgrade…
Or this tutorial on how to make any lamp run on batteries! (This is SO handy!)
Hi, I'm Kelly. Glad you're here! This little blog is where I chronicle our efforts to fix up our beaten-down home on a tiny budget. We're not there yet, but here's a peek at the view along the way...
I LOVE it!! That works so well in that space and what a testament to a little bit of patience. Very cool. Thanks for sharing!
WOW! This is gorgeous!
I found this post on pinterest, I can’t wait to explore the rest of your blog! YAY!!!
Me2!
I’m confused. It looks like you bought several tealights to make this. ?????????????????????? Surely the one tea light for $59.00 wasn’t that big was it? Cause if you had to buy 10 tea lights for $59.99 you may have as well bought the first chandlier for $599.00 . Right? Please explain
This is just one large tealight holder for $59.
Really like the light, very clever and frugal.
Oooooooo, it’s so pretty. I want to pet it. But I’m short.
30 is rough all around. Look out my friend.
LOVE this! I saw a similar tea light at Home Goods but passed it by ….. I’m not as creative as you. lol. Now I’m on the hunt again! Thanks for the inspiration!
I saw a much larger one after we’d already bought this one. The big one would be beautiful as a hanging light! Good luck.
AMAZING!!! It looks so much like the inspiration and SO MUCH CHEAPER. How do you change the bulb? I love the way it catches the light!
Gorgeous! I absolutely LOVE it!
Love it! I agree, all shopping at TJ Maxx is blissful indeed! xo Kristin
I want to yell SHUT UP!!! But that would be rude and also sound like I’m angry, but really I just think you and Andy are complete and total lighting GENIUSES!!!!!!!!
Seriously how do you come up with these ideas?????
It’s beauty-full, and I can’t believe the pricetag. This has to win some contest, somewhere – it’s totally blowing me away right now!
No worries – I would totally take your yelling SHUT UP in exactly the right way. 🙂
Shut the front door!! You are so stinking creative it kills me!!! BRILLIANT!!!
You are one lucky lady. Not only do you have an awesome creative mind, you are married to a very handy (and I don’t mean hairy hands) guy. Your project looks spectacular !!
I have to say, if I were to bring a project like this home to my hubby it would have, for sure, led to divorce court !! LOL !! TFS this great project.
I don’t know why that husband of mine sticks around. 🙂 Thanks for the comment, hope you have a great week!
When I read your facebook post saying you DIY’d this thing I may *possibly* have said out loud, “SHUT THE F**K UP.” Ok, I know. I know I have a potty mouth. But for reals, your creativity knows no bounds and me and my potty mouth bow down to your genius and your bloke’s hairy manly hands.
Awesomeness.
xxx
LOVE IT!!! Isn’t it nice to have a supportive hubby! His thumb looks great…wait ’til 40…or my hubby is 46 eek! This office and chandelier remind me of my dining room turned office. Hope you can visit. You did a great job! KUDOS! ~ Julie http://www.redheadcandecorate.com/4/post/2012/04/dining-room-gtturned-office-completed-version.html
Love this! So pretty.
Your husband makes you the most beautiful chandelier and all you do is pick on his giant knuckles and wrinkly thumb? You might want to be careful otherwise you may just find yourself living with those other hanging bulbs for a lot longer than you’d like …
… just saying!
🙂
Love the light!
Linda
Beautiful! Well done!
I literally just said “brilliant!” out loud. I am wondering, too, how you change the bulb…??? Seriously, it is gorgeous. Love.
Love it, girl!! You are brilliant! Turned out beautifully!!
Gasp worthy!
Wow!! This is fantastic!! You seriously blow me away with your DIY genius!
Ps- don’t be ashamed of your manly man hands and knees- it’s okay ; )
🙂 You figured me out!
“probably actually took flight across the store, landing a few feet away and sliding into the shelf like home base.”
LOLLLLLL!!!!!!! You are so hilarious!
Whewweee, chick that lamp is AMAZEBALLS.
I love this so much I want to smack you out of envy. Good thing you live a few states away sister.
This one is genius.
Bliss
(bet ‘ya thought I was gonna say something about hairy man knees huh?)
Gorgeous! Wow…you are resourceful! I just love it!
Love, love, love it! You guys are electrical geniuses! Seriously. I would have burned my house down 5 times by now if I attempted any of your lighting projects haha
Oh me too! I’m not allowed anywhere near the wiring in this house! 🙂
Wow Kelly, how beautiful and I bet it looks so pretty lit up too.
Way to go!!!
Perfection!! You are officially crowned the DIY Lighting Goddess. Invites for your coronation will go out shortly. 😉
xo Heidi
Oooh pretty! You kids are so clever. Must be the hairy knees. (I KNEW not shaving for days on end was a good idea.)
It is gorgeous! And so creative & unique. I just love that!! One of the best (definitely prettiest!) DIY’s I’ve seen! 🙂
I am so in love with this I can’t even tell you!!! Man how I miss TJ Maxx. Nice work to the man hands in the equation, too. 🙂
Great find, and smart thinking of DIY’N it yourself! It looks amazing.
Oh.My.Goodness.
SO in love with this! It looks amazing and fits that space perfectly! and you completely cracked me up again! #clingingto29 Ha!
That is amazing!!!! I’m impressed. I need to be more patient in TJ Maxx. Apparently.
It looks incredible!!! Amazing job!!!
How very resourceful! It turned out beautifully. I’m thinking I’m due for another look at TJMaxx because I have a boob light situation that needs some help!
Kelly,
This is BEAUTIFUL! What an eye! I was impressed with the one from Target….but this is over the top!
Have a blessed day!
karianne
Don’t you just love it when you have that “light bulb moment” when you see something that will work perfectly to create that sought after item for much less than the upscale versions! This turned out so elegant and pretty.
You brilliant woman. I would seriously never have thought of that although I have seen those tea light holders a thousand times. Very nice indeed!
You freeking crack me up. Sitting in Walmart’s parking lot, checking my email, couldn’t resist reading your post cause I look fwd to them every day, laughing my butt right off. You could write an entertaining post on peeling carrots. The light’s cool too. And I dig your whiskers.
Oooooooh I say! We have TK Maxx here in the UK and about 90% of the stuff that I couldn’t live without in my house is from there. As usual, this is pure genius! I long to create something so clever but I know zero about electrics – that’s why I stop by here!
OHMYGOODNESS!!! I love this…great tutorial and it turned out awesome!!
Holy Awesomsauce!
First…that is ONE HUGE TEALIGHT…
Second.. it was meant to be, my friend… nothing but Providence on that puppy…
Awesome! I too am in love with that chandy, but not the price. Darn, I am going to have to head to TJ’s today!
Luv this chandy!!! Looks lovely in your office – great way to repurpose a tealight holder! You must just smile every time you see it! Shared!
You ae on a serious lighting kick, I love it! The capiz is so super pretty, your office is looking very Emily Clark, yay!
Jessica
It’s gorgeous! You should totally make me one. Or two.
Love it. What a great find and an awesome makeover! So cool =)
What a find! I love when you are on the hunt for something cheaper and it catches you out the corner of your eye and your like a kid on Christmas morning and take off after it:). Turned out perfect and way more affordable!!!
Seriously, brilliant!!! Love that you figured out a way to make it work, it’s absolutely goregous, as is the rest of your office!
GREAT project! Thanks for sharing!
It looks gorgeous and I’m really surprised that hot glue can keep that bottom piece in.
Besides having a really great Blog- You are soo funny!
I was cracking up while reading her blog- awesome!
What a creative solution! I love what you used to make it. Looks great!
Shazam! This is unbelievable and way to be patient and creative.
Love, Love, Love it!
I like yours so much better than the one that inspired it! Beautiful!
OK…I will admit…I have “the original”…or as I refer to it …”the big ball of gorgeousness”. I got it during their 30% off sale. It is pretty amazing in person…so big I can’t put my arms around it. That being said, you did an AMAZING job with your version. 🙂 I saw those candleholders at Home Goods and laughed…in a good way. I almost bought them myself, but didn’t because I didn’t want to be too matchy-matchy.
Congrats on your awesome DIY project. 🙂
Wow! You are my hero! I saw the original and wanted to make one too. I gave up because I could never find the votive holders cheap enough. Enjoy it for me too 🙂
OH MY GOSH!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS!!!! I however, couldn’t have something like this in my house. My husband would say its too girlie. 😛 on him. I am in the process of making my own chandelier for our bedroom doing the wax paper circle thing (total cost should be about $20) and I hope it turns out. I want to make something for my daughters room too. Oh how I wish I could have this in my house. Soooo jealous!
That is gorgeous and brilliant! I love it! Now I’m going to head to TJMaxx every week until I find one like it!
Totally awesome!!! I love how that turned out. It looks spectacular in your space!
That is a fabulous light! I am soooo jealous 😉
genius! I want one.
Wow-that is beautiful! And I love TJ Maxx too.
You are my new guru, enough said. I’m a dodocohenroning and capiz shell chandeliering fool. And I’m totally stealing your laundry room idea!!!!
looks really nice and unique. I remember spending so much time and efforts on choosing chandeliers for my new apartment((
Just happened upon your blog through this post on pintrest. Enjoying it all around. Great DYI post, too!
I am IN LOVE with this chandelier!!! now I’m on the hunt for something similar that I can make into one for my own house! thank you for the idea and GREAT office!!!
You are my hero~! I have been in love with the capiz chandelier since I came across them on houzz.com I was thinking about making but i like your idea alot better! Total score! I wonder if Overstock or Amazon has any of these? I will be sending my friend to TJ Maxx first thing tomorrow as I live in the middle of somewhere…but civilization is over an hour away & Tj Max is about 40 minutes past that 😉 Thanks for the tip & your home office looks awesome..The candle holder didnt look very big but in the final pic it is perfect…I think the Original would have looked gaudy after it was hung.
I bought this at homegoods yesterday and created this today!! thank you soooo very much for such a beautiful idea <3
WOW! This is so clever! I like the way you think!!!! Glad to find you and your blog from the Haven page and hope to meet you in August! The chandy looks fabulous in your office…love!
“With his hairy backs-of-hands” — Ha!
Your finished product is even cuter than the Horchow piece you lusted after. Well done!
I’ve been admiring the same light fixture for the past year…I am so impressed that you were able to create this yourself! Absolutely beautiful– great job!
Wow! AMAZING!! You are totally on my list of favorite real life designers, and it’s a short list!!
I came across this blog and lo and behold, 2 days later, found these gorgeous tea lights in Homegoods. They were the next size down and so I decided they would become my new pendent lights over my kitchen counter. My talented husband made it happen 24 hours later and with a total cost of $120 for 2 beautiful new lights, I am an extremely happy camper. Thank you!
OMGoddd this is exactly what I need. NEED! Lol.
It’s gorgeous. Congrats for the house, it’s all so beautiful (and inpiring! yay!).
Wow, so glad I stumbled upon this! I also purchased a candle holder from Home Goods but it is the bigger one. About 3 ft in diameter that my husband lovingly calls the “giant shell ball”. But it has been my intention to turn it into a light fixture so I’m happy to find your ideas on how to do it. One question, does yours have the small metal feet on it to keep it standing upright and did you take them off? Thanks!
Oh cool! Yes it does, and we didn’t take them off, just put them on the top side so you don’t see them. Good luck!
Absolutely in love. I’ve eyed that target one for awhile but I have nowhere to put him really. Or do I…?
LOVE it! I wish I would stumble upon a capiz shell candle holder!
How have I never seen this before?! As if I needed another reason to love your blog… This is amazing.
I’ve had a few TJ Maxx and homegoods throw downs because somebody else and I spotted the same steal lol!
This is freakin’ brilliant! This light fixture was the very first thing I noticed when I was looking at how you redid your office. I thought, “ooh! I wonder where she got that!” You guys are genius and you have really great taste. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Love the Capiz shell chandelier, very smart. Love the look, love the budget.
Karen
I bought two of these beautiful “things” and cannot find the perfect place to put them. They are so pretty and I was the same way when I spotted them on the TJ Maxx shelf. Everything was slow motion and I usually analyze it to death and don’t buy things, but these I knew would be beautiful….somewhere. Thanks for the post, I am gonna try that light thing for office.
Keep rockin’!
WOW, excellent!!! I wish I could find the same tea light holder here in the UK… :'(
I just did and it’s only £30!!! It’s not a tea holder it is a ceiling light shade, perfect!! \o/ http://www.diy.com/nav/decor/lighting/indoor-lighting/light_shades/-specificproducttype-natural__brown___cream_shades/Tabitha-Daisy-Flower-Shade-10867626
I just saw this and I think it’s adorable. Well done!
Great idea, I have a fluorescent tube light in my basement that I am desperately trying to camouflage. I would love something sculptural like this, wish I could still rush out to TJ Maxx but it’s a little far from Germany. By the way, where is the desk in these photos from? I have a friend doing a similar office renovation and this desk would be perfect!
The desk actually came from craigslist, which I know is not a helpful answer. I think the guy said it’s vintage, but I have no idea if that’s true.
OMG!! I saw this post a few days ago and stopped by Home Goods yesterday for some ideas and to see if they had anything similar. I found the exact same capiz tealight holder and grabbed it immediately. I couldn’t believe it. I am SO excited and can’t wait to convert it into a chandelier for my guest room. Thanks for this awesome post!!!
LOVE this! LOVE your blog! My question is, what’s up with the rugs?? Were you just trying them on for size? Did you eventually end up with one of the ones shown? I’m scared to ask if you diy’d the animal skins?!?!?
hahaha! Thanks! We switched ’em out a few times, here’s the story: http://viewalongway.wpengine.com/2012/10/that-time-we-fostered-a-large-cow/
I needed to thank you for this fantastic read!!
I definitely loved every bit of it. I’ve got you book marked
to check out new things you post…
You deserve an Academy Award, Emmy, something for the genius here!!!
I just found this at home goods today!! I’m debating whether or not I should go back to purchase it. One question though…what kind of bulb are you using and is it bright enough with just one?
Just a regular incandescent bulb, I think. Probably 100 watts, and yes it’s perfect. 🙂
Wow I just stumbled upon your blog, crazy thing is…I saw this exact tea candle holder this weekend at Homegoods! I thought about turning it into a light too! Sadly, I left it behind 🙁 It looks just like the one Young House Love put in their room recently!
I came across your blog a while back while doing some research (more on that in a minute). Since then, I have found myself back here several times while looking for other things and realized how completely awesome you are! You are who I want to be when I grow up! (Chronologically, I’m probably old enough to be your, um, older sister, but you know what I mean!) So, I’ve never posted a comment on a blog before, but now that I’ve read more of your posts, I realize that you and your readers can truly appreciate this, so I just had to take a second to brag…I don’t get to do that often enough! See, I also love garage sales, bargains, diy projects, and the like. And I love your style, too. So, back to the first time I came across your blog…I was searching on “capiz shell chandelier” to see if I could figure out if my newest bargain find was really as spectacular as I suspected. See, I had to prove to my hubby, a friend, and my dear ole’ Mom that I was a genius. (I did manage to convince them I had an eye for decorating bargains, but I still have quite a way to go before they’re on board with the whole “genius” concept. But I’m still working on it and maybe by using some of the tips and ideas from your blog I’ll get there some day.) See, I had recently cleaned out my garage and storage room, purged some clutter, had one of my semi-annual garage sales, and taken anything worth donating to Goodwill (which meant I had newly-created spaces for new “treasures”). I hauled the remaining junk to our local dump and decided that I should stop in and check out the “reuse and recycle” thrift store maintained in association with the landfill. I was looking for super-cheap light fixture globes to use in one of my yard-art projects and this place was the perfect spot because their prices are staggering low…like garage-sale-right-before-they-shut-down-and-everything-is-almost-free-because-a-quarter-is-better-than-loading-it-up-and-hauling-it-to-the-donation-center low. Anyway, I spotted a couple of globes in the lighting section and as I was bending over to grab them, I spied something curious peeking out of a partially-closed cardboard box. And there they were. The most amazing retro capiz shell pendant-swag-chandelier-hanging-light thingies I’d ever seen. I had no idea what they were, exactly, but I knew I wanted one. But just one. And there were two. Bummer. So I asked the question…could I buy just one or did I have to buy the pair? No, I had to buy them both if I wanted them. But wasn’t that excessive, even for me? I mean, I JUST purged. Why would I buy two of something just to get ONE of what I wanted? OK, well, maybe I could put one back to sell in my next garage sale…but could I make enough on the resale to make the purchase of the pair worth the one that I wanted? It didn’t matter. I HAD to have this light. So, I took a deep breath and readied myself for the outrageous price I was going to have to pay for the pair. When the sales lady told me the price, I thought I’d mis-heard her…”Did you say $40…for the PAIR?” I almost didn’t hear her reply because I was secretly trying to decide whether to wait for the next garage sale or list it on Craig’s List and whether I should ask the full $40 for the single, or drop the price to $20 since I was keeping one. So, imagine my shock and ecstasy when I finally realized that she was saying, “No, FOUR dollars!” So, to make a short story really long and tedious, I got a PAIR of the original circa-’70’s capiz shell chandelier pendants from which the $549 reproductions were modeled. And, the chain and connections are brass with that beautiful patina that aged brass gets that folks are trying to copy these days. And they’re the larger of the two sizes I’ve seen available. My friend who was with me when I bought them gave me that “OK, you’ve really lost it, this time” look. All my hubby could say was “at least you only paid $4 for them.” And my Mom, who is always trying to convince me to minimize and purge was exasperated that I’d already started restocking the clutter I’d just vanquished. So, I had to prove them all wrong. I knew they were the awesomest lights ever and I would prove it. So, I started searching the internet for others like them, but kept coming up with nothing even remotely similar. Until I removed the word “antique” from my search. Imagine the “told ya so’s” that went on after that for months. I enjoyed a brief respite from being harassed for my treasure hunting…but that’s over now. I guess it’s time to find another amazing deal to prove my bargain-hunting prowess again so I can enjoy the fall garage sale season without a lot of hassles. Oh, and as for the fate of the “extra” one…my sister-in-law fell in love with it, so voila…cheap and easy birthday shopping! HA! I win again!
hahaha! AWESOME!! I bet they’re gorgeous. I can’t get my family on board with considering me a genius either, so let me know when you get that figured out. 😉 haha. Thanks so much for the comment!
That is such a clever idea!
Just found these in a chandelier on World Market website for a reasonable price. 18″ one for $149 and a 11.8″ for $69. I just need to decide which size to get for my dining room….
http://www.worldmarket.com/product/large+capiz+lotus+hanging+pendant+lantern.do?fMb=1&green=381D8C2E-BB47-56B4-0838-1E6572AF2467&Clickid=mybuys_prod_cs
That’s amazing! And thank you. I was trying to figure out if I could turn a lamp into a hard-wired hanging fixture and now I know.
Where did you get the teal/orange rug in your office? My colors – perfect! Thanks!!
I have the same tealight from Homegoods. I’ve been trying to figure out how to fix the top opening to hold the lightbulb. You said that you glued a ceiling canopy to the inside of the tealight. Did it go inside or just on top, & then glued? Because I don’t know how you could have gotten the canopy inside since it is a little wider than the opening. And if it’s just on top of the opening of the tealight, is the glue strong enough to hold the tealight? I even went by a lamp shop asking for their input today. But they weren’t much help. I so want to get this wired so that I can put it up. Thanks for showing me that it can be done.
Hi! I bought exactly the same candle holder from home goods , and it’s 69.99 now. I bought the light canopy today, but I don’t know how can I put it into the light. Could you please tell me how did you do that ? Thank you!
how cool! I think I have seen that tea light thing or something similar. I might just have to try this!