the making of a light...and a nook...and a boy...

Since our oldest has a large closet, way larger than he needs, we decided to make a desk nook on one side of it.  The most fun part was making the light for only a few dollars.  We've done this many times before, and so far it never gets old.  

All you need is a pendant light kit, like this one from Hobby Lobby (make sure to use your 40% off coupon), some sort of basket--I used a wire one here (also from the hobs for half off), and maybe a zip tie.  

 Thread the pendant wire through the basket.  It's best to do this without the light bulb, but I was impatient so I risked shattering glass everywhere.  

Attach the pendant to the basket.  I used a zip tie on this light but the type of basket will determine what you use, if anything.

 Now you're ready to attach your light.  You can use a small hook or staple gun (just don't puncture the wire).  I used both on this project, the hook to hang the light and staples to keep the wire in place.

Here's another cool idea for hanging these lights.

design sponge

 For the rest of this project, I used black chalkboard paint that I had on hand for the wall.  We had the two wooden planks from another project so we painted them and attached them to the wall.  The chair is from Wal-Mart years ago.  (You'll remember this post where I sang the praises of these chairs--and we still love them.  Unfortunately they are no longer $15, but I would gladly pay more because they have all lasted and OH MY GOSH WE ARE SO ROUGH ON EVERYTHING!) And the poster came from The Rusted Arrow.  I didn't want to do a lot to this space because the idea is to not be distracted and SIT AND STUDY.  But we'll see about that.  Where do you and your family like to read and study?