Hacking IKEA Pendants

I stumbled across a blog post recently where a smart, smart lady had turned IKEA's Foto Pendant into a DIY barn light for over her kitchen sink and I said to myself, "self! $14.99 for a pendant is just the right price for your kitchen."

So that's what I did. An old neighbor of mine in Salt Lake traveled to Idaho this past weekend for a family function, and before making the trip she was kind enough to grab a couple pendant lights at IKEA for me -- what a gal, saving me seven hours of driving (and some unknown amount of money... IKEA is dangerous like that).

These pendants come with a plug so I had to have to flex my electrical muscles. And I'm mildly afraid of electricity so really I made my husband do most of it. Since he never works on house projects with me, it's secretly fun when I get to rope him into helping me out... quality time, you know.

In the interest of full disclosure, I also purchased a couple of ceiling canopy kits for about $6 each which brought the grand total to $21 a pendant. And since this was a little jury rigged, I also had to tie a fancy knot in the cord above the metal cross bar to keep the pendants at the right height, which means we assembled the light and the ceiling kit first, tied the knot in the cord and then my husband mounted the whole unit to the ceiling (as seen in the photos below). Lucky for us (him) this pendant weights next to nothing, so it wasn't a big deal.

I'm not 100% sold on the color I chose (Krylon's Ocean Breeze) as I was hoping it would be a little more muted. I think I might like Krylon's Catalina Mist on these, but then I'd have a pair of Catalina Mist pendants right next to a pair of Catalina Mist lamps, so maybe I should find a new color for those living room lamps before I do anything hasty! Or maybe spray paint companies need to come out with more colors. Just a thought. I like blue lights, okay?

For now though, they'll do! I like 'em, and $21 a pendant is well within my budget kitchen makeover plan. Now to just sort out that unfinished wall...