Let there be light

Turn a dark corner into a radiant and unique place to plop down and read or sip or chat.

Since renting out our spare room, we are short one lamp and haven’t found a suitable cute (and affordable) replacement. Rather than hiding on the dark side of the living room, we opted to fill a vintage gallon jar with christmas lights to create a luminous object lamp, an objet d’art, if you will. 

Other great vessels for this kind of lighting arrangement include glass water pitchers, large glass pickle jars (if not full of fermenting carrots), or colored glass vases or jars.

Localize it: DIY lighting

This hip trick was inspired during my week in Indianapolis by Earth House Collective, the wonderful host of Indy Food Swap and other fine arts and community-building events.

Great overhead lighting is hard to come by (or can be expensive to install, a common woe for renters). Take charge of your dark corner lighting needs with a pendant light cord, a store-bought or DIY lamp shade and some fishing wire to help deflect attention from the cord. Hang the fishing wire from the ceiling to help you create the perfect hover, lifting the cord up and away from your light. Visit this post for a how-to make your own mason jar chandelier tutorial.