Inside: Make a DIY Industrial Style Hanging lamp with this home decor hack! Perfect for a reading area or in a play space. Uses an old lamp shade!

This hack is literally one of the most ingenious lighting hacks ever – if I do say so myself. When you’re tight on budget, lighting is hard. It’s often really expensive and rarely goes on sale enough to make the purchase an easy one. It was great when industrial lighting became popular though because that meant a lot of opportunity for DIY style lights! Today, I’m sharing how I turned an old lampshade into a super cool DIY Industrial Cage Light.

Since this project, I’ve become a bit obsessed with statement lighting pieces, you can have a look at the giant beaded chandelier in my office space. But I’ve also gone down the DIY lighting rabbit hole a bit as well. I challenged myself to turn a glass bottle into a lamp – and it worked!

When you’re updating lighting or DIYing it, spray paint is really your best friend. This project relies on spray paint to transform the old shade into something that looks more industrial. I’ve also used metallic spray paint to transform yard sale lamps into something a bit more modern. It works like a charm every time.

If you’re really into hanging lamps and you want something to compliment this industrial cage light look – I highly recommend the Ikea Ranarp series. It is SUPER affordable, so don’t feel guilty spending on it. I’ve had ours for years and they really go with any style you can imagine. I have them in our French coastal guest room, but I’ve also seen them in really modern and contemporary spaces as well.

1 cage light

How to Make a DIY Industrial Cage Light | Thrifty Project!

Active Time: 20 minutes

Additional Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Estimated Cost: $10

A simple upcycle of an old lamp shade into a chic, modern, industrial hanging cage lamp. You can do this project for about $10.

Materials

1 bell shaped lamp shade
lamp cord kit
yarn or twine
cord strippers
edison bulb
pliers and chain (optional)
spray paint

Instructions

Pull the fabric off your shade and spray paint it. I used metallic spray paint in an oil rubbed bronze finish to get an industrial look. If you are doing this in a kids' room - a bright colour would be very cool too.
Thread your light kit into the centre of the lamp upside down. You might need to use the pliers to open it up to make it fit here - that will depend on the type of shade you are working with.
Then use your wire strippers to pull back the plastic lining on the wires about 1/2" to 3/4". If you've never done this before, make sure you speak with someone who has. Lighting is simple, but it's good to have a professional guide you through it the first time. I only do lamp rewiring and light fixture swapping. Anything beyond that, I hire a pro to come to the house and do it for me.
Wrap the exposed wires back around the fixture and screw in your light bulb.
One thing you want to avoid is having the light actually hanging by the cord itself. It's dangerous to do that as it could put pressure on the cord and it could split etc. So wrap the cord in your twine or yarn of choice (this is entirely optional and just for decorative purposes).
Then use the pliers again to open up your chain and add that onto the lamp. This will be what holds the light to the ceiling hook.
Hang up your light and plug it in!

I sorta love how this turned a frumpy lamp shade into a super cool lamp shade! And I even think it would amazing to do with with some outdoor solar lights, right?

I mean how amazing would that look strung through the trees? If you are into the boho industrial look, make sure you have a look at my Boho Thrifted Tray Makeover too!