DIY Lantern Tutorial

DIY Lantern Tutorial

Hello Folks! This tutorial I have been waiting to do forever- Literally 6 years I have wanted these lanterns in my kitchen. Actually I should have planned them into the design of the house. 

Shoulda- woulda- coulda! 

Here are some pics of inspiration for my fixtures. 

Restoration Hardware's Weston Square Pendant

Weston Square Fixture

Link to designer site. 

Here is a pic of the lighting fixture I had in my kitchen before. 

My Kitchen fixture before- sorry, a little grainy. 

Yes, it is a pretty fixure, but the problem with it is that it blocks the view of my black custom cabinetry, and does not give the kitchen the feel I am after. A little fancier. So, I took down the old chandelier, 

...and covered the hole with a temporary plastic cover to make the hole disappear. 

See cover in the middle? It helps hide previous electrical hole.

Now on for the fun part. Making the lanterns. First, my mom and I went to TJ Maxx and found these lanterns on the clearance rack... $20 each (!)

See???Compare at $60!!!!

Darn- I don't have a pic of them in the store- but they looked similar to this:

I saw the potential right away! Also, these lanterns are made to withstand heat- there were instructions for putting real candle flames inside, so I figured using them with lightbulbs would be fine as well.

Now, I had the lanterns but needed the electrical component, so I headed down (up) to the Habitat for Humanity Restore.

I picked up these little beauties (not.) They were 10 dollars each, but then there was a 40 % discount on all lighting for the month of February! 6 dollars each, Bam!

I only wanted the lighting inside of these, and the chain...not the glass. 

So I started taking them apart. 

Till I was left with this:

Now to the spray booth:

Disclaimer---for the first lantern I turned into a chandelier, I removed the bulbs and white candle sleeves and sprayed the chain, then added it to the chandelier. The second time around,  I did opposite, I added the lighting component to the lantern, then sprayed. The second way worked MUCH better. These are the instructions for the second way. 

* Please excuse my picture quality, this was tough taking pics at night after the kids were asleep, and building and taking pics at the same time. 

So, I first removed all of the glass from the lantern and labeled them with a sharpie so later I could insert them back into the frame. I labeled them L for Left, B for Back, R for Right and D for Door. 

Then, I drilled a hole in the top of the lantern.

It had to be big enough for the wires to pass through. check!

Next, I threaded the wires through the top and secured with fixture loop, nipple and lock washer. Also, I decided to add a canopy (from the old brass fixture) in the opening space to help hide all of the wire inside the lantern. You can see this a few pics down. 

Then I added the chain. And weaved the wires through every other link. I decided for stability purposes I would hook a link around the top of the lantern handle. This helped to secure and stabilize the fixture.

Brass canopy in between to hide wire.  

Then, I spray painted all of the chain and wire and pieces with black satin spray paint.

Now time to hang the fixture. I turned off the electrical current at the electrical box outside.

* Note- I waited to add the glass back to the fixture so it would not be so heavy to hold and install.

I cut the chains to ten links each, this gave a good hanging height and was a way for me to ensure each fixture was the same length. I do not have pics of me doing the electrical, for obvious reasons. Essentially you join the neutral wire with the neutral wire... add nut to join, hot wire with the hot wire...add nut to join, and ground wire (green) with the ground wire and attach to ground screw.

Here is a good illustration of how to hang a chandelier. 

I did the same thing except I added a plate in-between the fixture base and the ceiling in order to cover up the can light hole that used to be there.

Next, I added the glass to the lantern. First I windex-ed them, then added to the fixture.

Next, while the fixtures were hanging I used my spray paint to touch up any brass peeking out or scratches from the chain on the handle. In order for the spray to not get all over the glass or my kitchen I put a piece of paper towel behind where I was spraying to prevent any miss-spray. Oh, and don't forget to take off the "made in ______" stickers on the underside of the fixture.

Then, I turned back on the electrical and- Yea! They worked!

I am telling you my pictures do not do these fixtures justice. They really dress up my kitchen and make the whole area feel more elegant!

View from below.  

* These were really hard to photograph. Hope you love my tutorial. 

Drop me a line. 

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Thanks, Kristen