Give a Rusty Hanging Light a Makeover With Thick Twine

Do you ever have things in your home that you absolutely love but just feel they need a little makeover or some updating? That’s how I feel about this hanging light. I found it at the Country Living Fair in NY (read about the trip here and here) and it has been hanging in my living room ever since.

It was handmade by a gentleman with parts from his farm and as soon as I saw it I loved its rusticness and rust. Every piece of it had a story to tell and that made it even more special.

I have had no desire to get rid of it but after I redid my living room a year ago (read about that here) and lightened everything up, it felt like the rusty hanging lamp needed some lightening up too.

I didn’t want it to lose too much of its charm so to start, it got some blue paint. Just enough to make it look blue,

but not enough to cover it completely. Like the paint had been there as long as the rust.

The paint helped to soften up the look of the light but I still wanted a little more. I grabbed my favourite skein of thick vintage twine; which was ironically found the same day as the lamp.

If you have been around for awhile, you have seen this twine so many times. It feels like it is never going to run out and I can’t even count how many projects I have used it for. It was seriously the best $20 I have ever spent!

Anyway, back to the project…

To add the vintage twine to the metal, I thought it would be fun to wrap it around and give it somewhat of a macrame effect. I started by hot gluing the end of the twine to the underside of the top of the light. This hid the starting point and kept it firmly in place for the wrapping.

Conveniently the light had little metal pieces which were perfect to wrap the twine around. As I worked my way around I pulled the twine over the metal bar,

wrapped it around and behind,

and then back over the front and on to the next bar.

It did take some time to work my way down the light but it wasn’t difficult. When I came to the end of a piece of twine, I used the hot glue to stick it to the back of the closest piece of metal and then started a new piece at the same spot.

I’m really happy with how it looked when I got to the end. The twine was thick enough that it left spaces for the light to shine through and the effect it made looks pretty cool.

If you are looking for a “new” to you light, it would be easy to copy this process. Grab an old wire basket or anything else that has some space between the metal pieces and wrap away. Hang it over a hanging light bulb and create a fun and unique light.

I hope you are having fun with some DIY projects this weekend as well. Let me know what you’ve been working on… I always love seeing how you’ve turned your junk into gems too!