When it comes to DIY Projects, I love ones that can be done with a few people (like my family) or that can subtly teach you something, like how celebrating Pi Day with pie allows you to remember the 3.14 of the mathematical constant. Well, this newest DIY project can actually teach your kids a thing or two—but this time about your home country!
In a fabulous idea from Apartment Therapy, learn how you can put a map on a lamp by making a globe pendant light. The project is easier than it sounds (it only requires a light, globe and an exacto blade!) but it will brighten up any room with adorable quirk. Plus the best part: teach your kids a little something about your home country by showing them where it is and where your family originally came from.
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How to Make a Globe Pendant Light (DIY project courtesy of Leah Moss via Apartment Therapy)
Materials and Tools:
pendant light kit (find them at any home center in the lighting sections. I got a cheap discontinued brassy one which I intend to spray paint yellow in the near future) or for a less permanent fixture requiring no electrician, use a plug in cord kit from Ikea.
globe (I found this broken one on the side of the road)
paint
some sort of writing material (she used chalk)
exacto blade or box cutter
Instructions:
1. Using your exacto blade, carefully cut the globe in half along the equator (most old globes are only joined here with glue or tape anyway, so this takes about two seconds)
2. Hold the light socket of your pendant light on the top of your globe (north or south pole depending on which half you're using) and use it as a stencil as you trace around it to mark the spot where it will be inserted
3. Using your exacto blade, cut around the circle you just marked (the lip of the pendant light should cover this area once it's assembled so this doesn't have to be a perfectly clean cut). Some globes that were previously one rotating stands, like mine, have a metal washer-like disk glued on at either pole, so be careful as you cut around it and remove it. If your blade doesn't cut through the globe easily, it probably means that you do have one of these metal disks (sorry no picture of that part).
4. Paint the inside of your globe. I was toying with the idea of adding a decorative finish like decoupaging it with book pages (super nerd!) to cover up the seam lines or painting it a cool color for another surprise element, but for now I just went with white paint.
5. Install the pendant light into the ceiling (use an electrician or go with the plug in version if you don't know how to switch out the existing feature yourself)
6. Fit the light socket through the hole at the top of your globe, screw on the cap, pop in the bulb, and tada!
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What do you this of this adorable and super easy DIY project for your home?
Image via Sparkzy/flickr
