Light Bulb Moment

It can happen almost anywhere, any time of day whether I want it to or not. Random design ideas float in and out of my already crowded brain like passengers zipping through a busy airport terminal. Usually I'll be shopping for something totally unrelated when it comes to me; why not use that as a ____ instead of a _____. Sometimes I'm strolling the aisles of the Home Depot searching for paint and I see a drop cloth I can use for fabric on an outdoor sofa, or a window shutter I can hang on a wall as an organizer for mail/homework/shopping lists. If I see an interesting planter I picture buying an inexpensive piece of glass, filling the planter with interesting pieces and using it as a coffee table, perfect for sparking conversation. Even the Salvation Army can be a treasure trove of fantastic design ideas. Those hideous store-bought dining room tables? Paint them wacky colors in high-gloss! Vintage jackets, cut them up and frame them as a collage on a wall. Sometimes it's nice to walk into a huge chain store and find everything you need within arms reach, but design you'll talk about for years are the pieces you create on your own, that spark curiosity in anyone who enters your space. With seasons rapidly changing on the east coast, I've found myself with similar challenges in totally different projects; lighting. Lighting can kill a place or bring it back to life. When showing a home to perspective buyers, lighting is everything! To brighten up a cool, dark space on the Hudson River I headed to Home Goods where I found these simple, HUGE lamp shades for $12/each. While Home Goods didn't carry the conversion kit I needed, everyone from Target and Walmart to Ikea and Home Depot do. It's a very simple process to turn just about any lamp shade into a unique chandelier. What looks like a long extension cord with a switch, simply attaches itself to the shade where the lamp would rest and plugs into any outlet on the other end. To hang in the middle of a large room, I paint the cord the same color as the ceiling/walls and use cable nails and hooks to secure tightly to the surfaces (what your cable man probably used to keep your wires tight to the baseboards, also available at the hardware store). For far less than any store bought lamp you can light up a room with a bright idea!
TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: Ten minutes
COST: Lampshades at Home Goods: $12 conversion cord at Target: $9
STRESS LEVEL: Bringing good ideas to light: LOW