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142 Comments

  1. OMG wow, wow, wow! This is an outstanding post! The level of information is excellent and the light is beyond gorgeous. This is something that must be in my newly renovated basement!

  2. You’re light fixture looks incredible! You did a great job with the design. I’ll have this as my inspiration. Thanks for sharing!

  3. Hi Amanda, I love post about handmade dining room light. Actually, I was making preparation to build a DIY dining room light. And I was exploring information from the around and stumbled upon this post.

    Very helpful post with images, instructions and directions are looks good, and I hope I will be able to build up my home dining room light following your steps.

    Have a great day!

  4. Alex Hall says:

    I have to tell you that this is absolutely the most gorgeous light I’ve yet to see….you name the website and Ive been there and literally (over the last 6-7 months) have looked at every light in styles like yours, I’m so happy your website found it’s way to my search results….I’m just completely amazed and completely bummed “because” now I have no choice except to build it LOL…,Im so grateful for the tutorial, thank you so much…I hope it ends up even closely resembling yours and that alone will make my year!!!…your a Wonder and a Gem!!! Truly can’t thank you enough!!!

  5. I love this!! great thing you created! Thank you for the publication

  6. Dean Hilmer says:

    What are the electrical code requirements for the wire connections inside the box?
    As wood is a combustible material seems that special protection is required in case of shorts?

    1. We’re not electricians, and you’d need to check the codes and requirements for your area. We did our research and took precautions to make sure our light was safe (and had no issues in the years that we lived in this house after making it!), but I can’t give any specific advice on the wiring!

  7. I love this so much! My only confusion is how it is attached to the ceiling? I don’t quite get that part!

    1. Hi Aidan – We built a box for all of the lights (where the rope/wire is attached), and it simply fits over two ledger boards on the ceiling and is screwed into place! You drill the ledger boards into studs in the ceiling, then fit the box over them and attach the box directly to those boards. 🙂

      1. I have the same dilemma and out of many ideas popped to my head, this seems to be the nicest, especially after seeing your hard work. I am not going to do that many lights, do they look amazing. Only two ledge boards were used and what size wood? . 2X4 ? and what size screws used to screw them into ceiling joists and what size screws to attach the light to the board? 4 or 8 screws? Wooden light box must be very heavy. Definitely two requires two people. One of then has to be very strong.

  8. This is incredible. I need this in my life. I’m just scared to do the wiring. I think I could do everything else.

    1. You could always hire out that part! 🙂

  9. peter perletti says:

    when I saw that big piece of timber I thought that someone was to go on the cross

  10. Hey, would you still have the pictures of the whole process.. they don’t seem to open on any of my devices, so I would believe that they have been removed from your blog. Would you mind uploading them again ? This is a gorgeous piece and I would love to make one
    Thanks a lot

    1. Hi DeeGee – thank you SO much for alerting me to this issue! We’re having some glitches with images on our older posts, but I didn’t realize this post was affected! All of the images should be working now! But, if you do any browsing on older posts, you may notice similar issues, please know I’m actively working on it right now!

  11. Charlie Harrison says:

    Hi Amanda. I’m almost finished making ours. I was wondering if you would like photos once it’s complete.

    Regards,

    Charlie

  12. Charlie Harrison says:

    This light looks awesome and I’m seriously debating trying this in my own dining room. I’m a handy guy and think I’m up for the task. My and my wife’s only reservation is that there are no photos with the final chanalier lit and I really want to get an idea of how much the whole thing glows versus just the 8 lights. If you could post or email a photo of it lit up it would be very helpful.

    1. Hi Charlie! Unfortunately, I’m not sure if I ever took a good photo of the chandelier all lit up (or, if I did, I can’t seem to find it!). We’ve since moved out of that house and so I can’t snap one for you. So sorry – I can’t believe I never got around to photographing it all lit up. I’ll definitely come back and let you know if I find a photo, though. One thing to note is that we had ours on a dimmer switch and found that was the best way to get just the right amount of light – we rarely turned ours up to full blast, because it was in a room with a ton of natural light already. Hope that helps!

  13. It made me gasp out loud! I love this. I don’t have anywhere to put it at this time, but I won’t forget it. Ever.

  14. miss pooslie says:

    what does it look like turned on?

    1. It’s almost impossible to catch a good photo because of all the light we get in that room, but the light from the functional bulbs bounces off the others and makes a really cool effect! It kind of illuminates them and makes it seem like the whole thing is glowing. It’s pretty beautiful! 🙂

  15. fantastic! if all the bulbs lit up, you could light up a whole city block!! great job…

  16. AMAZING!! Love how it turned out–so clever!!! Thank you for sharing.

  17. Love the project, what kind of wood did you use how much ?

    1. Thanks! We just used white wood, we made the box from a 6-foot 1″ X 12″.

  18. Excellent tutorial. I’m going to add this to my honey-do list 🙂 Thx for sharing…

    1. Thanks! Be sure to come back and share if you do make it – I always love seeing photos!

  19. Amy Nguyen says:

    Hi There!

    This looks absolutely amazing!! You guys did an great job!!
    I am planning to replicate this…wish me luck!

    Before i do get started, my only concern is…how do you change a bulb if it goes out? Do you have to remove the whole unit?

    Thanks in advance for your help!

    1. Nope, you can just switch it at the socket. It’s actually kind of nice because you have an almost never-ending supply of extra bulbs – you can just switch one that isn’t connected for the one that is, since it won’t matter if a non-lit one is burned out.

  20. I would love to see a photo of this lit up at night!

  21. So excited that I’m starting this project next week! My rustic dining table is 9.5 feet long, so your idea was PERFECT! Going to make some slight modifications, with using all real sockets for all (since I don’t have access a garage full of tools), and using a paracord style wiring vs twisted style, so that the non working sockets wiring match the working ones. And also shorten the box so I have more clearance over my dining table.

    Before I ordered 90 light bulbs, I wanted to ask you… How do you feel about the 40 watt bulbs? Are they bright enough? Or would you prefer to go with 60 watt??

    1. How exciting! The 40 watt bulbs are perfect – any more would definitely be too much. Our light is on a dimmer switch and we normally don’t even turn it all the way up.

  22. Just seen this. Brilliant!

  23. Hi! I am in the middle of making this right now. I am wondering what was the width of the rope that you used? I have to order most of the parts online and am anxious to order the rope as I just ordered the bulbs and wire and have just about finished to box. I am so excited to be making this myself 🙂

    1. I don’t know the exact width, but it was the skinniest rope they sold at Lowe’s. I would guess either 1/8″ or 3/16″.

  24. This is awesome! i was searching to make my own dining as well and i think this will be a great tutorial. Thanks for the step by step instruction!!!
    You used crazy glue to hang light bulbs to strings. how does it hold the weight of the faux metal socket? would it be ok to use PVC pipes as faux socket? would it melt due to heat created by light next to it?

    thanks!

    1. The glue doesn’t actually hold the faux sockets, those are held up by knots in the string. It holds the light bulbs in perfectly – we haven’t lost any! I don’t see why pvc pipe wouldn’t work…unless your light got extremely hot or was on all the time, but our bulbs never get very hot. Hope that helps!

  25. How much wire did u need/buy?

    1. It really depends on how low you want them to hang. We just figured out how low we wanted each of the bulbs, then calculated based off of that.

  26. My husband is convinced this is exactly what he wants in our dining room. I’m not thrilled on a DIY light, but it is beautiful…. thanks for so many details!

  27. This is great! Where did you buy the wiring for your lights at? My husband and I are making our dinner table light out of a whisky barrel and blue mason jars. we have been trying to figure out how to make our own pendant lights like you guys did with a total of 5 lights but it seems like we are constantly finding different methods from everyone and we are getting frustrated. We know we need the sockets, and the ceiling mount for power, we just dont know where to get the electical wire and how to hook it all up without burning our house down. that would be a bumber.

    1. I’m in a similar situation, where I’m building the chandelier out of a cast iron pot rack. I’m worried about the wiring and not burning my house down! Amanda, I just sent you an email with more details, if you can please help me, I’m super excited to try this project!

  28. You guys are awesome!! Amazing job concise and humorous tutorial. I’m looking to make something similar but with branches in lieu of bulbs and you have just given me a rainbow of confidents.

    Peace and Joy my crafty mate

  29. This light is about the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. I am going to try it in a much smaller scale for my kitchen. Thank you for a wonderful time reading your blog. Time well spent. By the way, when and what’s for dinner? LOL. Thanks again. Penny Buckler

  30. THIS IS AMAZING!!! Exactly what I was thinking of for our dining room in our new house (if it ever gets build)! I so want to steal this. Just not sure I can do it. Great job.

  31. this looks fabulous! I am thinking about doing something like this to my room (minus the amount of light bulbs..) haha, can you email me.. i just had a few questions about the wiring and stuff 🙂

  32. Thanks so much for this tutorial!! Looks amazing. I will definitely be doing this in the future b/c of all the great step-by-step info. You guys are so great 🙂

  33. I just saw this on Pinterest and was thinking that looks just like our light fixture! The inspiration is my loft. LOL, small world. 😉

  34. What is the wall color? I love it!

    1. Flagstone by Olympic! 🙂

  35. Thank you for posting your plans on here! My husband said to me the other day, I would love a light that has multi strands and uncovered bulbs for over the kitchen table, what do you think those cost? So we went out and the only ones we liked were around 3,000 dollars. I recalled seeing your blog and said wait a minute I think we can tweak the plans I have seen on this wicked girls blog and we can do it ourselves. We took your light as inspiration and made some adjustments and voila the coolest modern light ever! we made the box 3 feet and recessed the bottom piece with the holes so that it was less noticeable, then we sprayed it with prosche silver car paint and a hight gloss clear coat (thank goodness my father manages an autobody shop). My hubby ordered colored fabric covered wire from the UK and we bought all real ceramic sockets for all 48 bulbs. We sprayed them along with the hartdware to attach it to the cord and the effect is so goood it looks like we purchased the light at a high end modern store. I wish I could post a picture in case anyone wanted info on the items we used and to show you what you inspired. But wanted to thank you for helping us accomplish our dream light project. Our cost however was $650 since all the sockets were real, but compared to 3K we were pleased!!

    1. Wow – sounds amazing!! I’d love to see photos – my email is [email protected] if you wanna send some my way! 🙂

  36. how tall were your ceilings? very nice

    1. In the dining room, they’re just standard 8-foot ceilings. 🙂

  37. Very beautiful. great job on the wooden box, cool finish. Impressive indeed.

  38. Stephanie says:

    I love your light and I am attempting it with help from my husband. Where did you get the fake wire rope? I can’t seem to find any at the hardware stores around me and I am wondering where else to look. Thanks so much!

  39. This light fixture is incredible. I think it’s beyond my DIY skills. But it’s inspirational and truly beautiful.

  40. O. M. G. ! This is INCREDIBLE! I don’t have a great space for a chandelier like this in my house, but I wish I did! Congrats on an amazing DIY job! I love love LOVE it!
    -Sarah

  41. Congrats on getting into the contest!! This project is simply amazing!!! Well deserved! Can’t wait to see what other amazingness you come up with!

  42. My boyfriend and I spent the last month recreating our own version of this dining room light. First of all this has been one of the most fun projects we have ever done! And your plans have been invaluable!! We are soooo pleased with the results. We made a few changes: we downsized to half the size (as my dining room & table are very small) and made it with 40 bulbs, shortened the length, found an easier way to make faux sockets (using 3/4 inch PVC female adapters) which cut the work time by lots, and we were able to screw in the bulbs so we can reuse later if needed. We’ve had so much fun, we are now inspired to upgrade and redesign my tiny kitchen! Just want to say a huge THANK YOU for your plans which are well developed, inspiring, and even funny!

    1. That’s so exciting! I’m glad to hear our plans were useful! 🙂 I’d love to see photos if you have ’em!

  43. This looks so great!! DIY fixtures like that can look very tacky, very quickly. You completely avoided a tacky look! I’m in love! Hopefully this project gets you into Creating With The Stars!!

    1. Aw, thanks! Fingers crossed! 🙂

  44. Wow, this is incredible! I soooo admire how much effort you put into this and it totally paid off! Super impressed. 🙂

    Thanks for entering the contest! 🙂

    Jess

  45. Mike in Hawaii says:

    Wonderful job! I hope Corey wasn’t scolded too much for standing on the dining table!
    I noted that the holes in the knockout caps were rough edged. No doubt that a standard twist drill bit was used. One my metal projects, I use “stepped” drill bits, as they leave a smooth edged hole. These bits make very clean holes without the sudden pull through at the end as with a twist bit. I also use a bit of cutting oil to ease things along, too.

    1. Thanks so much – and, no, it’s a super sturdy table, so we stand on it surprisingly frequently as needed. Thanks for the tip! 🙂 This was our first time playing around with this sort of stuff, so we were definitely making it up as we went along!

  46. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!
    I also spotted that light and I was and still am in love with it absolutely.
    I will try to make it also when I hope so…
    Beutiful, tnx again!

    1. Thanks – glad we could help!

  47. PigglyWiggly says:

    Great Job!!! I would only suggest that you put some kind of rubber edging on the holes your drilled for the “real” lights. The sheathing on the wires could be cut and then you would have a rather ‘hot’ light! I would have also suggested that you tape each connection with electrical tape or put them in boxes. These suggestions are for safety only coming from an electricians daughter!! Yet your light is gorgeous! I think I will make one similar to it but smaller. Since I am renting I will somehow make it so I can take it out and put the original one back in when I leave. great job!

  48. Nikki Hall says:

    Wow. I have been looking for a light similar to this but my budget is $300. Probably not possible, right! You should sell these!!! o my

    1. It’s totally possible if you DIY it! 🙂 We did ours for under $300.

  49. Hi this absolutely gorgeous -and by far the best diy I’ve ever seen!!!!
    Can’t imagine cleaning those light bulbs though lol
    So happy I saw this
    Hugs,
    Suzan

  50. Hi Amanda! I’m in love with this fixture… it’s so unique and really well crafted. Awesome job! Each Friday I highlight DIY projects in a series I do, and tomorrow I’d like to feature this project if that’s ok with you. Just wanted to let you know, in case you want to check it out! Again, beautiful job and beautiful blog!!

    1. Hi Jenna! Thanks so much – I’d be honored to be included!

  51. This is amazing! I love light fixtures like this– so beautiful. I bet you’re enjoying the heck out of it after all the work you put into it! Congrats on the feature on CG. 🙂

    Erin

  52. Congrats on being featured on Centsational Girl! You must be so excited!

  53. Wow! This is very nice. It’s very educational information and very inspiring post. I will make it also for my dining. You impressed me from your unique chandelier and from your patient of your effort. Great work!

  54. Very cool project! I agree with another commenter that this looks store bought. Especially love the feel of the wood box – I really thought it was a huge wood beam until I saw the steps to put it together. Interesting making most of the lights dummy lights – can you imagine how bright it would be if they were all live? LOL

  55. AMAZING! Great tutorial and fantastic results! I am loving the fake sockets! Great job!

  56. Arg, this so so mindblowing that I need to try convincing my dad to help me to do this! WOW!

  57. Wow! That is super impressive. I’m also amazed at your patience and skill. It really does feel like organzied random lights. I missed it…but Ithink that you should call it a chandelier. Stunning!!!
    P.S. Popped by from Addicted 2 Decorating.

    1. Thanks so much for stopping by!

  58. I don’ usually post comments, but I had to make an exception in this case. Your light fixture project absolutely blew me away. The time and patience and team work that obviously went into this is priceless. I am in awe of your accomplishment and am adding your blog to my favorites. Congratulations on a beautiful project.

    1. Thanks so much! I’m honored! 🙂

  59. I am in awe of how great this project came out. It looks beautiful!

  60. Unbelievable! How amazing are you? Pretty amazing! I love this. I need to find a place in my house to do something like this. Pinning right now.

  61. This light is incredible. You both did an amazing job!!

  62. This is pretty much amazing! I can’t believe how much work you guys put into making this happen!

  63. HOLY CRAP!!! You weren’t kidding when you said you DIY’d a large light fixture! I don’t think calling this LARGE does it justice! WOW!!!
    It looks amazing! And I love that all the wires hang straight!!!! (I’ve seen ones where the wires are kinked and it looks weird) yours looks great!!!
    It’s like an Edison light on crack! TRULY AMAZING! wow !
    Great Job!!! You guys are awesome!
    Lots of Love
    Ashli

    1. Ahh, thanks so much Ashli! 🙂 We’re pretty happy with how it turned out, haha.

    1. Awesome – thanks for sharing! 🙂

  64. I can’t believe how great this came out. It looks amazing!!!

  65. The coolest DIY project I have seen in a very long time! Very unique and spectacular! Its mesmerizing!

  66. Oh my goodness, this is crazy good!! I have been wanting to a smaller version in my walk in pantry for ages, but had no idea where to start. Thank you so much for the detailed tutorial. Pinned!

  67. This looks amazing! Seriously, it looks like a high end fixture! You guys did amazing. I also tackled a light fixture related project like taping colorful strips of paper to fishing wire and hanging them in our dining. Mine’s cool, yours is way cooler! Great post! (I came over from the pinterest challenge!)

  68. Hi Amanda: Wow–this is just gorgeous! Such a dramatic look–I love it! Thank you for the step-by-step details–it was very informative. Take care, and have a wonderful week!

  69. I never would have guessed that this was homemade. It looks super professional and just all-around gorgeous. You guys totally rocked this project!

  70. That is so beautiful!! You guys are really talented. I was excited to see it on the list of YHL reader-submitted projects too!

  71. I am SO impressed! You guys did an amazing job. Definitely time for a dinner party.

  72. I just… I can’t… even process. Seriously. I cannot get over the awesomeness. Amazing job!!!!

  73. Oh my GOD!! This is absolutely incredible!! You guys should be so effing proud of yourselves. You are truly so, so good at this stuff! I can’t believe it!!

  74. I love this!! How awesome that you guys made this yourselves!

  75. This is my favorite project of yours yet, and all your others have been amazing. This is stunning. Nice job.

  76. WOW. WOW. I am so, so impressed that a) you thought this up and b) you had the patience to pull this off!! It looks amazing. I hope you guys finished it before your cruise so you could take a break and celebrate your huge accomplishment!

  77. Holy crap!! That is amazing! It turned out SO good! I can’t believe you guys DIYed it!

  78. Holy cow! This is so amazing and so well done. I can’t believe you did this for $250. You guys are awesome!

  79. So adorable! I definitely want to come over to check it out in person, but not share this with my husband. I’m sure he want to make it, but with all of the bulbs working!

  80. Wow. This looks like it is straight out of a magazine and if I were lucky enough to dine at your house I would be completely mesmerized the entire time. I’ve scrolled back up to look at it 3 times already while writing this comment!

  81. E.T.A.: The only thing I would encourage you to do is put the wire splices inside of a secured junction box w/ a cover plate as a fire safety/ fire preventative measure. You can probably fit two or more splices in a junction box depending, its the size 🙂 Seriously love this project!!

  82. please know that as I write this my jaw has dropped to my desk.

    You guys are so dedicated. I’ve done a couple home DIY projects and almost gave up after 3-4 hours worth of work. I’m so impressed with how meticulous you are and how perseverant! Awesome job, truly. It turned out beautifully.

  83. Um, AMAZING! It looks great Amanda! I’m so glad you shared this project and your budget 😀

  84. Lauren A. says:

    WOW! this is amazing!

    How I wish we werent’ renting and could do this….

    hmmm.. I may have to think of a temporary way of doing this… maybe smaller, with a circular drum type base.. .that could be awesome 🙂

    Question: are you worried at all that with a fan or open windows that the lightbulbs might bump against eachother and break?

    1. Thanks! No worries at all about them breaking – they’re very sturdy! We’ve bumped up against them several times when we’re putting stuff on the table, etc. and they just move around for a few minutes and then settle. They’d have to get moving much more than a fan or breeze could possibly do in order to break them!

  85. Oh wow!! You guys did such an amazing job, I love it!

  86. Wow, this is SERIOUSLY impressive. It’s so beautiful, and it looks just like your inspiration! I’m really envious of your DIY skills!

  87. YOU WIN (even though it’s not really a competition). Seriously, I’m pretty sure no one participating in the Pinterest challenge can top this. WELL DONE!

  88. Um…that is the most beautiful light fixture I’ve ever seen!! You did such an amazing job!! I hope you’re submitting it somewhere because everyone needs to see that!

  89. dude. this is really effing awesome. i seriously wish i had skills like you and your hubs. this ROCKS.