| DIY | Homemade Bedside Lights

The new room is coming together really well. Everything I had envisioned for it has turned out exactly right!

One thing that I’m most happy with is our brand new shelf/bedside lighting. This was all done for well under £100. I was lucky enough to already have the wooden scaffolding board for my old kitchen shelf. My dad helped me to distress it as it was a brand new piece of wood. Click here to read about that process.

In the new room, our bed is pushed up against the chimney breast which obviously juts out a bit compared to the rest of the wall on that side. When considering the space we had I realised that a bedside table either side of the bed just wouldn’t work. This then raised the question…where do we put bedside lamps? I’ve seen a few pictures floating around the internet showing large filament Edison bulbs hanging from either the ceiling or the wall either side of a bed. I loved the look as I’m a big fan of Industrial-looking interiors. This seemed like a logical solution for me and also very stylish! Here are some of my favourite pictures:

Source: Pinterest

I saw a wooden bracket that had a hole cut into it for the light cable to feed through and dangle down. I asked my Dad to work his magic and he replicated them. We then decided to make these brackets as supports for the shelf as well as incorporating in some handy lighting!

I had no idea about cabling or what light fixtures I would need. Luckily my Dad used to be an Electrician so he knew exactly what was needed- Dad to the rescue again! We used a website called LampSpares which has everything you need and was really affordable. What I will say, is that you have to assemble all the parts yourself (the plug, the on and off switch etc) so you really have to know what you're doing- or just rope in a person with electrical knowledge to do it for you! After watching my Dad wire up a plug, I'm still none the wiser about the Earth, Live and Neutral wires...terrible I know!

I chose the white fabric twisted cord for the lights which just fits in nicely with our neutral decor. I was eyeing up the herringbone patterned cable but I'm glad I didn't in the end. If you can't decide which cord to choose, you can order a pack of cord samples for a couple of pounds. The website also sells Edison bulbs in different shapes and sizes. I chose some large round bulbs with a "cage" filament which look really impressive.

We ordered eight meters of cable in total (four meters for either light) which was a perfect amount to wrap around the bracket, and put into the power switch under the bed. We also have the choice of shortening or lowering the lights if we want to.

I just can't stop admiring it. What a fantastic space saving solution!