12 Fun Light Fixtures Made From Found Objects

Light fixtures are one of the best ways to put a personal stamp on your home. While there are more fixtures available at retail than you could sort through in a lifetime, there's another way to have a stunning and unique light: create one from a found object.

You can make a pendant or chandelier yourself with a pendant light kit, or have a lamp maker or electrician fashion one for you. (For those who are DIY bunglers, like I am, or are having a hard time finding the right object, I've mixed in a few not-exactly-one-of-a-kind fixtures made from reclaimed objects that are available for purchase.)

A birdcage. A vintage birdcage introduces a large dose of texture and a conversation-starting shape over this dining room table. Open your eyes to all sorts of sculptural objects that could take on a bulb or surround a chandelier.


Propane tanks. These rusty old hemispheres add industrial character to this sophisticated kitchen.


A wire basket. The designers wanted to add regional touches to this kitchen, located outside of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The basket around the bulb was a local find and was easily fashioned into a hanging cage for a lightbulb.

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Rustic Wire Basket and Wood Chandelier Market baskets or antique egg baskets. This fixture is available retail, so you can put the tools away. It's made from market baskets, wood and rope, and was inspired by swings.


A woven basket or wastepaper basket. This homeowner found the wastepaper basket on clearance and fashioned it into a textured pendant shade for her breakfast nook. It works very well with all of the natural textiles and furnishings throughout her home.

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Antique chicken baskets. This homeowner made a striking pair of woven pendants out of antique chicken baskets. If you look closely, you can see that they surround glass globes. This is a creative way to revamp a light fixture that no longer appeals to you.


Reclaimed wood. This light fixture came from Roxanne's Dried Flowers and is fashioned from beautifully worn reclaimed wood.

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Bottles. In this Spanish revival kitchen, two vintage wine bottles now serve up soft light and lovely reflections. You can find similar fixtures all ready to go at Bobo's Intriguing Objects.

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These bottle fixtures are the right vintage for wine cellar lighting.


Stylist Shannon Quimby created this linear chandelier with wine and beer bottles, and a little help from her handyman. After the bottoms were cut off, she sprayed them with glass frosting and transformed them into a stunning fixture using pendant light kits from Lowe's.

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Fishing traps. The designers found these light surrounds very locally; they are made from catfish traps discovered in the woods on the property.

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A reclaimed beam. This home in Arizona is full of reclaimed hundred-year-old wood beams, which inspired this fixture. Working with a lighting professional, the design team hung the beam from rods and wrapped the wires of the dangling bulbs around it.


Edison Bulb With Quad Loop Filament - $15 Tip: If you're exposing a lot of the bulb, use a product like an Edison bulb to cut down on harsh glare. This bulb design is based on Thomas Edison's original invention, so it adds antique style to a fixture.

If you don't know what you are doing when it comes to wiring, please hire a professional for safety's sake; I cannot stress this enough. No amount of savings is worth a potentially dangerous wiring situation in your home. However, if you do know what you're doing when it comes to wiring, check out how to hang a pendant light for additional tips.

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