Making custom light fixtures for my room

12 December 2007

I’m doing a lot to improve the warehouse room I moved into at the beginning of November. The room was pretty beat up and a number of big issues needed to be addressed. First, the paint and drywall were in terrible condition, and I set about fixing that. There will be more about this in another post, most likely when I’ve finished painting.

The second big issue was lighting. Except for an IKEA halogen light fixture in the work area (one half of my room, the other half being my sleep/relaxing area), there wasn’t any lighting to speak of. I’m currently using a few compact fluorescent bulbs clamped to the big pipe that bisects my room. It works but it’s pretty ugly. I wanted something more refined, and it had to light my room exactly the way I wanted. Since I’m typically inclined to do things myself, I decided to make some hanging light fixtures.

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The fixtures are comprised of three squares, made of 3/4″ square poplar strips. The squares are held together in the inside corners by four strips of the same width. The squares measure 8×8″, and the “spines” of the fixture are 14″ long. Using my room mate’s radial saw, I cut all of the pieces and glued them together using several clamps and a jig that I built for this purpose. To keep the squares spaced evenly, I made four 6″-long stays to create the right amount of space while everything is clamped and the glue dries.

After the frame is completed, I will either stain or paint the wood and then sheathe the structure with paper, most likely to be either rice paper or parchment. I will be making three more of these (for a total of four fixtures), and they will all be controlled using a single dimmer switch in order to get the right amount of lighting at all times.

I’m very excited about how this is coming together. I’m thinking of ways that I could make several of these at a time and then perhaps sell or gift them, made to order. More on that soon, maybe, but more updates on this particular fixture are sure to come.

Tags: building stuff, Crafts, Personal

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