DIY Network

Great Globe Lights B. Original and jazz up your hum-drum globe lights—with help from Michele Beschen. From "B. Original" episode DBOR-103

Standard globe light fixtures may scream "plain vanilla" throughout your room, but you can turn them into 31 flavors (or more) of fun. B. Original's host, Michele Beschen, shows how a little paint, wire and beads can transform boring globes into lights you'll be proud to have shine.

Why settle for boring...

when you can have beautiful?

advertisement

	Figure A
	Figure B
	Figure C
	Play with colors, patterns and embellishments to create globes that really shine!

This project can beautify globes of virtually any size or shape—just make sure your globe isn't very heavy. Michele uses both glass and acrylic globes.

Materials:

various-sized light globes—acrylic or glass
wire
beads
light kit
painters tape
contact paper
spray paint

• Tape off a design on your globes using painter's tape or contact paper cut into different shapes (figure A). In the finished globes, most of the light will shine out through the areas you're masking with tape or contact paper.

• Spray paint your globes to add color and define your designs. Spray as evenly as possible: Any globs, drips or imperfections will show when the light is on. Have fun with color combinations, and try layering to see what effects you get (figure B).

• Remove the tape and let the paint dry completely.

• Add the light kit by wiring it to the center of the globe and securing it with wire wrapped around the globe's lip (figure C). Vinyl-coated wire works just as well as bare wire, and is less likely to scratch your paint. Use equal lengths of wire so your light stays centered, and wrap the wire so that you can easily "unhook" a section to change the light bulb when needed.

  Safety Alert: Make sure your light kit doesn't have any exposed wires or it could short out—dangerously—when it comes in contact with the mounting wire.

• You can hide your mounting wires by wiring beads around the lip of the globe.