A Tutorial: Hanging a Pendant Shade

A year or so ago I bought this awesome drum shade at an antique shop.  At the time, I thought it would make for a great swap in our breakfast room, for the boring ceiling mounted fixture that was already there.  What I didn't realize at the time is that the metal framing inside the shade isn't standard and made it really tough to figure out how to hang it.  We took down the ceiling mounted fixture, but I just couldn't figure out how to hang the shade.  So the old fixture went back up, and the shade went on top of the dryer in the laundry room.

Fast forward to the present, and I got sick of looking at the awesome shade just sitting on top of the dryer!  I knew I could figure out how to hang the shade if I really thought about it.  So I dug out a round metal plate I'd be saving to use for the project, and I knew I could make it work if I could find a hard-wire light kit where the wires could fit through the hole in the plate.  I lucked up this week at Ikea when I saw this on clearance:

A hard-wire pendant light for $6.  The light was totally sealed so I had no idea if it would work, but the price was great so I decided to go for it.  With some work, we were able to totally take the light apart to remove the pendant and string the wiring through the round plate- success!!  And this is where things got a little sticky.  You see, we did all that on Tuesday, and I was basically DYING to hang that darn thing from the moment I saw the pendant at Ikea.  But the hubs, well, he doesn't share my same enthusiasm for DIY.  Especially when it involves electrical.  I don't want that to scare anyone away though, because it couldn't be easier.  You just have to take precautions.  Or in my husband's case, turn off all power to the house, LOL.  So after a lot of persuasion, and some loud voices, we got started.

Here is what it looked like before:

Then we turned off all the power and removed the fixture.  Just remove the shade, then un-do the wire nuts and separate the white, black and ground wires.  Then, attach the new fixture by twisting together the like colored wires, and securing with a wire nut.  This takes all of a few moments.  Then, secure the ceiling plate to the ceiling.  And here's what it looked like that that point:

Here's a close-up of that round metal plate that made it possible to hang the shade.  Notice how it's slightly larger than the metal framing on the shade?  It worked perfect!

Then it was a matter of pulling up the extra cord until it was the height we wanted.  I didn't do anything exact, just eyeballed it.  And here it is in place:

I am LOVING the look!!  It subtly adds so much to the look of the room.  It's not a big change, but now the room looks more finished.  But, if you know me, you know the room is never finished, lol.