My DIY: A Colander Light Cover

Look! A new DIY light cover for our entryway, courtesy of a long-ago yard sale, some help from Mr. Mr., and inspiration from Portland’s Tin Shed Cafe. This is how we do it:

1. Start with a bare, recessed, ultra-bright bulb that makes you go, “Eee. ’90s.”
2. Find a colander, or something half-globe shaped. If it doesn’t have holes already, punch some. You’ll have to find a hole-punching tutorial for that; mine came Swiss-cheesed.
3. Grab a pencil, a hammer, two threepenny nails, about 10 inches of picture hanging wire, and a pair of needlenose pliers/wire cutters. In a bind, you could use 18- or 20-gauge jewelry wire, too; most colanders aren’t too heavy, and therefore don’t need extraordinary amounts of support.
4. Hold your colander where you’d like it to hang, and mark the spots for your nails. You’ll be hammering them into the ceiling, by the way. (We turned the light on to get the full picture. Then, all we could see for a few hours was the little Moroccan star pattern, but, hey. That’s the price you pay for DIY.)
5. Cut your wire into two 5-inch lengths. Wrap one length of wire around each nailhead twice, leaving a 4.5-inch tail (or so).
6. Hammer your nails (trailing wire tails) into their designated spots until the heads hang approximately 1/8 inch below the ceiling.
7. Now, the fun part. Position your colander. Thread the wire through one hole or handle or whatever portion of the item you’ve decided to use as the point of suspension. Once the wire has been threaded, run it back to the nail and wrap, wrap, wrap. Use the pliers to help get a tight wrap, and to flatten out any bulky sections.
8. Let there be (diffused, funky-cool) light.

Do you have a DIY to share? *Show And Tell! Show And Tell! Show And Tell!*