Repurposed & Redone: saf affect

Hello fellow thrifters! I am Susan and my blog is saf affect - now and then musings about then and now, with a thrifty, sustainable perspective, through which I share my passion for affordable and inventive design. I search Toronto (or any place I visit) for inspirational and frugal finds at design stores, flea markets, thrift shops, and rummage sales, and relish in reinventing and constructing a piece that I just couldn’t find. I'm honoured to share this Repurposed & Redone project on the fabulous blog that is Life as a Thrifter.

John D. Rockefeller believed that thrift is essential to well-ordered living. I believe that thrifting is essential to a well-decorated home. Frugality is in my blood, passed on to me by my grandparents who emigrated to Canada with little money but a lot of ingenuity for making more of what they had, a trait that my parents instilled in me. I approach home decor with this mindset, enjoying the thrill of the find and creating modern design elements from thrift store diamonds-in-the-rough - such as this pendant fixture that I reinvented from a languishing light.

 

 Utilizing a $4 vintage pendant light I found at a Bibles for Missions thrift store...

 

 ...and, with some hammered metal effect spray paint and electrical supplies readily available at any hardware store, I transformed the tired, dated original into a fixture I'm thrilled with.

               

Inspired by on-trend clear pendants with a vintage-industrial vibe, I set to work creating my own fixture at a more thrifty price-point. Without a light junction box in the ceiling above my sink and being that ceilings in my condominium are concrete (making adding a new box impossible), I swagged the new light from an existing box just in front of my counter peninsula that I wasn't using. All in I spent about $50, including $9 for the specialty spray paint, $6 for the vintage looking white ceramic socket assembly, $20 for a dimmer switch, and $7 for the sculptural halogen bulb that is reminiscent of the currently popular 'Edison' bulb but at a fraction of the price, and providing much more wattage. And while I'm thrilled with the result of this thrifty project, I continue to search thrift stores to find a fixture to replace that wretched track light...