Hello all! I’m back on a rare Wednesday post to share a little spot in our basement that I spruced up this week.
I am honored to work with Better Homes and Gardens every other month and share a few of their products! This month the theme is “rustic charm” and although I LOVE and have rustic touches throughout my house, I knew this one would work in our basement best.
We definitely have more of a rustic/industrial look going on down there and I dig it. We had a specific spot that was crying out for some attention so I focused on that. This area is right when you come down our stairs and used to just be a spot for the kiddo’s small drum set:
My vision for this area has always been to add a table for games, Legos, whatever, and then to build a built in bench around it. That little angled wall and this skinny little area just seem to call out for it. I haven’t gotten to the bench just yet, but this spot looks so much better already now!
I started with the light – did you know you can change a recessed light into a hanging light? There are two different adaptors to do so but I used the simpler one that usually holds a glass fixture. I actually got mine from over our kitchen sink (we have new lights over the island so I was planning to take that one down when those went in anyway) so didn’t have to spend anything on that. You can find them at any hardware store. (I shared how I installed it in the kitchen here.)
I wanted to do a lamp shade fixture but they need to be the kind of shade that fits down around the light bulb, not one that work with a harp. Does that make sense? It’s so the adapter can fit through. I found this drum shade to use:
I actually quite loved the color and fabric, but I had a different fabric in mind. It’s been years since I’ve shared how to cover a shade so I thought I would show you again. :)
You’ll need about a yard of fabric for a lamp shade this size. I laid it down and then rolled it and marked (anyone else singing pat-a-cake right now?) about an inch to two inches on the top and bottom as I roll:
You can see that I used chalk because it comes off easily and won’t be seen through the fabric. Be sure you give yourself plenty of space when you mark it though – so many times over the years I’ve cut it too close and when I lay it down again to glue it doesn’t roll quite the same way. So give yourself extra. :)
I usually start on the seam of the lamp shade and then use hot glue to start attaching it as I roll:
This time I just used little dabs of the glue around the outside of the shade as I rolled. After I got glue on both the top and the bottom I trimmed down the fabric a little bit more:
Again, don’t cut too close. I cut that section a little too short and it was hard to get it around the edge. When you’ve got it cut, put a thin bead of hot glue around the inside of the edge of the shade and wrap that fabric over.
I fold over the end to give it a more finished seam before I glue that down:
If your cuts aren’t perfect (mine rarely are), you’ll probably want to add a line of ribbon around at least the bottom to cover up the edges of the fabric on the inside of the shade. Not necessary but it does clean it up a bit. :)
Because the light bulb would stick out the bottom if I attached the lamp shade to the adapter the right side up, I had to turn the shade upside down:
That’s why I recommend using as much of a drum shaped shade as you can find. I actually love this inverted look here but if it was more of a classic shade it would look off. I LOVE how it turned out!
Then I got to work on some storage for this spot. I have been wanting this olive bucket FOREVER and found the perfect use for it down here!:
I mean, I know so many of us have kid stuff everywhere, but it’s OK to want to make it look a little nicer, right? The bucket was way bigger than I thought it would be too, it holds everything perfectly.
When we got our new kitchen table last year I couldn’t bear to part with the farmhouse table I (half way) made a few years back. I love the look of it so we brought it down to this space and it’s PERFECT in this little corner.
Because this is basically the Lego table (our son loves having all this space to spread out) there are usually a few sets in mid-completion laying around, as well as 489 tiny itty bitty Lego pieces everywhere. The cats get to them and then they end up all over the place. I found a simple solution in these really cool bins:
I love the rustic look but love that they are fabric lined even better. No worries about little pieces getting stuck inside and I can take them off and wash them if needed. Whoot!
Since we don’t have chairs on that side of the table just yet I slid them under there. One holds little pieces and one holds sets he has yet to open. (He just had a birthday and Christmas in December so he has a few right now.) I LOVE that I can just swipe everything right off the table into the bins. Easy.
I found this quatrefoil mirror as well (only $15!!) and added it to the wall behind the table
You can see that I still have some things to do down here – that little access door needs to be painted and the pillar needs to be finished up as well. But these little changes made this corner feels so much more purposeful and it’s so much more functional!:
The light hangs in the middle of the table from the front, but from the side it’s not perfect. It doesn’t bother me though – I just love the look of the hanging light:
Here’s a look at it before and now with the table:
It all came together and adds a little more charm for sure! :)
Have you tried one of those adaptor kits before? The possibilities are really endless with them! And that olive bucket…I just love it. I may be stealing it in the summer for big hydrangea bouquets…wouldn’t that be gorgeous?
I received compensation from BHG at Walmart for my time and participation in the BHG Live Better Network. All experiences and opinions are my own. Follow BHG on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest.
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