Cheap, Simple, DIY Lights: Change Your Canned Lights To Pendants In 10 Minutes

Cheap Simple DIY Lights

Okay, maybe I’m the last one to know about this amazing trick but I just could not believe how easy it was to transform our bathroom with these cheap, simple DIY lights!  Our home was built in 1986 and so it is canned light city.  In almost every single room you’ll find canned lights.  Apparently, they must have been all the rage.  And while I do love how bright they are, I’m not a fan of them in every single corner of every single room.  I wanted to transform our canned lights to pendant lights and I just cannot believe how easy it was to do it!

Let me just start by saying, you just never know what you can learn on the internet.  I was browsing around for DIY ideas and found what I think is the best DIY yet.  What I liked about this project was that it required no electrician.  I did it all by myself.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  My hubby helped me a little bit.  But other than that, I felt like superwoman putting this all together.

To convert your canned lights you’ll need a conversion kit.  I bought mine at Menards.  I personally wanted a kit that didn’t require a screwdriver.  In addition to the converter, I also needed to buy a pendant light shade.  There were quite a few to choose from as I shared here on Instagram.  I chose something really simple since I have a tendency to change things like the wall color.  I wanted to make sure it matched.

Here’s the before picture.  As you can see the canned light doesn’t add much to the space.  (By the way, I’m planning to gel stain the vanity in the next few weeks.  I’ll keep you posted.)

And here’s the after of my cheap simple DIY lights!  It was hard to get a great picture since this room has no natural light.  I was a little worried because of the no-window factor that the pendant light would not bring as much light, but it actually brings just as much light – just more style.  The best thing about the converter is that you can adjust how high or low you want your pendant to hang.

Again, there’s no electrical work, just plug in the pendant like a light bulb and then affix the outer panel.  There are quite a few different kits out there, so make sure you follow the directions.

What do you think of these cheap simple DIY lights?