Decorative Night Light

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We have night lights all over our house

bedrooms…

bathrooms…

kitchen.

I like to be able to see

if I get up in the middle of the night.

But the thing about night lights

is that they’re not very cute.

Then I found this one on Amazon

It didn’t look too bad in the photo

but in person…

ummmm

not so much.

But I liked that it was LED (not the candelabra bulb-style),

it turns on and off automatically

and I loved the shape of the shade.

So I’m sure you’ve guessed what I did with it —

of course, I painted it!

And I think it turned out pretty cute!

So if you’d like one too

Here’s how to make decorative night lights:

TAPE OFF THE INSIDE BOTTOM OF THE SHADE

To mask off the bottom of the shade to keep paint off of it, trace the shape of the bottom of the shade onto a piece of blue tape.

Cut the tape out and cut it in half to overlap the pieces because the inside is smaller than the outside that you traced.

PAINT THE SHADE

Use FLAT white spray paint to paint your shade. (The flat will look more like fabric when you’re done than paint with a sheen.)

It’ll take about 3 coats. Make sure to let it dry completely between coats.

GET SOME TRIMS

You’ll need about 2/3 yard each of 1/4 inch plain braided trim for the sides and 3/8 inch mini ball trim for the top and bottom

GLUE ON THE TRIMS

Use a glue gun to glue the end of the braided trim to the inside of the top at the side ‘seam’.

Mark the length of the trim you will need to go to the bottom of the shade.

Apply glue to the inside of the braid up to your mark. Now glue it down to the shade along the seam. Cut the end about 1/2 inch longer, fold it under the bottom and secure with glue. Repeat for all four seams.

Quick tip: if glue seeps out from the sides of the trim, gently scrape it off with your fingernail while it’s still warm.

Glue the end of the ball fringe to the inside top of the shade.

Then run a bead of hot glue along the top of the outside of the shade and glue the trim down. Repeat for the bottom of the shade.

BLOW DRY THE FINISHED SHADE

Hit the shade with air from a blow dryer set on hot to dissolve any strands of glue that may be hanging on. Don’t blow it for too long or the glue could come undone.

And…