DIY: Upgrade apartment light fixtures

One of the frustrating things about rental apartments can be the hideous lighting fixtures. Ugh! Unfortunately for us, we are not electricians… future calling? In the meantime, one of our top apartment priorities was to hide our ceiling lights...

Pretty bad, right? We spent Labor Day weekend hopping around thrift stores in the Upper East Side looking for cheap lamp shades. HOLD ON. You thought we were talking about ceiling lighting, 

well… we are. 

We spent less than $10 on two lamp shades! Thank you people of NYC for kicking your old shades to the curb. We still had paint leftover from our walls, which added the perfect accents in each room. 

Richard's creativity and stubbornness lead to awesome results for hard to complete projects. 

After a few trips to the hardware store for odds and ends… and even a wine cork, he managed to get both shades hung in very little time. 

It's crazy how much light fixtures pull a room together. 

So if you are dealing with hideous light fixtures in a rental, don't fret. You can always disguise them with the magic of a lamp shade. 

Happy Thrifting!