I believe you should surround yourself with beautiful things. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. With that in mind, the pendant lights over our kitchen island had to be replaced. Why? Because they were not beautiful to us. The textured amber shades only gathered dust and cast dim light.
We wanted something a little more crisp and modern. A while ago I fell in love with the globe pendant from West Elm, but at $129 each I thought they were out of reach. Then the stars aligned, West Elm had a sale, and we had some extra money in the bank. We ended up getting a set of 3 globe pendants for $269…less than $90 each!
Then our perfect, beautiful, style-transforming lights sat in their boxes for over a week! It is hard to find just the right time to do house work with little ones around. Finally, the stars aligned again and both boys took a nap at the same time. We seized the opportunity to put up the lights, but when we cracked the first box we discovered each pendant had a 9 ft cord! And no instructions on how to properly shorten it. Who has ceilings that high!? We realized the job was bigger than one nap time could bear, so we waited…
Luckliy in the meantime I found this secret to shortening the cords without hiring an electrician. It also gave me comfort that we were not alone! Later we found time to shorten the cords and the Chic and Charming’s tip worked like a charm. I love it when bloggers share lessons learned to help the rest of us.
Finally, one night after bedtime we endured the almost 3 hour ordeal to hang the lights. Besides being interrupted several times by the boys waking up, the lights proved tricky to assemble. It was hard to keep those gorgeous globes fingerprint free. We discovered leaving them in the plastic packaging was a good idea during assembly. It was also handy to use the styrofoam base to put the globes in while hanging the lights. I held the styrofoam with the globe in it while my husband wired. The styrofoam was also a great for holding all the tiny screws…just poke them right in the styrofoam to keep them at arms reach.
Crisp, airy, and fun…these lights transformed the entire feeling of our kitchen. They are magical…like giant floating bubbles! The transparency is wonderful, leaving an almost unobstructed view. I love them when the lights are on or off. The only thing we need to do now is order the classy Edison bulbs to complete the look.
UPDATE: We switched out the bulbs for Edison-style bulbs. Love the complete look!
8 Responses to Globe Pendant Lighting
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Hi, I'm Jackie
I believe your home should be a reflection of you. My home style is DIY Modern…handmade, simple, and fun, just like me!
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I’m glad I could help! With the amount of traffic I get to that post I’m shocked they haven’t amended their instructions.
Thanks so much for stopping by. We never would have figured out that tiny plastic screw on our own! Thank you for sharing your story and helping us through.
Hello! So glad I found this link BUT it seems Chic and Charming site is not up and running at the moment, so I can’t get the magic solution to shortening this crazy long cord. Might you be able to let me know?! Thanks in an advance for any help!
Lori,
In the canopy of the light where the cord runs through there is a tiny clear plastic screw. Loosen that and you can pull the cord through to your desired length. Be very careful with the plastic screw, because you will need to put it back in to hold the cord in place at your desired length. I used a tiny screwdriver to avoid damaging the screw. Good luck. Send some pics when you get your light up!
Hello, I am looking to install these over our kitchen island. Do you need a seperate junction box for each light of do all three fit in one with a single canopy. Thanks for your help. Also, are these dimmable?
Each light does use its own junction box. We had three over our island already. If you don’t an electrician may be able to help. We do not have ours on a dimmer, but I think you can make any light dimable with a dimmer switch. Good luck…these are great lights if you can make them work for your space.
Hi! I also have this pendant and am trying to hang it in my dining room. I was curious what you did with the excess cord. Did you somehow wind it in the canopy? It seems like a lot of excess cord to fit in there. Thanks in advance for your help!
Hi Tara. We loosened the little plastic screw from the canopy and pulled the cord through to the right length. We cut off the excess cord. We left about 10 inches to work with for wiring the light. There was no way we could have wrapped the extra 6 feet of cord in the canopy. Once you get the cord shortened, the rest of the installation is easy! Good luck.