Most of my home projects are born out of necessity – necessity for convenience, necessity for comfort. After we built the breakfast counter, I noticed that whenever I sat there, I seemed to crave for… more light. I needed to see what I was eating, and the recessed lighting on the ceiling was too far and too weak. I needed task lighting… pendant lights over the breakfast counter. Need… must… have…

To keep in tune with the house’s Japanese-y, Oriental-ese theme, do I want to use those Japanese paper lanterns from Ikea? Do I want to spend money when I can make my own lamps and post the how-to on eHow as an article and get paid for it? The answer was a no-brainer. So, I looked around the house for materials I could use.

I found leftover Venetian blinds slats (from the cane blinds in the kitchen window), interlining fabric (from the protective packaging of the recliners), and bamboo sticks (from the tropical décor in the living room). I drew a rough sketch of the project, and with white glue, hot glue, and shears in hand I went to work. I made two lanterns.

Now to hang them. How will I hang the lamps? What type of switch will I use? How will I wire the lights? How will I hide the wires? With one quick trip to the home improvement store (okay, two trips because I had to change the light sockets) I was able to address all my concerns.

Hang the lanterns with decorative chain (we chose the “antique bronze”) on hooks securely screwed onto the ceiling. Use a chain-pull toggle light socket so that the lights can be controlled individually. Wire the lights in parallel so that the lights can be controlled individually (duh), and plug the whole thing into a wall socket.

It took a tedious search at the home store (up and down two long aisles of decorative wood trim and molding) to find a 90-degree corner trim that I could use to hide the wiring along our kitchen wall and ceiling.

After an afternoon making the lanterns, and a morning installing them, I’m happy to say that the project was a success!

Cost of materials:
Electrical: $13
Hooks and Chain: $5
Corner Trim: $4
Recycled materials: Free
Having task lighting at the breakfast counter: Priceless

Here’s the link to my eHow article: How to Make a Japanese Hanging Lamp http://www.ehow.com/how_4808408_japanese-hanging-lamp.html