DIY wood bead pendant light

So I promised that I was going to talk about the wood bead pendant light from my fall tour on Monday (HERE if you missed it). I love the warmth from the wood that it adds to our white kitchen.

Sometimes I like to DIY lighting and if you are interested then you can check out my DIY crystal vanity light shades, macrame chandelier, and DIY flush mount macrame light fixture as well.

Handmade Etsy Wood Bead Pendants

So let’s back up there for a minute. Here are some handmade examples from Etsy again to refresh your mind which I would love for our bathroom.

1 | 2 | 3

The pendants pictured in the original design aren’t available anymore (HERE to see more)

The reason I don’t have any pendants hanging in the bathroom yet is that our electrician hasn’t gotten to it yet. We need him to relocate the wall light to the ceiling to create two places for pendants. It just hasn’t happened.

Meanwhile, I have become so obsessed with the thought of having wood bead light fixtures like this that there was no return. I have been incorporating more and more natural elements into our decor and I have always had a soft spot for light wood tones, note my light-colored wood flooring which I have had for 16.5 years and still love. Some people might think of farmhouse decor when it comes to incorporating more wood but this is not the case.

You all know my turquoise-colored pendant which we had over our kitchen sink for a while now. Don’t get me wrong, I still like it, it was just time for a change. Temporarily or permanently, it depends on our electrician.

How to make a wood bead pendant light

This is not a beaded chandelier, it’s simply a pendant with large wooden beads threaded onto the electrical cord. Let me show you.

Materials used for wood bead pendant light

• pendant of your choice (I had to use a conversion kit for ours since there was a can light in place)
• pliers
• electrical tape
• wood beads (If you can’t find any large beads then check out my post (HERE) about a recent idea I had. This could also be used for this lighting DIY. I used wooden furniture legs)

Wood bead pendant instructions

DIYing a light might not be for everyone, I get that. Some of you might just say “Sure that I’m just buying it. I don’t need the hassle.” That reasoning sometimes applies to me too depending on the project. I had looked for wood beads for a while and bought some small ones on Etsy which didn’t work out (I recently found THESE and THESE huge ones though). Fast forward a couple of weeks to a trip to Pottery Barn when I came to a screeching halt at a bin with some strands of giant beads in it (HERE, they aren’t available anymore online though, just in some store). I have told some of you already that I couldn’t grab them fast enough to run to the register.

{Update: I came up with a DIY for you how you can use furniture feet as large beads.}

And I just couldn’t wait anymore to make one. For the bathroom, I would probably like to use a strand with a single light bulb at the end but in the kitchen, I light the shade with it. And when I was at our local Target and saw the below Threshold pendants on sale for $12.98 (HERE) I knew that I just had to give it a try.

As you can see the problem was that they were plug-in pendants. Not my favorite thing. I really wish they wouldn’t do that. Our kitchen pendant was a light that converts a can light to a pendant though (like THIS one). So I had to be brave, take some risks again and cut some electrical cords. Hint: use a wire cutter like this one HERE to cut and strip the wire ends.

The one part screws in like a light bulb and is pretty cool if you ask me.

So I took it all apart. Sorry for the bad cellphone photos but it’s just so much quicker when you are working on a project.

(No matter what type of pendant or bulb you use, you have to take it apart to put the beads on)

It was pretty easy to take apart. I cut the plug off the pendants and exposed the copper wire. And then it was time to put the conversion kit and pendant together.

And then put the entire thing together. Make sure to strand the beads on first before connecting the electrical cords! Very important 😉

I used plain wooden stools and painted them. You can find the tutorial HERE.
And the gold faucet HERE and pineapple HERE.

Other DIY lighting related blog posts

• How to make crystal vanity light shades from a spout cover
• cheap DIY pendant light tutorial using jute yarn
• Stylish DIY Macrame Chandelier Made From Planter Basket
• DIY flush mount macrame light fixture
• Ugly thrift store find lamp makeover
• Renter-friendly chandelier makeover tutorial

And like I said if I’d use it in the bathroom, I think I’d like to use a pendant with just a build like this one HERE.

I don’t know what it is but I’m obsessed with the beads.