#29...wire basket lighting

When I came across this charming and unconventional bedside lighting idea in a back issue of Country Home magazine (march 2005 issue), I set about making my own version to flank my guest bed in my loft space. The bed fits tightly into the space, with only about 18 inches on either side of the bed, so I needed a light that did not take up floor space, lit the dark corners, and served as a night stand.

Inspired by the wire basket, I found two wire window boxes that had a metal tray in the bottom of them for plants. I bent the metal tray edges out a bit, so that it no longer fit inside the window box and actually rested on top, creating a little ledge. I attached the boxes to the wall on either side of the bed at night stand height.

Instead of installing a lamp kit into the wire box (as in the inspiration pic), I purchased two strands of white holiday lights (making sure they were strung on white cord not green), and put one inside each window box in somewhat of a jumbled bird's nest fashion. I placed the tray on top and dropped the plug through the bottom of the box and plugged into the nearest outlet. My wall outlets happen to be connected to a wall light switch, so it is easy to turn the lights on an off with the switch. (If the lights were not plugged into an outlet operated by a wall switch, it would be fairly easy to splice the holiday wire coming out of the bottom of the box and put a small on-off switch on the cord, allowing it to operate like most table lamps. Any home improvement store sells this type of self-install switch, and the instructions on the back of the package are easy to follow.)

This project cost less than $30 for each light. I found the window boxes for $20 each, and each string of holiday lights cost about $5. I love how the guest bed corner sparkles when the lights are on!