Up-Cage

Lit up and lamped up bird cage with silver leaf veil creeping around.

Freedom is such a universal & beautiful aspect of life. We all have it and that’s why we all take it for granted. No one likes enclosures. Put any one of us in a room with nothing but four plain walls – in minutes, not even hours we would be struggling to get ourselves freed. 

A bird cage in itself is a symbol of captivity and being non-free. But we prefer to open its gate and rather up-cycle it and use it as a beautiful pendant light fixture. As a décor element a bird cage can be used magically in any space. Its arching shape and its wired structure are beautiful on its own.

So in our own quirky way, we started our up-cycle (rather up-cage) process. We decided to envelope the cage with creeping leaf veils. We got decorative leaves and painted them all silver – so that the leaves looked as if they were an extension of the cage itself. We twined the silver leaves along with little white flowers, all around the cage.

Next, we then enveloped a streamer of golden small bulbs all around the cage and over the leaf veils. Fixing the light streamer at regular intervals with silver threads. Lastly, we attached a silver chain on to the top of the cage, which would help suspend the lit-up bird cage from the ceiling.

Light-off or light-one: the hanging bird cage with the silver-leaf veil looks very mesmerizing. Apart from being hanged, the bird cage can also be put atop a table. It will still mesmerize the same way.

 Freedom never looked or felt this beautiful!

Light streamers are the simplest way to liven up any room. Twirl it around or hang it about any space- it will create a beautiful look. Also, they are available in all colors. They can be used extensively  for festive decorations too.

Steel Roses

A shimmering lamp-shade made from steel wool scrubbers.

Twinkle, shine, sparkle, shimmer, glitter, and glimmer – let’s make our homes a little more brighter!

Steel wool scrubber – it is such an exciting element. Yes seriously! Whenever I see them they remind me of blooming, shiny-grey fantasy roses! Sans the delicate fragrance, of course.

So to make a lamp out of it was an idea, which has been tickling me since when. The first thing was to go shop for a few of these scrubbers.  The shop-keeper wondered what we needed so many scrubbers for. How many utensils he presumed we had to wash?

To tie up the scrubbers in a concentric fashion was our starting point to make the lamp. One scrubber in the center, attached to five petalling scrubbers around it. Followed by another couple of rounds. Each scrubber needed to be attached to each side of the adjacent scrubbers. 

Our canopy of the steel wool was thus ready. Now, the shape that we form can be as per our liking. We can either make a complete round ball-like structure or keep it like a half-opened-umbrella structure. I preferred the latter. In order to make the structure more defined; we inter-spaced thin yet strong metal wires around the circular layers of the structure. Thus, we get defined shape and solidarity.

The next step was to attach our steel canopy to a hanging light-bulb fixture (the one we used is from Ikea – they are inexpensive and easily available locally too). Lastly, it is time to hang this quirky steel-wool DIY lamp in our house – over the dining table or in a conspicuous corner.

From a lousy utensil cleaner to a definite head-turner: this journey seems quite transformational.

Twinkle, shine, sparkle, shimmer, glitter, and glimmer – our homes are now very much more brighter!

Just like clothes-fashion, where a little bit of bling can transform your entire look – so is the case with our homes. Add bling in appropriate doses to make your home stand out. Bling on cushions, lamps, photo-frames, all will make your home more glamorous and eye-catchy. One caution – not to overdo it!