After more than a year without one, another bedroom finally has a ceiling light fixture — this time it’s Teddy’s room. It might sound dramatic, but having a proper ceiling light is surprisingly convenient when you’ve moved into a house that only had fixtures in the bathrooms.
I first noticed this stick lamp on Joss & Main and thought it had a fun, beachy, geometric vibe. Right away I pictured it as a pendant. To make sure I wasn’t being overly optimistic, I ran the idea past John, and he was on board with converting a plug-in table lamp into a ceiling fixture.
When the lamp arrived we flipped it over to see how it was assembled. A small screw secured the cord so the lamp could sit on a table — that was the first thing to go.
Removing that screw revealed a bolt holding the existing cord kit and shade in place. We considered keeping the plug and hardwiring the fixture by trimming the cord, but the original socket was tiny — for miniature bulbs — and we wanted a standard bulb for more light, so we removed it.
From the bottom we unscrewed the small socket to clear the rest of the wiring.
With the wiring removed, the remaining piece was just the shade. The shade already had a ring on the bottom that could accept a standard light kit, so it was suitable for conversion into a hanging fixture.
We bought a simple white pendant light kit from Home Depot. To fit the shade, we threaded the pendant cord up through the small ring at the top of the shade so the curved white bulb holder sits against it. That centers the bulb within the arched stick shade and gives a clean, balanced look.
Some readers might worry that a wooden or stick-style shade could be a fire hazard. Paper shades, basket shades, and wooden or driftwood-style shades are commonly used as long as the bulb has enough clearance and heat can escape from the top and bottom. To minimize heat buildup we used an LED bulb, which produces significantly less heat than an incandescent and provides long-lasting, efficient light — while still allowing proper ventilation around the shade.
Teddy’s new fixture uses a warm white LED that should last for many years — roughly tens of thousands of hours — and it casts a cozy glow in the room. John especially likes how the shade looks like a little robot eagle holding the bulb.
It’s great to finally have a proper light up there. The stick design also ties in nicely with other elements in the room, subtly echoing a driftwood mobile and the white lines in our T-wall.
Here the fixture is shown lit — a soft, warm glow that makes the space feel cozy.
If you look closely you’ll also spot a little side table that came from a yard sale — the $1 price tag was impossible to pass up.
The table’s color matches our vintage rocking horse, another secondhand find, so the room feels connected and finished for now.
Clara loves spending time in Teddy’s room — she can make the rocking horse look like a wild ride, but so far everyone has stayed safe.
Speaking of lights, some readers asked to see our bedroom fixture lit up at night, so here’s an image of that one glowing and casting soft shapes across the ceiling.
We’ve also switched our whole house to LED lighting. LEDs save energy and money and last a very long time, so they’re convenient and efficient — and they provide a warm, natural glow that works well in most interiors.