DIY: Mason Jar Light Fixture

When Kevin and I were in the middle of updating our downstairs bathroom it became clear to us that the current light fixture in there had to go.  You can sort of see the old vanity fixture in this "before" picture of the bathroom....

...and here's the fixture after it was taken off the wall, looking all sad and dejected.

What can I say, the contemporary spaceship look just isn't my style.

Want to see the new light fixture I came up with?  Here she is!

The bulbs inside the jars are so bright it's hiding all of my handiwork!

Just like most of my other DIY home projects, the idea for this mason jar light fixture came from lack of funds.  All of the vanity fixtures that I liked online or in stores were waaaaay out of our price range, so I did a little Googling and Pinterest-ing to see if anyone else had come up with some thrifty lighting options that fit the look I was going for.  Lo-and-behold, Pinterest delivered and I found a bunch of tutorials to work from to create this inexpensive and unique piece of lighting.

Now to tell you how I did it!  For this project you'll need:

-An existing 3 light vanity fixture to transform  (ideally the lights should each have some sort of large cap on top so that once you add your jars it will look like a cohesive unit)
-3 Mason jars  (for my fixture I bought wide-mouth jars so that the lids extended out slightly from the caps on top)
-3 light bulbs (make sure the size you buy will fit inside the jars!  Also make sure they are a lower wattage so the glass jars won't get too hot)
-A hefty sized nail
-A hammer
-A Sharpie

First you'll want to gather all your materials.  I assembled everything at my dining room table but did all of the hammering on a rug on the floor so I wouldn't damage my table surface.

For the next step, if you're using an existing light fixture you'll need to remove the shades.  Since I didn't own a light fixture that would work for this I went out and bought this one from Home Depot for $40.  Once I took it out of the box I just didn't put the glass shades on.

Unscrew the lids from all of your jars and place the lids on the table.  You'll then want to unscrew and remove all of the plastic rings that keep the shades on your light fixture.  This plastic ring will be used as a guide to help you figure out how large to make the holes in the top of your Mason jar lids.  Take one of your plastic rings and place it in the center of one of your lids like this:

Using a Sharpie trace the OUTSIDE of the ring.  Once you have your circle traced, you'll use the large nail and a hammer to nail multiple holes all the way around until you're able to punch the center out.  This part took some practice and you'll need a bit of patience since you'll have to hammer a LOT of holes, one right next to the other, in order to make the circle easy to remove.  After hammering out all of your aggression you should end up with something like this:

Don't worry about the edges being a little chewed up; this will all be hidden underneath the domed top of your fixture (that is, if your domed top is wide enough!).

Once you have the holes knocked out of all your Mason jar lids, it's time to assemble!  For this next part you'll want to pay attention since the order is important.

First step: take the ring that you removed from your Mason jar and thread it through over your light socket.

2nd step: push on your lid with the chewed up hole that you hammered out.

3rd step: screw on the plastic ring that you used to trace the circle on your lid.

4th step: screw in your light bulb.  (not shown.  I was too excited to put the jar on!)

5th and final step: screw on your jar.

Once your fixture is all assembled it's time for install.  I hate to break it to you guys, but I didn't snap any photos of this part since my hubby did all the work.  I'm pretty sure he just connected the wires of the fixture to the ones in the wall and then screwed the new fixture in place - nothing too complicated!  But if you need further instructions I'm sure there's another online resource that could give more insight on that part of the process.

I love that this fixture is so versatile - not only can you spraypaint it different colors to match your decor, you can also use Edison bulbs to really give it that vintage look.  (We tried using Edison bulbs, but since this is such a tiny bathroom with no windows they didn't emit enough light.)