DIY: Hanging a Nautical Ceiling Light

I had a political post scheduled for today, but since I'm not in the mood for drama and arguments, instead I wanted to show you a little DIY project I completed over the weekend!

I had been looking for some sort of ceiling light to go in our guest room that didn't require hard-wiring or cost a fortune.

My house is nearly 100 years old, and most rooms don't have any sort of ceiling lights.
We use a lot of lamps, but with the ceilings in this space being nearly 14 feet tall, lamps just were not cutting it.

My design inspiration for the home ranges from simple-nautical to modern-Miami.
Basically I just want to live in a swanky resort on the ocean!

I found this Rope Swag Kit from World Market, loved the look (and the price!), and bought two.

Inside the box, you will find the swag, which is about 14 feet long, and two options for ceiling hooks: super intimidating and super weeny.

I ended up going to Home Depot and buying Everbuilt hooks that were in-between both of these options. You need two per swag, so four total.

You will also need bulbs (max 60 watt). I went with two Edison style bulbs because I had some lying around from another project.

Both rope swags will need to be plugged in, and I have a pet peeve with having to walk around and switch on all my lights.

Our guest room has a switch that is wired to the right side of the dual outlet in the room (don't ask) so I used an outlet splitter to plug both ropes into one outlet.

You can also achieve this by plugging in an extension cord with multiple outlet holes and attaching a remote switch to it.

I used an electrical drill with a bit about the size of the thickness of the hook. I drilled two holes about an inch apart in the ceiling.

Our plaster ceilings are roughly 3 inches thick.
I wasn't overly concerned about finding a stud, but if you have standard drywall ceilings, go ahead and find yourself a stud (but back away from my husband! Hardy-har)

After the holes are drilled, screw your hooks into the ceiling.

Each rope swag comes with two little metal loops. Find them and loop one of each through the hook.
Or you can just loop the rope through the hook, but, as you'll find later, you'll need to play with the lengths a bit to style them to your liking, and the loops make it easier to manipulate.

Drill two additional holes and screw in the hooks at the center point of where you want the swag to hang from.

I decided to let the swag between the two points vary between each rope, and with a bit of styling and knot tying, I ended up with this!

It took a bit of muscle to get the bulbs to hang straight.
I wrapped the rope around itself between the outlet and the first hook, then let the swag hang at different levels.
The knot is a variation of a square knot....tied very loosely.

Here is the finished room:

I love the way it turned out! I hope you do too!
Happy Wednesday!
Make sure to check out Instagram (@tgendooza) for a fun little Easter "Hoppy Hour" Giveaway!