Lights in the Living Room! To do Stuff! and see Things!

Lights in the Living Room! To do Stuff! and see Things!

In case you didn’t know, I’m in love.

Yes, it’s true. Smitten. Enamored, even. It all started a couple years ago when a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go in with her on ordering some lamp parts. She had found a DIY project on a blog that she follows that takes an Ikea mirror and turns it into a pretty slick wall-mounted lamp. While we never ended up making the lamp, I looked into this blog that she followed and BAM. Star-struck. The blog is Manhattan Nest and it is my favorite thing to read on the internet … with the rare exception of a good Reddit wormhole. The blog follows (and is written by) the hilarious, informative, and completely relate-able Daniel Kanter as he takes on the hefty task of making his home(s) beautiful (for real … check out some of the before pictures).

Honestly, he’s hilarious. My boyfriend, A, has often caught me cackling manically to myself as I read up on Daniel’s most recent adventure. It’s gotten to the point that if I’m by myself and laughing, A will simply ask “Manhattan Nest?”, to which I will nod while gasping and clutching the stitch in my side. And not only is he funny, but he has beautiful taste and teaches you how to do useful things like tile your bathroom, make your own butcher-block counter tops, and cope with the crushing devastation of projects that are way harder and way more expensive than you originally thought they would be. Sigh … I have so been there.

So I figured, it was about time I finished what I started: It was time to make the amazing FRÄCK Hack Lamp that originally introduced me to Manhattan Nest.

Now, I won’t pretend to be able to outline the steps in a more straightforward, funny, or charming way than Daniel. So I won’t. If you want to build one, let him show you how. All I will say about the process is that it’s incredibly easy (it took me about 30 minutes to make both … once I had acquired all the parts) and makes you feel like a rock star when it’s done (Yeah. I wired that. No big).

IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL.

SORRY FOR SHOUTING.

Sorry for shouting “sorry for shouting”.

Instead of using them in the bedroom as Daniel did, I decided to address the serious lack of reading/knitting (yes, I’m a total dork)/doing stuff light in the Living Room. So I thought I’d … shed some light on the situation.

Hold for applause.

Problem motha-flippin solved, y’all.

Original article and pictures take s0.wp.com site