DIY Vintage Canning Mason Jar Pendant Lights
Check out how you can make your own fun and gorgeous vintage canning mason jar pendant lights inexpensively! DIY mason jar lights!
Submitted By: Decorating With A Little Bit (now Simple Decorating Tips)
More projects from Liz: DIY Rug to Fit Master Bath Window Little Brick Cottage Before and After
In the kitchen at the ‘Little Brick Cottage’ we have a peninsula in the new floor plan, and it seemed fitting to have some pendant lights hanging over that peninsula. When I started looking however, I couldn’t find anything that stayed in our budget and looked like a simple farmhouse style light.
So, as it often does, necessity led to creativity…
I made some pendants to hang off the track light repurposing vintage blue canning jars and old zinc lids.
I’ve said before how much I like using track lighting, and the simple cleverness of the track pendant adapter for just this purpose, (like how I showed you I used it in the dining room at ‘Our House’). The versatility it gives is very effective, especially in a kitchen where a lot of specific task lighting is needed. You can just add another fixture if need be and point it to where you want. That’s what we have mounted above the peninsula here, so the small fixtures are for the function,
but I wanted something for the form part, you know to look pretty, and that’s where the jar pendant lights come into the picture. Here’s how I made them:
Here are all the supplies I used for this project. The chain I had in the junk drawer, and the lamp cord too… the track light pendant adapters I bought at Menard’s, the only place I’ve ever found them, they run around $8 each, the ceramic fixtures were less than that, I think around $3 and I picked those up at Menard’s too.
Oh and the jars and lids, well I didn’t get those at Menard’s, in fact I swapped one of the carpenters helping me with the cottage some of the old windows we took out in exchange for the jars and lids. His wife was thrilled to get the old windows for crafts, (I kept a few windows for myself to use) and I was thrilled to get the jars and lids… it was a great trade!
If you’re familiar with old zinc lids you know they have a glass liner inside them, I sadly had to hammer that and break it out to be able to repurpose these jars, but I consoled myself with at least this way they’re being used and displayed…
So once the lid glass was out here are the steps I did to simply wire together the lamps:
I drilled vent holes in the lid, just in case the light bulbs heated up inside there? I just figured better safe than sorry.
And speaking of lightbulbs, since you are looking directly at the lights, I used a super low watt bulb, also it had to be small to fit inside the mouth of the jar. Remember these pendants are for the form, not the function of lighting needs.
By having the chain hook to the pendant adapter at the top and screw into the rod in the lid, all the weight of the light, (which actually isn’t very much, but still…) goes onto the chain, and not onto the cord, which would not be safe.
Check out more fun DIY projects to brighten your home!
Cassity Kmetzsch started Remodelaholic after graduating from Utah State University with a degree in Interior Design. Remodelaholic is the place to share her love for knocking out walls, and building everything back up again to not only add function but beauty to her home. Together with her husband Justin, they have remodeled 6 homes and are working on a seventh. She is a mother of four amazing girls. Making a house a home is her favorite hobby.
Yay! Thank you girls so very much for featuring my DIY Canning Jar Lights!!! Little Bit
This is so cute! I absolutely adore blue Mason jars, but they’re very difficult to find. I’m jealous as all heck that you made such a great trade for some.
I LOVE THIS!!!!! I will have to do this! Thank you for sharing!
I’m looking for something interesting and different to light our dining room table. I’ve seen similar things on Etsy, but you make this look so straightforward I think I’m definitely going to try doing it myself. Many thanks for a helpful post and most importantly for the step-by-step pictures!
Hi, this looks great! I want to try this in my kitchen, so thanks for the instructions. I’m worried that the light won’t be bright if I use the blue mason jars – do you find this to be an issue? Thanks in advance!
I love this my husband and I will making one for over are kitchen bar. Thanks I tried to explain what I wanted to my husband but he didn’t get what I wanted, until we found you site. Thanks again
You’re welcome, Darlene!
Thanks for your clear, concise instructions for making canning jar light pendants. We want to make pendants made with 3 jars inside a wire “cage” ball. Your instructions will help greatly.
Hi! Hope all is well! I’ve been gone from blogging for a while and ‘lost’ my domain decoratewithalittlebit. 🙁 so now I’m up and running with a new domain: simpledecoratingtips.com Here is the newly corrected link you give for me at the beginning:https://simpledecoratingtips.com/2012/05/24/mason-jar-pendant-light/
Hope you’ll come check out my new blog… I’m super excited to be sharing our latest reno project… our 100 year old house, along with our other project, a coastal cottage in Maine. Thanks again for featuring me way back when… would love to reconnect again! Liz a/k/a ‘little bit’ 😉
Hi Liz! Thanks for letting us know. What a bummer 🙁 but so glad you’re back! The new site looks great and I love the projects you’ve been working on! I updated the links in the post to redirect to your new domain (let me know if I missed any!) We’d love to keep in touch — you can share your latest and greatest projects over at the link party if you want! https://www.remodelaholic.com/tag/remodelaholics-anonymous/