My latest obsession has been with beaded cord lights. I’ve been thinking about them to the point of distraction, and it’s clouded my ability to hunt for any sort of bedside reading lamp for F – you know the kind of reading lamp that is a.) basic, b.) inexpensive and c.) ready to plug in straight from the box. She got a bedside table from her grandparents for her birthday, and it’s about time she had some light at her bed.
A bedside reading lamp was our gift to E for her third birthday – a custom built inset bulletin board / bedside ledge with adjustable lamp on a timer. At age three we started letting her stay up in her bed “reading” to herself, and each night we would set the timer for ten or fifteen minutes, and it would shut off on its own and she’d push the books to the end of the bed and fall asleep. Here’s a really, really ancient post on that phenomenon – back when seven people read my blog, and my college roommate was a faithful comment writer – Hi N!)
I think that ritual helped to form her later reading habits – she was an early reader, and now she’s an avid one. We’re a little late to this train for F.
Here’s the plan to catch up. Christmas.
I don’t want to put a light on F’s bedside table – it’s a small surface, and I like the things that are on it now. The profile of the edge of the table would make it difficult (not impossible, but tricky) to attach a clip-on lamp. We could mount a swing arm lamp to the wall, but I’m still not completely inspired.
Why, you ask? Because I want this. (Or something inspired by it.)
So, M and I are going to make a lamp. We could go the route of purchasing a ready made cord kit, and then cut off the plug and the cord mounted switch, string the beads on, and then rewire the switch and plug. Not a hard task, we’re up for it. Something kind of like this.
But then I found the Color Cord Company, where you can purchase the components you need, and better yet – fabric wrapped light cord, sold by the foot.
Tons and tons of colors.
So here’s the basic plan. I need to drape the cord from the plug up to a certain point where we’ll hang a small white hook, and then back down again to bedside light height. Then we’ll order the amount of cord we need, plus a plug, a cord switch (that we’ll locate along the cord where it’s easiest to control from the bed), a socket, a cool bulb with frosted tip to reduce glare. (I also will be forced to make some decisions on color for the cord – they are all so pretty.) I also need to find some oversized wooden beads, and get some glossy paint colors or spray paints for them. Assemble, test, wrap and give.
Let the bedtime reading begin!
This looks awesome. I have had a project like this (no beads, but the colored cord) in my head for a while now. Thanks for a new source for the cords – these look awesome! Can’t wait to see how it turns out. Cheers – CT
I know – I’m completely excited about the possibilities. They have a ton of colors.
Sorry I am a “was”…if someone (anyone?!) could explain why I can’t write comments on your posts from my iPhone and how to fix said problem, I could return to “is” status. I promise I do read every day. Oh, love the lamps and everything else. That should cover me until I get this sorted out…
You do win the faithful reader award. Second place, of course, behind my mother.
I know – commenting from iPhone’s and IPad’s is a complete wash. I wish I could make it all better. I always comment from a computer on other sites – there’s nothing worse than typing on a tiny phone and then you can’t even get the darn thing to post.
The beaded cord light is an inspired idea! Love it. Can’t wait to see your finished product.