This blog post is written in collaboration with Walmart.  I have been compensated by Walmart for this post but, as always, all opinions are my own.

We recently moved from the original House on Winchester into a rental house while we build our dream home.  I say “original” because so many of you have asked what we will do with our business name.  Have no fear, it will remain the same.  We have some creative ideas as how to keep it the same way since we won’t actually be on Winchester Street anymore.  So, stay tuned for that.

We went from the House on Winchester, which had chandeliers in EVERY room to a house without a single ONE.  ☹️  It was in our contract to take several of them from the house when we left.  Rather than store all of them in boxes, we decided we would hang a few in the rental to enjoy them while we live here.  And, then hang the original fixtures back up in the rental when we leave.  Deb is at the point she can switch out a light in about five minutes.  She is THAT good.  ????

I decided I wanted a chandelier over our antique kitchen island (post coming soon on that fabulous piece) in the rental but there is no power there.  Sooooo…. I asked Deb to turn my chandelier into a plug-in so that I could still enjoy it!

How to Turn a Chandelier into a Plug-in

As long as your landlord doesn’t care about hanging pictures, etc, this is how we hang a chandelier without power in the ceiling.  You need to start by purchasing a swag light kit in whatever length and color of chain you will need.  They come in several colors:  brushed nickel, polished brass, and antique brass.  For our antique chandeliers, we always choose the antique brass color.  We measured the distance from where we wanted the light to hang, over to the wall where a plug is, and then down to the plug.  You need to add a little extra for the swag.  They come in 12′, 15′, and 18′.   You can, of course, adjust the length of each one by snipping the wire and the chain if you need one shorter than those.

Step One

Mark the location on the ceiling you want the chandelier to hang.  Make certain you are marking it IN A STUD.  Or it will fall out and go boom… hopefully not on your head.  ????  Measure the distance to the nearest plug, like I explained above, giving extra length for the swag of the chain.

Step Two

Drill a hole into the ceiling stud for the chandelier nipple that will screw into the mounting bracket.  Attach the mounting bracket directly to the ceiling stud and screw in the nipple from your light fixture.  It is now ready for you to hang the light exactly like you would hang it if there were a power box.

Step Three

Attach the swag light kit chain AND the chandelier to the mounting bracket.

Step Four

Attach the black wire of the swag kit to the black wire of the chandelier using the wire nuts provided with the kit.  Do the same with the white wire.

Step Five

Screw in the hook at the edge of your wall to attach the chain allowing some swag.  The hooks are provided in the kit.

Step Six

Plug in your chandelier and enjoy!

Living Large in a Rental

If you really want to feel like you are living large in a rental, ???? you can get a special switch/plug combo that is even dimmable so that you won’t have to unplug your chandelier every time you use it.  You just plug the chandelier into the box that comes in this set and attach the remote to the wall using velcro command strips.   It will look like a regular old light switch.

We have one of these switches somewhere amongst the junk (boxes) in this house.  So, once we find it, we will be using it.  Also… we switched out all of our chandelier bulbs to the LED chandelier bulbs.  They give out 40watts of light per bulb, but only use 4.5watts per bulb.  They are also dimmable for when we move and actually attach it as the ceiling fixture again.   And I think these bulbs are supposed to last like 650 years so that’s a good thing too.  ????

I really hope you enjoyed this post.  My goal is to show you everything we do in this little rental so that you can see it is easy to make any house feel homey…. even if you don’t own it.  I love to feel comfy and cozy no matter where we live.  Follow us over on Instagram to see demonstrations in stories of all of these projects!