6 Ways To Deal With Dark, Ugly, Tacky Apartment Lighting

Got bad apartment lighting? You don't need to be an electrician to upgrade your light fixtures! Click through lighting ideas that will help you deal with dark apartments and tacky light fixtures!

In a perfect world, we’d all know how to rewire lamps and landlords would have moved past those terrible, 70s light fixtures. But I’m not yet an electrician and it’s probably wishful thinking to trust our landlords to make our design decisions.

Today, our girl Thalita is sharing ideas on how to make lighting a little less painful for all you renters out there. I know it can feel a little hopeless when you’re at the mercy of either poor lighting or terrible fixtures!

General Lighting

This is where we see the ever lovely “boob” lights. The absolute worst. Luckily, there are ways to cover them up!

First, you can make a drum shade which can easily be placed over the original fixture. No need to get too fancy here, you can use some simple embroidery hoops and a few hooks in the ceiling (perhaps even Command hooks if you’re blessed with flat ceilings and none of the yucky popcorn stuff!).

Got bad apartment lighting? You don't need to be an electrician to upgrade your light fixtures! Click through lighting ideas that will help you deal with dark apartments and tacky light fixtures!
If you want to get a little more fancy, you can make yourself a faux capiz shell chandelier using wax paper and a sewing machine. That’s right… it can be that simple! This would be time consuming, but so beautiful, and you can also place this over an existing fixture, which is a bonus!

Got bad apartment lighting? You don't need to be an electrician to upgrade your light fixtures! Click through lighting ideas that will help you deal with dark apartments and tacky light fixtures!

Bonus with these two options: they’re lightweight, they can be made at home, and they can be placed over an existing (perhaps ugly) fixture, so you don’t have to worry about uninstalling and re-installing any original lights!

Task Lighting

It’s important to have task lights, my friends, for obvious reasons: you need light for performing important tasks, such as eating ice cream in the middle of the night, so as not to spill any.

A useful, inexpensive and easy DIY option is to use a shelf bracket to attach a simple pendant light to, like this one.

Got bad apartment lighting? You don't need to be an electrician to upgrade your light fixtures! Click through lighting ideas that will help you deal with dark apartments and tacky light fixtures!
If DIY isn’t your thing, IKEA happens to have the dreamiest, most fantastic line of lighting called RANARP, and the smallest task light fixture can either be attached to the wall or simply clipped on to a shelving unit. I’m totally biased on this one because I happen to have them in my own bedroom.
Got bad apartment lighting? You don't need to be an electrician to upgrade your light fixtures! Click through lighting ideas that will help you deal with dark apartments and tacky light fixtures!

Accent Lighting

Now for the FUN lighting! Yes, there’s such a thing. Don’t be afraid to add string lights to your space. I promise you it doesn’t have to look like your dorm room back in college or like Christmas decided to stay all year. There are so many ways to use these little but mighty lights, and with a little creativity you can create a lovely and soft atmosphere in any space.
Got bad apartment lighting? You don't need to be an electrician to upgrade your light fixtures! Click through lighting ideas that will help you deal with dark apartments and tacky light fixtures!
Now, if you want to get your crafty, handy DIY on, this is the project for you. You could make your own marquee light, which would not only provide some seriously cool lighting, but would also impress the hell out of your friends!
Got bad apartment lighting? You don't need to be an electrician to upgrade your light fixtures! Click through lighting ideas that will help you deal with dark apartments and tacky light fixtures!

Right? Pretty awesome.

So there you have it, both DIY and store-bought ways you can improve any sad lighting in your apartment. And it should also be noted that you should have all three types of lighting I’ve given you here. You especially want them in common areas like a living room! Even if you don’t need to replace any of your lighting, think about incorporating different types into your home.

Do you have bad lighting in your space? Share your best tricks for coping in the comments!

P.S. Storage in small spaces and living with tiny, galley kitchens

Sources: DIY Drum Shade // DIY Faux Capiz Shell Chandelier // DIY Pendant Lamp // Clip-on Task Lamp // String Lights on a Ladder //  DIY Marquee Light // Chen Mizrach // cc

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4 Comments

  1. Brianna Soloski

    Those lights draped on the wood ladder are so pretty.

  2. Nancy Davis

    Great post Thalita.. I’m avid reader of your blog – The Learner Observer I glad I follow you up to here.. another good blog to follow and subscribe for new post. Lots of DIY/design projects…

    Thanks,
    Nancy
    Window Planet Single Hung Windows in Toronto – Superior Quality Windows and Doors

  3. Daphne

    I love those task lighting ideas. I really need light to read books and I love reading them on the bed. The 4th picture would be good above the head.

  4. Trish

    The lights on ladder is a great idea for photoshoot. I will make one of that on my next project. Did you use LED bulbs on that? Thanks for sharing your talent. credits to you.

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