IKEA bag holder to DIY light fixture!

I'm not a very lucky person. You know how there seem to be people who always win stuff and are just dang lucky? I'm not one of them. And I'm fine with it. But somehow, the stars aligned for me two weeks ago and I was able to attend an amazing blogger event at the Draper IKEA. I live in Idaho, and as LUCK would have it, we were already driving down to Utah that weekend for a family reunion. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to see some of my good friends and meet some new ones too! We were treated to a yummy breakfast, and then we got a copy of the brand new IKEA catalog and had a few hours of kid-free shopping time and $25 to spend in the store. It was SO much fun! I got to hang out with McKenzie, and we loaded our cart full of some pretty cool stuff! {OK, so most of it was pillows, but I couldn't help it!}

One of the best scores I got were these plastic bag holders for $1.99 each. But you know I wasn't planning to use them to store my old grocery bags. Oh no, I had plans my friends :) Perfect for my little girl's room that I am in the process of re-doing right now. You can see the new black and white pillows I picked up... I love the graphic mix of patterns with the colors I have in the room:

Do you spy my secret project? Yes, that light fixture used to be a plain old plastic bag holder!

Here's what it looks like all lit up:

The pictures really don't do justice, but these light fixtures are so cool! Here's how I did it. I started with my Rationell Variera bag holder from IKEA. {Try saying that 3 times fast!}

 {1} They just snap together, so easy.

{2} I used a little more than 1/3 yard of fabric, for both shades, and some grosgrain ribbon for trim. {3} I cut the fabric to fit, leaving enough to iron a nice edge, and a little extra to wrap around the back of the plastic "frame" {4} Another IKEA product I had down in my craft room... the hemming tape that comes with their curtains! I used it to iron on my ribbon trim, and it worked perfectly. {5} Here is the finished piece of fabric, ready to be glued on to the frame. {6} I used hot glue to attach the fabric to the bottom, top and sides of the frame. So quick and easy!

Here are both light fixtures ready to be hung up:

The bag holders have a nice closed bottom and open top, perfect for the lighting plans I had....

I don't mess with anything electrical in my house, so I found these really cool LED lights and the best part is... they work by remote control!! {My kids love fighting over using it!}

I hung up the new fixtures on either side of the window in her room. They come with an adhesive strip on the back, or a spot for nails/screws {which is what I used.} Then I can take them down easily when I need to change out the batteries in the lights.

My pictures are not doing this project justice! They look soooo cool at night when they are all lit up. One more look at the before and after:

I had such a great time at IKEA, and I've been browsing through their new catalog ever since, getting ideas for my next trip to their store :) The entire catalog is online too! I have another fun IKEA project to share with you on Wednesday. Here's a sneak peak:



I was invited by IKEA to a blogger event and was given a $25 gift card to purchase any products in their store.

The opinions expressed about IKEA and their products are 100% mine!

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