Choosing lighting can be a difficult task and it can be especially hard to find something that fits within a budget. Sometimes it’s easier to live with plain or even ugly fixtures because we can’t make up our minds or what we like is too expensive. You don’t have to live with bad lighting any longer. This weekend project takes simple and inexpensive kitchen items and turns them into unique, affordable light fixtures.

Light fixtures from kitchen items? Yep. We started with a silicone bundt cake pan and a light kit and ended up with a fabulous pendant light that looks like pricy, handcrafted glass. Assembly was a breeze. We trimmed off the handles of the pan, turned it wrong side out and attached the light kit. To connect the light into the electrical system, simply follow the instructions that come with the kit. (Be sure to turn off the power, first.) If you’re uncomfortable dealing with household wiring there are kits that plug into an outlet.

If a bundt pan isn’t your style, look around for other options. Try a large wooden salad bowl, a beautiful pottery bowl or even that cut-glass punch bowl you bought at a flea market. (Really, how often do you make a bowl of punch?) Depending on what you choose to make a light from, you may need to drill or cut a hole for the light kit. Some silicone pans have a hole cut in the middle already, but for a salad or punch bowl you’ll have to do the work.

Remember, when creating your own lighting from found items, use cool-touch light bulbs in the finished product. Compact fluorescent or LED bulbs don’t heat up like regular incandescent bulbs and they’re more energy efficient as well.

So go ahead and light things up. It’s easy to be your own lighting designer, just don’t forget to buy a new cake pan.