Wood Shim Pendant Light: The Installation (Part Three)

My wood shim pendant light is up! Hanging from the ceiling! And I looove it. Wanna see?

After finishing it a week or so ago, I had to wait a few days to finally hang it because I needed a special tool - a hammer drill - to place the hook in our *ahem* concrete ceiling. Do y'all know how hard it is to drill through concrete? If you've never had a chance to enjoy that experience, trust me when I say it's hard. My triceps were sore the next day from the force I had to use to drill straight up into the ceiling.

That being said, this isn't a "how to" post on hanging ceiling fixtures (consult an expert if you're not sure what you're doing!), but here's a little free advice...In order to place a screw into concrete, you'll need a hammer drill and some Tapcon concrete screws. Thankfully, my father-in-law is a contractor and he could advise me on exactly what I'd need to hang this guy correctly.

I experimented with some different hanging heights, and ultimately decided to hang the fixture fairly close to the ceiling. This might be higher than "normal" (whatever that is :)) for a dining fixture, but I didn't want to obstruct any sight lines through our apartment or block the lovely Martha's Vineyard map we have hanging there.

Since this is a plug in pendant, I needed to figure out a way to hide that long cord. In the photo above, you can see that the it runs along the ceiling and then disappears. In our space, I found that it's least noticeable if I run it down the wall just around the corner from the dining area. Around that corner is our front hall, and when you come in the door you hardly notice there's a thin white cord going down the wall.

In part one of this pendant light saga, I mentioned that there might be a little paint action involved with this fixture. In the end, I decided to leave it in its natural wood state for now. I like seeing the knots and the color variation in the wood. I'll live with it for awhile and reassess in the coming months. You can always paint something, but it's hard to go back to natural wood if you change your mind!

Thus ends the saga of the wood shim pendant light. Phew! To catch up on the back story of this guy, you can head over to my brainstorming session post, part one - the reveal, and part two - how I made it.

Let's take one last look at this pretty pendant light hanging over our dining table:

On a side note, I can't help but mention that today is my third wedding anniversary! Happy anniversary, C! Here's to many, many more to come :).

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