DIY: Natural Lighting

When I arrived home from work today, I was astounded by what I saw on my back porch. While I was away, my handsome, talented, strong and very manly husband had been building mama a rustic chandelier! It is very similar to something straight out of West Elm or Pottery Barn...

We were recently discussing the fact that we wanted a new light for our new back porch. Originally we had red lanterns hanging above, but after one good rain the color dye faded and we were left with ug-o shades. So since then we have just the bulbs hanging- not so chic. Erik's first idea was to weld an iron sphere that we would fill with bulbs for an industrial/modern light. Going with that theme, he decided to do some landscaping and lighting at the same time. He went in our overgrown back yard and cut down some hearty vines and wove them into the glorious sphere you see below for $0, yes it was absolutely FREE:

{ Doc & Uga love it too. }

All he did was cut the big vines first and he used some zip ties to make 2 circles. He put one circle inside the other and then used smaller vines to add more shape to it. Again, when discussing the iron idea, we wanted to paint it a fun bright color, but now I definitely want the rustic texture of the wood. I'll use twine to wrap around the zip ties to conceal them. As far as wiring goes, we are going to use big bulb string lights to fill the interior. I CANNOT wait to have it hanging on the porch. I'll keep you posted...

P.S. Did I mention how AWESOME my husband is?

P.S.S. And how I want him to make me 5 more?