The World At My Fingertips

There are certain things that will give anyone, even the most humble of people, a power trip. Holding a globe is one of them, I think. You are literally holding the world.  This project gave me a whole year’s supply of feeling powerful, as I was not only holding the world, but splitting it in half! Check it out…

No one should have this much power. 🙂

So, as you know, my baby brother got married this past June! Last month I shared some snapshots of their big day, and then this morning, I gave you the play-by-play of all of the festivities.

Well, for their wedding gift, we wanted to give them something special. Really, we wanted to give them the world, but there are laws and scientific theories that got in the way of that, so this was the next best thing. 🙂 Beau and Summer are currently working on buying the house that Summer has been renting for the last few years. They run a Homework Club for the neighborhood kids every week and one of their dreams is to turn one of the bedrooms into a study space with a few desks and resources to offer to the kids as they work on their homework in there. PLUS, Summer has a love of all things maps, so I thought that something like this could be a really cool addition to that future space.

This project was really simple and pretty affordable too, so I thought I’d share how I did it. You’ll need the following:

A globe (sometimes you can find them inexpensively at thrift stores… mine was under $10!), two light kits (these were from Ikea), a pair of light bulbs (make sure they fit the kits!), some white craft paint, a paint brush, pencil, and something to cut open the globe (I started with a box cutter, but later moved to an electric multi tool to make it easier).

Step 1: Cut your globe in half. (Hint: Use the equator to get a straight line and a perfect half-way cut!) Again, I started by using a box cutter, but realized that the core of my globe was too thick and switched to a handheld electric saw to get the job done.

Step 2: Using the light kit, trace a hole at the top of each half. This is where the light kit will be inserted to create the pendant.

Step 3: Cut out the traced circles.

Step 4: Sand all of the “cut” areas until they are smooth.

Step 5: Clean all of the dust and dirt off the globe. I just used a slightly damp paper towel to wipe it down.

Step 6: Paint the inside of the globe white. Really, you could paint it whatever color you want, but I thought that white would help the light bounce around and make the whole fixture brighter.

I also wasn’t super concerned with putting too many coats on because I liked the way the inside echoed the circular lines of the globe.

Step 7: Once everything is dry, insert the light fixture into the hole, screw the top on, and add the bulb!

Step 8: Hang it up and plug it in!

I also bought Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint in case they wanted the cord painted a contrasting dark color. I think it would look great with a dark cord, but we figured they should take it home and decide where and how they want to hang it, just in case they are going to be cutting the cord at all to fit the space. After they decide about that, they can always go back and paint the cord dark or silver or gold… whatever they want!

So there you have it! Super easy project with a fabulous end result. In total, I spent $8 on the globe, $10 for two light kits, and $5 for the bulbs… the rest I had on hand, for a grand total of $23 for two lights! Not too shabby! In terms of time, I was able to make both of these in under an hour. And now I’m fighting a very strong urge to splice another globe in half to make a pair for myself… if only we had somewhere to put them…