I burn a lot of candles. When I was a teenager living next to Salem MA, or the witch city, I remember looking back at a candle I had lit that I used to cast a love spell with. The flame was surrounded by a blanket of snow, lending the white field it was nestled in an eerie, yet soft and peaceful glow. I cast that spell in a time where I felt particularly lonely after me and my friend group experienced some pretty heavy life events at too early an age. Thanks guys, for sticking it out with me. But the glow from that childhood memory still brings a warmth to my heart 💜💙
Along with the candles I burn, I also have a lot of other diffused, ambient lighting elements as well. Mostly because overhead lighting fixtures are just too harsh. Another childhood memory of mine that helped to mold my lighting style is seeing Christmas lights strung in somebody’s room, most likely on TV, and thinking they were the coolest. As a teenager I needed that element of cool to boost my street cred and explore my personality. I remember where I saw them now, Romeo & Juliet, the 90’s version with Clair Danes and Leo. There is a good mix of candles and modern lighting in the scene that influenced my future self’s style, and it’s been a constant theme in all my homes ever since.
In this post I’ll be going over what I’m using to light my rooms now. I’ll show you some simple DIY’s with various lighting sources, and how you can make your room look like a scene from your own 90’s romance, be it Romeo & Juliet, or your favorite Italian restaurant. So let’s set the scene with the foundation of your lighting schematic: string lights.
String Lights, The Backbone of Your Lighting Strategy
In the above photo I’ve taken a 50′ strand of copper wire LED lights and used them as lighting around the baseboards in my room. Lighting your room from below makes your room feel like it’s glowing, emanating light rather than light being intensely cast from above. The room feels more even. I’m also using them to highlight my plants, and I’ve wrapped them around a chair I use as storage. This provides my room with what an overhead light would, only in a calm and diffused way. Filling the room with a soft, ambient light in relaxed tones.
String lights are also a good way to highlight areas of interest, or what brings you joy in your rooms. I plan on wrapping my plants with more lights to showcase their greenery. But you could also run them around photos or paintings, inside a bookshelf. Using battery powered LEDs on the Left, you can see that I put them in a Tiffany Lamp knock off in a bookshelf. An otherwise dark corner of the room. Put them wherever feels most pleasing or cozy to you. Don’t over think it, just go with your gut.
Candles, Thinking Inside the Box
I usually burn pillar candles because one, they last a long time which translates to savings, and two, I’d rather not spend the money on votives that I’m going to recycle. It seems wasteful to toss a votive every time I burn down a candle. I’ve also recently started making my own pillar candles. This has the added benefit of feeling accomplished while I’m burning something I’ve made.
Tealights are another staple in my lighting strategy. The holder to the right is made from an upcycled ceramic diffuser top, and sits snugly on one of the many wooden candle lids I have from the candles I’ve purchased in the past. And now it’s a unique tealight holder. Perfect for small spaces, and throws a pretty pattern too. These wooden candle lids also work great as coasters if you have some laying around : )
Cotton Globe Lights
I saw these on Pinterest I believe. They were in an ad that popped up while I was searching for lighting ideas. It took some time to find a place to buy these globes (the ad was for something else, not the lighting), but they were worth the time invested to find them. These globes are wrapped in cotton thread and have a naturally soft feel to them. They also have a variety of timed, flashing light patterns, which is a nice touch when you want the lighting to match your mood.
They’re battery powered, which can be a pain when you have to change them out or buy more (there are plug in options available as well), but on the upside they’re not tethered to an outlet. This means you can put them anywhere you feel moved to. And they have a remote which is convenient. As you can see above, I’ve draped mine over a coat hanger with some driftwood garland, lighting an otherwise dim corner in my room.
On a related topic, I’ve also recently discovered that you can recycle AA batteries at your local Staples. All you need to do is ask for the small cardboard box they have at the counter, fill it, and return the box to the store. They also recycle a bunch of other items as well. Def a good, green find.
Driftwood Tree Lamp
I use this element when I need a little extra light to focus on a project, or to read and write by. It’s a driftwood tree lamp, made from mostly found objects. The branches are pieces of driftwood I found on a beach close by, the base is made from an old countertop composting bucket that I filled with rocks for stability (also from the beach), and the lighting element is a combination of LED string and globe lights.
The red and clear, glass ornaments above and to the left of the stuffed owl, though not lighting elements themselves, are small replicas of old glass buoys from the 1700s. I got them from the gift shop at The PEM in Salem MA. Since I live in a New England city that’s known for its rich maritime history, I thought I’d represent some of New England’s sophisticated yet salt of the earth charm. They also match the globe LED lights, and look good when back lit 🙂
Sea Glass Lamp
One of my neighbors (thanks Tara) turned me on to this idea. This sea glass lamp is a simple concept, yet looks amazing, and it’s definitely a unique way to bring some cozy ambiance into your space.
I scrubbed the local surf for the sea glass I needed, using about three to four cups worth for this lamp. It’s about the size of a cantaloupe, and the base is a hollow, glass globe I got from a local craft store. I stuffed it with battery powered LED string lights for the lighting element, and the batteries last a long time because the LEDs require so little energy. To create the mosaic of sea glass, I used a hot glue gun to fix the pieces to the outside of the glass globe. Though you could also use a clear, plastic globe for the base for a less fragile, more kid friendly lamp. And there you have it. A simple yet cozy and unique lighting element : )
Salt & Wood
Above is a salt lamp I got from Amazon. It adds a warm, pink and orangey glow to the room, and the salt element helps to ground the space, and overall ambiance. To the right of the salt lamp, I also have a branch wrapped in more battery powered LED lights, and you can see the cotton wrapped, globe lights to the far right that I mentioned above. They’re draped over my door with a garland of driftwood, another unique find from a local shop. The salt, wood and cotton elements all come together to lend my space an earthy, grounded feeling. These are truly a reflection of not only who I am, but who I want to be, grounded yet cozy (:
Natural Elements Create a Cozy Space That Feels More Me
The lamps and lights I used in my lighting strategy all have a natural feel to them, which lends the room a grounding and organic feeling. The string lights are made from copper, and their warm tones blend into the wooden hues seamlessly. My candle holder is wood and ceramic, giving it a timeless feel. The globe lights are wrapped in cotton thread, which lends the room a softness. The driftwood lamp is made of wood, rock and ceramic which feels grounding, but not too heavy when mixed with light. Together with the frothy sea glass lamp reminiscent of the ocean’s surf, and the soft glow and weighty feel of the salt lamp, all come together to create a natural and cozy feel and look.
Lighting That’s a Reflection of My Personality
I used to be image obsessed. I think my inner child was like a tiny Jim Morrison. I wanted to be loved but was too afraid to drop my cold, arrogant and unfeeling facade, because that’s what I thought I needed to be like to be loved, because that’s how the people I loved were like. So I was really obsessed with wanting to be loved. I thought that if I looked and acted the way I saw those who I loved look and act, I would be loved by them. But this kept me from connecting with them, my friends and family in an authentic way because I was focused on trying to show them how I was like them, not myself, by how superior I was to them. I thought that being seen as superior (how they were acting) would lead to a loving relationship because I would finally meet their unexpressed expectations of me and they would finally approve of me. And I thought I could control and manipulating how they saw and felt about me by pretending to be better than them and they would be trying to meet my unexpressed expectations, which was what they were doing. I wanted to be so cool that no one would ever be able to reject me and I could control our relationship and how they felt about me, not realizing that like a reflection in a mirror, our connection was cold and lifeless, and we were all afraid of not being loved by the other, but too afraid to be authentically ourselves for fear of being rejected.
But what I didn’t realize was, that I shouldn’t have to change who I am to be loved and accepted, and that I had completely severed ties with most of my friends and family by acting superior to them. My smug demeanor left me lonely and isolated. If you want to experience a taste of what I’m talking about, go to your local Whole Foods and try to make eye contact with anybody and smile. I was avoiding connection and I think we act smug and distant to mask our insecurities of not knowing why we feel rejected by others, or what standard we’re not living up to, not realizing that love begins with self love. I know that’s what I was doing. And I’m so grateful for the friends and family that stood by me, even after I treated them with such contempt. Those are my true friends.
What Does Your Inner Lighting Strategy Look Like?
Like switching to a soft and more diffused lighting strategy in my home, I needed to dim down the intense strategies I was using to try to control feeling loved and accepted by who I thought were my friends. Strategies that covered over my authentic self in the process. Setting a peaceful tone in my home, through lighting and discovering what I truly like and am like, helped me to find the less intense, diffused version of myself, and to relax enough to let my strategies and attempts to control others opinions of me drift away, and uncover my ambiently authentic, peaceful self.
Building a sanctuary inside of yourself by using an honest reflection of your style as the blueprint, and what bring you peace and joy, will help you to build self-confidence and like who you are, as you are. Once you feel secure in who you truly are, you can drop your strategies, knowing you have a place you can return to and recharge. Then you’ll be able to find friends who will love you for the ways you love yourself.
I believe that an authentically curated style and environment can inform and represent who we are. If we surround ourselves with the elements and spaces that brings us peace and ease, our true personalities will shine through. Like my tealight candle above, throwing its own unique patterns, we will naturally attract the people who are drawn to and appreciate our own unique patterns and styles, instead of trying to fit into somebody else’s mold. We can cast our own personalities into the world, allowing people to see our authentic selves shine through, confident in who we are.
So friends, whether you are trying to set the tone with a special loved one, or need a little self love yourself, maybe dimming the lights is just what you need to cultivate a little more peace and let your authentic self shine through. I was def in need of a slower pace and some R&R for sure. Only in a more serine and softly lit setting. So until next time, peace, and thanks for reading 🏔️🌙💜💙🕯️
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