How to Build an Outdoor Hanging Light

Battery-powered LED lights are a money- and energy-saving light source.

Outdoor lighting not only helps you see where you're going in the dark, it can turn early fall evenings into cozy fall nights outdoors. Hanging outdoor lights encourages you to stay out longer, allowing you to enjoy the night sky and some peace. If holding a barbecue, lights negate the need to run inside the moment the sun sets. Though outdoor hanging lights can be expensive, you can make your own for about $10 each, as of 2010. Repurposing household items pushes costs down even more. Plus, you'll get eclectic, original lights to complement your décor.

Things You'll Need

• Yellow LED hook light
• 3 inch steel nail
• 18 inch length of ½-inch-wide chain
• Small S hooks
• Clay planter pot with drain hole
• Frosted spray paint
• Glass jar
• Wire clothes hanger
• Wire nips

Instructions

Ceramic Light

1. Slip your small S hooks through the last link on either end of your chain. Slip a nail horizontally between the hooks and hang your LED hook light from the nail.

2. Pass the chain up through the drain hole in your clay pot so the light sits inside the pot. Hang the pot from a strong tree branch, light bracket or rod iron lantern hook.

3. Reach through the drain hole to turn the LED light on and off. You'll need to change the batteries about once a month.

Glass Lantern

1. Spray paint the outside of a glass jar with frosted glass paint. Make sure you get an even coating all over the glass. Let the paint dry overnight. The frosting will diffuse the light so the entire jar lights up.

2. Place a small LED light inside each jar. Simply set them in the jar, near the center of the bottom so the light is even.

3. Nip the straight bottom out of your wire hanger. Bend the remaining part of the hanger around the neck of your jar so the hanger hook sticks straight out from the jar at a 90 degree angle.

4. Bend the hanger hook up so it's in line with the side of the jar. Hang your jar from a strong tree branch, a lantern hook or a lantern bracket screwed into your porch wall. You'll need to reach into the jar to turn the light on and off.

References

• The Art of Doing Stuff: It's Dollar Store Week: The Pot
• Diggin' Food: Candle Lantern How To