This week has been full of painting and finishing up several little projects around our house in prepping it to show to potential renters. I wish I could say that I figured out the supplies that I would need for each project and made one run to the hardware store for everything but unfortunately it didn’t work out that way. I was in and out of Lowe’s and Home Depot on almost a daily basis with a need for just “one more thing”. On one of my trips to Lowe’s, I came across a neat product that I hadn’t heard of before – it’s a recessed light conversion kit that allows you to easily convert a recessed can light into a hanging shade pendant. Apparently, it’s as simple as screwing it into the recessed light just as you would a light bulb, adjusting the cord length, and then covering the opening with the “canopy” (the part of the pendant light that mounts flush to the ceiling):

Here’s a visual before and after:

The kit is sold at Lowe’s under the brand name of “Portfolio” and is only $24. You have the option of a brushed nickel or aged bronze finish. I couldn’t find these conversion kits on Lowe’s online site so it may be an in-store only product.

A shade isn’t included in the kit – Lowe’s has several shades by their display of these recessed light conversion kits but I can’t see why you couldn’t use a standard shade that you buy elsewhere or, even better, one that you already own.
When thinking about places in your home where you could dress it up by converting recessed lighting into hanging pendant shades, the space over a kitchen island seems ideal:
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Lindsay Redd says
Love the last kitchen! And that enormous pendant over the entire square island is fabulous! Thanks for sharing!
Kris @ Driven by Décor says
I love it too, although you’d have to have a much bigger kitchen than mine to make that work 🙂