Finally, one goes to plan

Well, mostly. When we moved in, there was a brass swingarm lamp hung over the head of the bed in the master bedroom. This lamp was an eyesore, and had very obviously been involved in a fire(!) of some sort in the past. We hated it. Additionally, we were always putting the TV remote, our glasses, books, etc. in a drawer under the bed - far from ideal, but work with what you've got, right?

We had an unused shelf lying around that was just the right size for the space, and decided a light or two hung underneath would do the trick. Last weekend while browsing Home Depot, I found 2 halogen "puck" lights for under $10 each. These are thin, disc-shaped lamps that look like, well, hockey pucks. Some require a transformer to step the 120V from the wall down, but these were direct-wire. Score!

I affixed the puck lights to the underside of the shelf just inside the supports. I then took the brass lamp down and spliced the puck light wires into the remaining wires coming out of the wall. Put a decorative cap (meant for ceiling installations) over the wiring ugliness, and we're set! Under $25 if you don't count the shelf (and I don't, since I already had it) and it looks better than we had expected. The wires still need to be tacked down - minor detail.

Now, you're asking yourself why things aren't centered, right? The cap is placed right on the lamp mounting bracket. Like so many other things in this house, it's not in line with the world. The shelf is centered on the wall. The mounting bracket was far from. But I wasn't about to take portions of the wall out to tidy that up.