Upcycled Christmas Decoration: Clear Industrial Tube Light...Thing

All right, Guys...This one isn't necessary a DIY for the masses, but maybe it'll give you an idea!

So, remember when I got those awesome tables and cabinet for my craft room? (Click here if you need a refresher.) Well, I didn't tell you at the time, but I also grabbed this weird, clear industrial cylindrical thing off the trailer as well. It is from Duke Power, so who knows what it is actually used for! (If Shirley Coley reads this, maybe she can ask Eddy what it is actually for!)

Anyways, as soon as I saw it, I knew I could turn it into a Christmas decoration!

The first step was to remove the paper.

Then, I wiped it down to get all the dust off.

Okay, so basically, I was just going to stick Christmas lights into it and call it a day. You really don't have to read any more, because that's exactly what I did! 

Anyways, there is one important step that you shouldn't miss in the off chance you find one of these cylinders and are dying to make one yourself!

So, first of all, I looked at both ends and found that there was a little broken notch on one end. That was perfect. That was where the electrical chord would come out at the bottom.

Then, took a piece of brown foam and put the tube upright onto it. The cylinder's weight created a circular depression, so I put glue just inside that line. Notice, that I didn't glue all the way around. This is because I would need to fish the wall plug through this opening. 

(This foam was to protect the floor from scratches when I put it onto the hardwood in the living room.

Precautions like this one help a person stay married.)

Here you can see that I put the notch in the center of the un-glued part.

Then, I stood it up on a flat surface and let it dry for a few minutes.

Then, I fed the light strand down into the tube, laid the tube on its side and fished the plug out the opening in the circle. When I sat it back upright, I made sure that the chord was resting in the notch. (Incidentally, they are LED lights.)

So then, I carried it to its destination (the living room, beside the fire place) and plugged it in. I fed a few more lights into the tube but kept about 1/3 of the lights hanging out.

With 1/3 of the lights still hanging out, I got a plastic butter knife and hung the remaining 1/3 over it. Then, I fed the 1/3 into the tube. (The butter knife kept the lights from falling all the way into the tube.)

The finished project. Pretty unique and minimalist, wouldn't you say?

Do you like our Charlie Brown tree? This is about as Christmas-y as I get!

What weird household items do you have laying around that you can repurpose?

The End!!!