When I saw this gorgeous room divider at a second-hand shop in Pretoria I just knew we would be able to re-purpose it into something special. Look at the beautiful scrollwork and it was going for an absolute bargain.

Lovely old room divider DIY tutorial #DIYHomeDecor #DIYTutorial #DIYHome #RoomDivider #Repurposed

Lovely old room divider

I initially thought I’d use it as a headboard for our little house by the sea, but changed my mind when I saw these copper candle holders on sale. The beautiful cutouts on the candle holders seemed to echo the scroll work on the room dividers.

Copper candle holders

Copper candle holders

My two random finds seemed destined to be together.

Turning Candle Holders Into Electric Lights

We started off by converting the candle holders into lights. The only light fitting I could find were white and clashed horribly with the copper.

Spraying the light fittings

Spraying the light fittings

So we stuffed some tissue paper inside to protect the working bits and sprayed them to match.

Waiting for the paint to dry

Waiting for the paint to dry

We removed the very sticky labels with some thinners and then used this awesome step drill bit to make a hole in the bottom of the candle holder.

Mark and drill the holes

Mark and drill the holes

Hubby had to file away some of the rough edges before he attached the light fitting. Snug as a bug 🙂

Attaching the light fitting

Attaching the light fitting

Once the light was done, we tackled the room divider.

A Room Divider Gets a Makeover

We removed all the hinges and cut the legs off. Taking the hinges off was the most difficult part of the whole project.

Unscrew the hinges and cut off the legs

Unscrew the hinges and cut off the legs

The room divider had been painted with white chalk painted and sealed with clear wax, but I wanted them to look a little more antiquey so I added some dark wax over the original paint job. The panel on the right has been stained and you can see the slight difference in color, it’s a little more toned down.

Staining the panels from the room divider

Staining the panels

I found some plain white, wooden brackets which I sanded a little to distress and then applied dark wax in places to match the room dividers. We drilled a hole at the top of the bracket and another one in the room divider to fit the wire for the copper lamps..

Drilling holes for the light

Drilling holes for the light

We used wax paper and a Sharpie to mark where the holes should go for the brackets and drilled two screws into the divider to hang them.

Figuring out where to make the holes

Figuring out where to make the holes

We pushed the electrical cord through the hole in the divider and the bracket and stuck the wire down using our glue gun.

Wire her up and glue her down

Wire her up and glue her down

This is where I started doing a happy dance, she’s sooooooooo pretty!!!!!

A room divider becomes a bedside feature DIY tutorial #DIYHomeDecor #DIYTutorial #DIYHome #RoomDivider #Repurposed

The lights are up

We propped the room dividers behind our bedside tables and plugged those beautiful lights in.

A room divider becomes a bedside feature - DIY tutorial DIY tutorial #DIYHomeDecor #DIYTutorial #DIYHome #RoomDivider #Repurposed

I love how they turned out and yes, I keep all my old teddies 😎

My bed is a magical place where I suddenly remember all I was supposed to do Click to Tweet

A room divider becomes a bedside feature - DIY tutorial DIY tutorial #DIYHomeDecor #DIYTutorial #DIYHome #RoomDivider #Repurposed

What do you think of the wooden skull? My mom says it’s creepy, but I think it’s awesome.

A room divider becomes a bedside feature - DIY tutorial DIY tutorial #DIYHomeDecor #DIYTutorial #DIYHome #RoomDivider #Repurposed

And our beautiful Cleo seems to approve.

A room divider becomes a bedside feature - DIY tutorial DIY tutorial #DIYHomeDecor #DIYTutorial #DIYHome #RoomDivider #Repurposed

Our beautiful purr baby Cleo

I’d love to hear what you think. Does it work for you? I still have one piece of the room divider left. I’m thinking it will make an awesome cupboard door or something like that? How would you re-purpose it?

Oh and don’t forget to Pin for later.

A room divider becomes a bedside feature - DIY tutorial DIY tutorial #DIYHomeDecor #DIYTutorial #DIYHome #RoomDivider #Repurposed

If you’d like to make one and don’t want to go to all that trouble of finding the materials, I’ve got you covered 😉 Disclosure: If you click on the links below, we may receive a commission from Amazon. But don’t worry it won’t come out of your pocket, and it helps us feed our beautiful fur babies

MyGift Whitewashed Wood 3 Panel Screen, Folding Louvered Room Divider
Timbuktoo Mosquito Nets Luxury Mosquito NET - for King to Single Size Beds Quick and Easy Installation System - Unique Internal Loop - 2 Entries - Ripstop Stuff Sack - No Added Chemicals.
Sale COTTON CRAFT Room Divider Wood Floor Screen - Kamal Antique White 4 Folding Panel 72x80 - Portable Reversible Functional Decorative Partition - Reversible Boho Freestanding Small Spaces Privacy

Made with love by a Crafty Mix

Just a quick update. I finally got round to doing something with that other piece of the room divider.  It’s now part of an awesome pallet headboard 😉