Watch a TikToker Swap Her Boob Light for a Chic Chandelier

Jul 25, 2023

If you don’t give the ceilings in your home too much thought, one TikToker is making the case for a full-on ceiling makeover that you can DIY with the right supplies and a little bit of planning and patience.

TikTok user Shelby (aka @prettyinthepines) has been documenting the process of making her New York City apartment feel like a charming, cozy place to call home, and she’s leaving no stone unturned, particularly when it comes to the ceilings. She first transformed her basic white living room ceiling into something truly unique, painting it a soft green hue using Sherwin Williams’ SW 7639 Ethereal Mood. But the pièce de résistance is undoubtedly the framed sections where she added intricate ceiling moldings, all of which she purchased on Amazon and installed herself.

She added vintage-inspired light fixtures and framed them with elaborate crown molding as well, instantly upping the cool factor in the room so much, she decided to do the same in her bedroom.

In a follow-up video, she showed the process of taking the bedroom from boob light basic to something straight out of a magazine, all of which she did herself. She attached the molding to the ceilings using only Command Strips, noting that if you wanted something more sturdy, you could do the same using nails and/or a glue gun (or use peel-and-stick molding). She cut the molding to size using miter shears and mapped out the layout using painter’s tape, a tape measure, and a “mathematically gifted brain, because this is going to require a lot of measuring and subtracting,” with Shelby noting, “I had to do the math, like, three times before I did it right.”

“Once the math is done correctly, the hard part is over, and you can start measuring and cutting over and over and over and over again,” she adds. “I started my ceiling panels out nine inches from the edges of the ceiling and I had to also subtract the length of the corner pieces to figure out how long each long skinny piece needed to be. I cut out everything at once and then moved to the installing step.”The final step involved filling in any side gaps with caulk and then giving the walls and ceiling a fresh coat of paint (Farrow & Ball’s Stony Ground, a rich, neutral hue). The boob light was replaced with a stunning chandelier, proving that even the most boring ceiling can turn into something extraordinary with a little bit of love and plenty of crown molding.