She Takes A Wooden Barn Pulley And What She Does With It Is Remarkable. Watch!

Talk about a unique conversation piece. You’re definitely gonna want to see this DIY project! When I saw this I just had to make one for my home. There’s so much rustic charm with this one.

Pulleys have been doing the heavy lifting for centuries. Among the most common and collectible today are barn pulleys with wood sheaves and cast-iron housings.

In the late 1800s, most were used to move hay from horse-drawn carts to lofts. To the American farmer, this mechanized system was the antidote to the back-breaking work of slinging hay with a pitchfork.

I was inspired by a $500 industrial-look fixture in a catalog, I made this light fixture for a fraction of the cost using a barn pulley. At $22, it wasn’t the cheapest pulley, but it was clean, had a nice patina, although these can be purchased anywhere from $3 to $75.

When making this DIY project, I added a second, smaller screw-base pulley and the cast-iron bracket were $8 at a garage sale, and the I used a cloth-covered cord, brass light socket, and Edison-style bulb approximately $40 from a lamp supply shop. To protect the bulb, you might consider adding a metal bulb cage.

Watch how Shabby DIY does this cool pulley light fixture in their step by step tutorial.