How to Use a Swag Kit for a Light Fixture

Use swag kits to make pendant lamps easier to install.

Swag lamps avoid that process completely by using extra-long draped cords that you can plug into the wall. The lamp is hung from a hook instead of a junction box and canopy. You can purchase a swag kit from your local hardware store. These kits include all the materials you need to turn your light fixture into a swag light.

1. Cut the cord on your hanging lamp so that it’s just a few inches long.

2. Strip the last inch of insulating material off the end of your hanging lamp’s cut cord. Once you’ve exposed the two wires, split them apart by pulling so you can easily work with each wire.

3. Open your swag kit and pull out its contents. Most swag kits include 15 feet or more of lamp cord, a similarly long length of chain, wire caps and two anchoring ceiling hooks. Feed the cord through the chain, passing it through every few links.

4. Strip off the last inch of insulation from the lamp cord from your swag kit. Examine the colors of the wires emerging from the lamp cord from your hanging light, and compare them to the colors of your swag kit’s cord’s wires. Wrap the like-colored wires from the swag kit cord around each other using the needle-nose pliers.

5. Cap off your connected wires with the wire caps that came in your kit. Pull the chain down so that it covers your work.

6. Find a place on your ceiling to attach your hook that will allow enough room for the cord to reach a nearby wall outlet, to dangle decoratively between hooks and to hang down from the ceiling so that your hanging lamp is approximately 80 inches (at least) from the floor.

7. Attach the second hook directly above the wall outlet you’ll use. Hang the completed lamp from these two hooks.