I have a love obsession with lamps....that along with candles and pillows...and headboards. Well, really, the list can go on and on lol. Anyway. So what happens to a lamp when it doesn't work anymore? Why transform it into a side table of course :) In order to do this, the lamp needs to be at least a medium size if not larger, and have somewhat of a sturdy heavy base in order to stand without toppling once the top is on.
First step: Demolish your lamp..well, not really. Just the part that makes it a lamp :) Take off the shade and the shade holder. Then on the piece that holds the light bulb, unscrew it/pull it out enough so you can see the cord/wire and cut the wire off. Of course, I shouldn't have to say this, but make sure the lamp isn't plugged in. Now take the cord out of the bottom so you shouldn't have a cord any more.
Step 2: I had a lot of attempts with the best way to attach the lamp to the table top. There are a few ways you can do it depending upon the supplies on hand. First, the best way, would be to take a spade bit in the size of the diameter of the lightbulb holder part. My bits were either just a bit too small or to big, so I didn't do it this way. But if you do. Drill into a 2x4 piece of wood about half way down and then plop the lightbulp holder part into the hole. If you want to make sure it's in there for good, add some gorilla glue or wood glue to hold.
Now for me, I decided to just gorilla glue the piece to the wood. Which worked great! But as the glue started to expand, I had to push down the bubbles a little bit so it wouldn't become such an eye sore once spray painted and finished.
Step 3: Now secure the 2x4 piece to the center of your round/square table top. I got this from Home Depot for about 4 bucks. It's 18 inches in diameter.
Step 4: Once everything is dry and secure. Screw the top piece back onto the main lamp base. Just hold the lamp base steady, and swirl around the top!
Step 5: Prime the piece. Now, I have to admit something. I hate priming pieces. Hate it. And hardly ever do it, and sometimes don't get the most awesome results....and then I usually end up wasting a lot more spray paint than I should. So, I figured I should prime this one. I swear I'm going to do it every time now. The results were fantastic.
Step 6: Spay paint! I got a really pretty turquoise from Rust-oleum. Best sprayer ever on this can by the way :) And it covers so well....like I probably didn't even have to do a second coat. :)
And there you have it! A great little side table for the price of the table top (which I had on hand, so free for me :) )
You might wonder what it looks like with the block of wood. It doesn't look bad at all! You can see it in the below picture. You can probably add another block if you want more height. I also noticed on a few of my lamps that the lightbulb holder part isn't so secure, so you can just take this part off altogether and secure the next piece into the 2x4 block. If you are then worried about the height, just add another block. I guess some of this configuration will all depend on the lamp you use :)
As for the little switch that turns the light on? I unscrewed the main part, but the screw is still on there. But you can't even see it or tell. I think camouflaging it with the same color helps.
I love this pop of color. I think the hubs is probably happy to that I'm actually using some color, although I'm not sure how he feels about such a punchy color lol. Truthfully, I love the color, it's so so happy feeling :)
I have a somewhat matchstick lamp I want to try this out on next. It has a good base, so hopefully it won't wobble and fall over lol.
Have any fun plans for the weekend? I have to figure out what the heck to do while the hubs is out golfing all weekend lol. I guess here comes some more projects :)
Posts
