After trawling through what seemed like a million websites and buying and returning so many lamps, I still couldn’t find anything that suited. I was looking for a lamp that was modern looking, with a bit of colour and a white lampshade which would ensure a nice cozy glow. I did see some gorgeous ones but they were either too big (our bedside lockers are small) or the colour of the light being emitted wasn’t right. This was mostly due to the lampshade colour or because it used an edison style glass bulb. My last resort was to make a DIY lamp!
When I spotted this vase in Sostrene Grene I loved the shape and I knew the colour would match the leaves on the artwork above the bed. So I bought two and gave a go at turning these vases in lamps!
Step 1 to Creating a DIY Lamp
I looked for a cheap lamp with a white, drum-shaped lampshade.I picked two of these up in the Harry Corry sale – sweet! If you have an old lamp/lampshade than obviously you don’t need to buy anything! I removed the lamp socket, plug and lampshade.
Step 2
Here are a list of the things you will need:
- Drill with a drill bit specifically for drilling into glass, like this one.
- Vase of your choice.
- Masking tape.
- Bowl of water with a sponge.
- As mentioned above, the lamp socket and lampshade from a different lamp.
Step 3
Next, place masking tape where you would like to drill the hole. This reduces the chance of cracking the glass. I had a bowl of water ready in case the glass got too hot which might cause it to crack. There actually was a very small amount of smoke at one stage while drilling. So I sponged some water on the glass to cool it down. I drilled slowly with not a lot of pressure to begin with and as I got more comfortable I increased the speed. Better to be too slow than too fast!! I took a very short video to show you, which I also added to my Instagram highlights.
Step 4
When the hole was drilled and the vase cleaned, I thread the wire through the hole and then screwed the plug back together. When the lampshade is attached to the lamp socket, it can then sit on top of the vase. You can glue this to the top of the vase if you’d like, but I’m just going to leave it as it seems sturdy enough.
Have you ever made your own lamp or drilled into glass? It was a first for me this week! The list of things to do to this room is getting smaller – only 7 things left, to be exact!! Woo hoo!! Here’s one more quick before and after…
