lamp

Studio 5 clip

March 10, 2011 By Stacy 15 Comments

So my day was a bit crazy. I knew it was going to be a rough one when my baby pooped in the tub. I was trying to hurry and get ready and then had to disinfect him and the tub and then me. My sister came with me and while driving to Salt Lake, someone cut us off and to avoid an accident she slammed on the brakes. My tall lamp went flying and broke in half! I was dying. We were already running a titch late as it was. We stopped at the closest Home Depot (good thing there was one at every exit) and I bought some 1 minute epoxy. We go running into the studio late and with a broken lamp. Nice. I am frazzled and trying not to hyperventilate. I was able to glue it back together and it is actually stronger than before. Everyone was really nice. When it was all over I was able to relax. I am home and all I want to do is take a nap!!!

For some reason the clip has disappeared. But you can still watch it on their site HERE.

Filed Under: Decorating, staining, television appearances Tagged With: lamp, painted lamp shade, scrap wood lamp, studio 5, tv clip 15 Comments

Another Scrap Wood Lamp

March 3, 2011 By Stacy 47 Comments

I had some MDF (medium density fiberboard) left over from a project that I will be posting about on Monday next week so I thought I would use it to make another version of my scrap wood lamp. Instead of squares, this time I did circles!!! I love it :) My playroom/downstairs family room isn’t even done yet but it has a lamp!

And like a lot of my projects, this requires power tools. I am on a quest to get you all to use them :)
First I used a jig saw to cut out some circles that I traced using small plates and cups.

Once you cut them out they may have places you need to touch up. Put them on the ledge of whatever you are using for a work surface with the part that needs touching up hanging over the ledge. Press down with one hand to steady it and cut with the other hand.

Touch up or not, you will definitely need to sand them. Start by using a very gritty sandpaper like 60. That will shave down any bumps and shape it. Then go back over it with a fine grit sand paper (120 or 220) to smooth it out.

I used a wood boring bit to drill holes into the circles. I didn’t want them to all be centered. I wanted them to be all wonky. This is not the size I used. It is just a google image because my camera battery died right about now.

I painted the circles a tan color that matched to fabric. Valspar: Prairie Dance I believe was the name. Sometimes when you paint MDF it gets rough. Just lightly sand it with a fine grit sand paper after the first coat of paint. All the coats after will go on smooth.

Okay. Battery recharged.
The very bottom piece will NOT get a hole drilled. The second to last one will get 2 holes drilled. An extra one for the cord.

I used wood glue to attach all the circles together but it was because I was going to nail them with my brad nail gun. If you are not going to use a nail gun I would use a stronger glue like epoxy.

I threaded the cord from the $10 lamp kit through the holes.

Then I used conduit for added strength. I wish I would have done this with my first scrap wood lamp. I put the cord through it as well. This made it so I strung the circles onto the pipe (that the cord was running through). I hope that made sense. I was so excited for the fun assembly part I forgot to take pictures :)
Once all the circles were stacked up I added the rest of the lamp kit. They are so easy to put together. Easy. I promise.

P.S. Conduit is cheap and is meant for electrical! I cut mine with a hand saw but you might be able to get someone at Home Depot or Lowe’s to cut it for you in the store.

Now for the shade!
I didn’t hand paint it this time. I wanted to show how you can use fabric instead. I used the shade and cut out this shape.

I sprayed the shade with spray adhesive first and then wrapped the fabric around the shade. This took longer for me than the actually building of the lamp! I kid you not. Me and material don’t always see eye to eye. I struggled to get it to line up. But eventually I did. I glued one end down to the shade. The other end I glued a hem before gluing it down. The “hemmed” side covered the un-hemmed one.

Then I trimmed off the extra material all around the top and the bottom. Like that awkward shot? I was trying to show you how and take a picture myself. No cute assistants to help this time!

Then I used the glue gun again to glue the fabric down on the inside of the shade. I don’t have a picture of this but I glued cream ribbon on the edge of the fabric to cover up the raw edge.

And there you have it! My new lamp :)

Pin It

Filed Under: Decorating, Painting, Power Tools, Projects, Tutorials Tagged With: circles, fabric lamp shade, lamp, scrap wood 47 Comments

Barn Wood Lamp

March 3, 2011 By Stacy 12 Comments

Here is another scrap wood lamp! I have a thing for lamps and this one was so easy. It did require power tools so I am hoping that those of you who are a little nervous to use them will see this and want to try. Power tools are so much fun! In total this took about 15 minutes to put together. I have experience so I would expect it to take a little longer if you are new to using these tools. But either way this can easily be done in a day.

I started with some old wood. The long pieces are actually old fence slats.

I measure the four long pieces and cut them all the same size with my miter saw. Then I cut the larger pieces that would become the base.

I used wood glue and my brad nail gun to construct a box out of the four long pieces. Then I nailed the smaller base piece onto the box. After it was nailed on I then nailed the larger base piece on. If I had not done it in that order, the nail would not have been long enough to go through both base pieces.

***If you don’t have access to a brad nailer, you can use small nails and a hammer. I actually think that would add to the charm and give it that extra detail :)

Then I drilled a hole in the back for the cord to go through. I bought a $10 lamp kit from Home Depot and I fed the cord through the hole, and then reached my hand in the box and pulled it out the top.

Here it is with the lamp kit put together. The lamp kit is CAKE to assemble. Once I made my scrap wood lamp and realized just how easy it was I knew there would be many more lamps in my future :)

I didn’t attach the top piece until it was put together. It got glued and nailed as well.

To make the top I used a leftover piece from the long boards. I used a wood boring bit to drill a hole for the lamp parts to fit in.

Here it is with the top on.

The metal shade was out in my garage. It was left over from an old lamp that has long since bit the dust. I am glad now that I saved the shade since the rusty look goes so well with the old wood.