Sunday, August 14, 2011

Bottle Lamp

After I made my soap dispenser out of a Starbucks bottle, I had three left over. What to do? What to do?

I know! I'll make a lamp!
Had I ever made a lamp before? No, but why should that stop me?

I made my plan. I would stack two bottles and run the cord through the bottles. That meant I needed one hole drilled in the bottom of a bottle, the lids of each bottle and the side of one bottle. Make sense?
We tried to drill with a regular drill bit. There are blogs out there that claim this can be done. I tell you it cannot.


We had to go get a drill bit for glass and even then it took at least 10 minutes to drill the holes.


Once the pieces were ready it was time to start assembling. I went to Lowe's where they did not have a kit that would work, but they had all the pieces you could buy. (I over bought, of course, not knowing what I needed for sure.)
I took the cord and threaded it through the side hole, up through the bottle and then the lid. Then I screwed on the lid. 

I continued to thread the cord through the bottom hole in the next bottle, lid and screwed on the lid. Once my cord was in place I used epoxy to glue the bottles together. If I had glued them first it would have made the threading process a pain.


Next I took my socket and separated it. The bottom half was wedged and screwed into the lid.

Then I was ready to loosen the screws and attach the wires. 


Um, read the instructions. Turns out it matters which wire you thread on to which screw and if you do it backwards you will short the circut. I won't tell you how I know that (wink, wink). So properly place the wires and tighten the screws. Then I wedged back together. We considered needing a nut to hold it more firmly. It does wobble a bit.
Add a light and a shade.


I put this lamp in my son's room. He had a hand-me-down lamp that was feminine and had bead fringe. 


Just what every seven year old boy wants, right? No. So, this is better.


I have to tell you, it's okay. But I now I have the lamp bug. I just want to improve and make more lamps now. ;)

By the way, the reason for all the small projects lately? We are in the middle of the mother of all projects: laying a huge patio with reclaimed bricks. It's a big project that is taking most of our time. I can't wait to reveal it soon!

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4 comments:

  1. CUTE! You could fill it with something like marbles etc for some more color if you like.

    Thank you for linking to Wicked Awesome Wednesday!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice way to use the same thing twice! It's twice as nice!

    ReplyDelete

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