I Built a Floor Lamp!

We have a serious lack of overhead lighting in our house. Two of the three bedrooms have no overhead light at all, and no easy access to add it. The third bedroom only has overhead lighting because my husband added some the week we moved in. And while table lamps work, there’s really no replacement for overhead lighting for reading. So, I went on the search for a floor lamp. I quickly discovered floor lamps come in two varieties. The cheap kind you’d find in a dorm room. And the expensive kind. With my new interest in making things, I started looking around Pinterest for some DIY floor lamps. I found a few that I was interested in, but decided on this one from Ana White in the end. It’s more of a reading lamp style, where it hangs out on an arm directly overhead instead of just giving out ambient light. It’s actually a knock-off of a pretty pricey lamp.

Ana built her lamp out of furring strips, which is basically the cheapest wood you can buy. I don’t work that way. If I’m taking time to make something, I want to make it out of good materials. Or at least decent materials. I built mine out of pine, and stained it cherry to match my end table. I really think this saved me a lot of effort and makes for a better looking finished project.

The second issue I came across was the cord. The cord she uses is from Ikea, and we don’t have an Ikea near by. The closest one is a couple hour drive, not really worth it for a power cord. And while I’d be fine shipping a cord, the lamp shade is a different story (and from what I understand, Ikea cords only work with Ikea shades). Luckily, Lowe’s sells a pendant light kit that would fit my needs.

I started wrapping the cord using the friendship bracelet technique, as I was staining my wood. But after I got the thing assembled, it didn’t fit. Plus, I had forgotten metallic yarn has a dark core. Using it to make lots of little knots was making it frizzy.  I cut all my hard work off, and just did a simple wrap after I fed the cord through the lamp. I also added an in-line switch to make turning it on and off easier.

I’m pretty happy with the end result. But, the design of this lamp isn’t the most stable. It really needs a heavier base. I wouldn’t trust my dogs to run around it without knocking it over that’s for sure. As I assembled it, I really didn’t know if it was going to work in the end. Luckily, since it’s behind my chair it’ll be OK since it’s not in the line of dog.