A Wireless Lamp Redesign: Functional & Storied

Dear Resourceful Friend,

Today I’m going to take you on a little lighting journey. Lamps are a must in any cozy space. Yes, they are functional but they also set a mood and add layers of warmth and comfort that overhead lighting can’t achieve.

Sometimes you want a lamp where the only access to an outlet also makes a cord mess. That will definitely take the cozy vibe down a few notches. Enter the cordless lamp.

There are so many things with technology that I initially instinctively resist but cordless lamps are not one of them. I love that you can put a lamp where there is no outlet- who doesn’t?  The existing affordable cordless lamp selection to choose from, while slowly improving, can be a bit boring, in my opinion. And in the spirit of  bringing old soul to new items, I decided to give my little cordless lamp a redesign. 

A while back, I’m talking about 4 to 5 of years ago, I bought a set of old wooden salad bowls from a local thrift shop. They have been used for many things around my house , from plant risers to storage, even a circular template. But now, I think I have found what they were always meant to be.

This project is not a formula per se, it’s more just documenting my creation in hopes to inspire you to use beautiful things that you’ve found or saved to make your home uniquely yours.

 There were also a few tools I needed to make this project happen:

 I needed to get a 3 1/8″ hole saw bit for my drill that was big enough to allow the cordless lamp base to go through the bowl so, I bought one of those.

 I already had a hot glue gun and some good hot glue sticks.

 I used a little hand saw that I already had.

 I used some painters tape.

 I used my orbital sander and some hand sanding blocks.

 And Danish oil for the wood finish.

Here’s how I did it:

A few notes on how I got things to “perfectly” come together.

·For the fabric on the hoop, I overlapped the ends a little bit where they meet together. I folded one side under and kept that piece on top for a cleaner looking seam. 

Folding that little edge does add a little bit of bulk. The fabric I used wasn’t too heavy so I was able to let it be but if I were to use a heavier fabric I would have trimmed some of the bulk out at the sides to make it lay flatter. 

·The lamp ended up going down a little deeper into the base than I wanted so I just built up the bottom of the inside of the bowl with cardboard to get it to the best height. With the hole being cut near perfect to the diameter of the lamp base, everything is solidly stable and nothing slides around when moving the whole piece.

·As for the lamp shade, I had an extra one that worked perfectly. The key here is to have one that is made for a hanging light. In the shades meant for hanging lights the ring that goes around the bulb is at the top instead of the bottom or middle of the shade. With that style of lamp shade it can easily be mounted to the flat top of the wireless lamp. I may do something to mute the stark white of this shade later but it still works for my home as it is.

This lamp just turned out beautifully. It’s functional, richly patinated, I just love it.

I hope this quick little project inspired you to look at some of your cherished possessions in a new  way and that my methods give you ideas for your own one-of-a-kind objects.

If you’d like to know when my next project is coming out, sign up for the email and if you want to watch my shorts or videos on YouTube you can follow me there @craftyjonescreates. Until next time!