Funky Industrial Lamp
Michelle at Decor and the Dog came up with this nifty lamp idea, and when I saw it I knew that I just HAD to make my own version for our soon-to-be house back on Cobb Mountain! She has a great tutorial and you can head on over to her page to get all the details and see her creations. Pop around and look at her other tutorials while you are over there - she has fantastic ideas!
Okay, now that you've read the tutorial on her page, I am going to tell you what I did a little bit differently, in case you want to make one that is a little bit more like mine. First off, I painted all of my lamp parts and these 4 wood screws with this metal finish Rustoleum paint. I also purchased pipes that were dark in color (you'll have a choice when you head to the hardware store). This paint color matched my pipes pretty well.
Secondly, I LOVE the blue-gray colors that Michelle used on her wood, but I wanted something a bit more natural looking. I found this Gunstock stain in the garage at our rental, and it did the trick. The only trouble was that some of the glue I used to hold my wood together (see Michelle's tutorial) had peeked out throught the cracks, and wood stain would not cover it. So I had to get creative.
Since I don't own any little paintbrushes yet, I used a Qtip to dab some of my chalk paint in all the cracks, covering the glue. Then I gave the whole piece a wash of gray chalk paint, much like I did with my $5 Clock Project. It gave the entire piece just the "weathered look" I wanted!
Michelle didn't fix her pipe to the wood, but I wanted something a bit more sturdy, so I painted these wood screws and they did just the trick. The screws come black, but I think little details like painting things to match make all the difference between something looking "just homeade" vs. something that looks "professionally handmade".
I also used E6000 glue to fix the lamp parts to the top of the pipe. Michelle said that hers fit down in there tightly, but mine did not. You can read more about E6000 glue in my Farmhouse Cookie Jar Tutorial. I forgot to take a good pic of this part, but basically I glued the pipe to the lamp part right where the arrow points. And don't you just LOVE that bulb? Mr. TBG found that at IKEA! It was the most expensive part of this project - I think it was $14. When you turn it on, the filament looks like two hearts. <3
Like Michelle, I never thought I could make a lamp. But it was EASY! And I am pretty excited about how it turned out. Here it is in our rental...and I can't wait to get it to our new house! If you make one, please share a pic. Thre are so many fun options for this...you could use longer or shorter pipe...add a lamp shade like Michelle did...paint it a bright color...!
Go for it and have fun!
Jamey
