DIY Chíc Floor Lamp
Hey there! So glad you joined in to see how to repurpose a wooden umbrella into this Chíc Floor Lamp! Let me tell you I am super excited about this DIY project!
My Lucky Find
I had been admiring the wooden tripod lamps online for quite sometime. But I just wasn’t ready to pull the trigger on one just yet, because I first wanted to look into building one from scratch. But before I could do any research I found this amazing thing laying on the side of the road ready to be picked up for the dump!
It was this huge old wooden umbrella. As soon as I saw it, the light bulb went on! It was perfect to repurpose into my DIY Chíc Floor Lamp! And I knew it wouldn’t cost me much at all!
I love when I am able to rescue items that are about to be thrown in the dump. Not only am I reducing waste but I love to be able to bring something back to life and give it a new home! Here are a few of the awesome projects I found on the side of the road. Horse Coat Rack Makeover! Wine Holder Makeover and this How To Protect Chippy Paint post!
Getting It Home
The only problem was getting this huge umbrella home! I opened my passenger side window and slid the umbrella through and all the way to the back of my car. The whole time hoping and praying it would fit, knowing in my heart it wouldn’t.
I was right, it didn’t fit! I have to say there was close to 3ft sticking out the side of my window. But I was determined to get it home, so I hoped in my car and started driving, very carefully! Thankfully I was only a few blocks away from home. Needless to say I made it safe and sound and I was literally jumping for joy when I got it out of my car!
Here it is in all its Before glory!
Repurposing The Wooden Umbrella
As awesome as it was I did not have any use for a wooden umbrella so I continued forward with my original plan. To turn it into a DIY Chíc Floor Lamp!
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Cutting It Down
The first thing I did in the process of this repurpose, was to cut the umbrella down to my desired lamp heights. I decided to cut it at 58″.
Because the edge of top of the umbrella was curved I my tape measure couldn’t get a good grasp on it. So I used a paint stick and a clamp to create a nice base to set my measuring tape on.
Once I had a nice base I went and measured all eight legs, leaving just a small mark on edge of the leg. As you can see in the picture. This was done for a particular reason.
I didn’t want a horizontal mark all the way across the leg because I did not plan on making a horizontal cut on my legs. Instead I decided to help the lamp sit better when opened, to give the legs a small degree, with the smallest length on the inside of the lamp and the longest length on the outside.
To do this is used my speed square. I butted up one end of my speed square to the small mark I made and then pivoted the square to a 6 point pivot. Please refer to the above picture. Once I had my pivot I created my cut line. I repeated this on all eight legs.
Then I took my Ryobi Circular Saw to make the cuts. I love this saw because it is battery run and it is very light weight, which makes it so very easy to handle when it comes to my projects!
Time To Refinish It
After I had the umbrella cut down I took a piece 120 grit sandpaper and sanded down the whole umbrella. Then I gave it one more round of sanding with an 80 grit piece of sandpaper.
Once I completed sanding the umbrella I wiped it down with a slightly damp microfiber rag. I have found when the rag is a bit damp it helps to clean up the dust much better! Just make sure to allow the item you are wiping down to dry completely before applying any coating.
Next it was time to stain the umbrella. For the stain I used my favorite Minwax in Mahogany. I have said this many times before, I absolutely love this stain color. I thought that once I was more experienced with other colors and types of stains, my opinion might stray. But now I feel like it is here to stay, at least for a while!
Lets Add Some Lighting
The last project to complete on my umbrella was to add the items needed to turn it into a real working lamp. I purchased a Lamp Kit and used it to complete my DIY Chíc Floor Lamp project.
My wooden umbrella already had a metal nut built into it. I am assuming this is where the top finial screwed into the umbrella. And to my luck it worked perfectly with the lamp kit. I followed the instructions on my the kit – to the T – to assemble the lamp and attach it to my umbrella.
The Lamp Shade
After the lamp kit was attached all that was left was to add my lamp shade. I happened to find a beautiful tan linen lamp shade on clearance at target, a few days later. I think it fits the lamp perfectly. If you would like one similar I found this Springcrest Natural Linen Drum Shade 15x16x11 (Spider) – Springcrest on amazon! I think it would look amazing as well! I also think this Hardback White Drum Lamp Shade 13x14x10 (Spider) – Brentwood would look classic and chíc on this lamp!
And that was it. My DIY Chíc Floor Lamp was complete. And all I purchased to repurpose the wooden umbrella was the lamp kit. What an incredible deal!
Let Me Know!
What do you think of this project? Do you think it came out fabulous? Would you change anything about it, such as paint the base? Let me know in the comments!
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With Love,
Melissa
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Melissa
P.S.
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