DIY Column Lamp #1

I had been looking for a floor lamp for quite some time, but couldn't find anything I really liked that wasn't over $400.  I originally wanted a driftwood lamp from Arteriors:

But it wasn't exactly right. And neither was the price.  I was hoping to find something with a more aged look with some antique wood.  You would think this exists, right?  No, of course not.  I found one lamp that was great at Scott's Antique Market, but it was way overpriced. (Sorry, didn't take a picture!) I showed Trey and he told me he could make the lamp with some antique columns.  Now why didn't I think of that?


Still at Scotts, we walked over to the outdoor area to look at the columns and found the perfect pieces.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but it's an aged wood with light blue paint remnants.  I think the pair of column halves was around $50.  

They were already cut in half with the center routed out- perfect for the wiring.

All Trey had to do was buy a lampkit (you can get them at Lowe's or Home Depot), wire it through the center and fuse the two column pieces together with his brad nailer.  As you can see from the photos above, the columns were originally pretty tall.  I knew I wanted the lamp to be around 65"H, so he cut off the excess flat square portion on the ends and made it into a square base. He also drilled a hole out of the back of the base for the wiring to exit and added levelers to the bottom.

We left the top a little rough, it's just the lamp kit exposed and screwed to the column.  All that was left was to add a harp, bulb, shade and finial.

And there you have it.  Here's the finished piece!

 

And a detail shot...I forgot to mention Trey added a coat of polyurethane before wiring to seal the paint from chipping further.  It darkened the overall look but I still think it looks great.

The cost to make this was $60 bucks.  The shade was the most expensive part, $50.  Still SO much cheaper than buying a floor lamp....cheaper than what I would want anyways. ;)

We liked it so much he made another one- I'll add photos of it next time.