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Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Industrial Lamp Makeover

Hello, my people!  Thought I'd show you this interesting lamp makeover, which looks pretty fancy but cost just a few bucks.





I started with an old cowboy-themed lamp from a yard sale.



I ripped apart a broken lampshade and attached the upper part of the shade's underwire to my lamp.  Not easy to spot: I attached it upside down, which for some reason looked more interesting.

I added an Edison bulb, knowing it would be on display, not hidden at all.



And finally, I strategically stacked on a bunch of...well, these thingies!



They are called rod chairs; they hold up rebar when pouring concrete foundations.  Awesome looking and really inexpensive - find them at any home improvement store.

How'd I stack them?  Well, it looks complex - but in fact, it's only eight rod chairs.

I connected four vertically, forming a kind of Swiss-cross shape, like so:


I tried a couple of different connection methods.  In the pic above I used aluminum duct tape.  It looked fine, but a bit too bright for my taste.  In the final version I simply wrapped craft wire at the four connection points.

I balanced the Swiss-cross on the wire circle.  Finally, four more rod chairs got perched horizontally on top, where they sit beautifully secure without any connectors at all.  Here's that close up again...


Ahhh, another satisfying hardware store upcycle.  I love how industrial chic it looks, while retaining the worn vintage feel from the little cowboy lamp.  

In case you missed it, check out my post about repurposing the rod chairs into these easy tabletop frames:



Hope you enjoyed this one.  Laters, gators!



13 comments:

  1. The lamp looks great, Michelle! I love the industrial look.

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  2. Hey Mich in L.A.! I sure picked a great day to peek in and see what you've been up to. I love this lamp with it's funky wire shade. I have never heard of rod chairs and they are interesting thingys. Leave it to you to find something fabulous to do with them.

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  3. Creative use of a random metal thingy. I've never seen rod chairs before.

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  4. Another masterpiece! What a fun and creative idea...love your picture frame thingie too. Thanks for sharing your one-of-a-kind creation at Talk of the Town.

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  5. What an awesome idea Michelle! I absolutely love it! I'd never heard of rod chairs, but now I'll have to take a look at them the next time I'm at HD. I'd love it if you'd share this at Vintage Charm, which is all about vintage, repurposing, and upcycling. The party's on right now. I hope to see you there! Tuula P.S. Love the tabletop frame too!

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  6. Cool makeover! Found you through The Thrifty Rebel.

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  7. The lampshade looks real fancy, good job Michelle

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  8. Love it, and have been wanting some of those light bulbs too.....just need a place to use them! Thanks for sharing on craft schooling sunday!

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  9. Super cute idea, You have unique ideas dear. by the way what is in the jars in the last image? looks cute!

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  10. Clever! I love how you played around with the rebar rod chairs until it became such a unique industrial lamp. Great job!

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  11. Hi Michelle! Just popping back in to say thanks so much for sharing your fabulous lamp makeover at Vintage Charm.

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  12. All kinds of awesome as always. Featuring when the party opens up tonight!

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  13. What an ingenious use of something found in the diy store. Your lamp looks awesome.

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