Diy Bedside Lamps – Finished
Finally some progress! This has been a long project and it took more time and planning than I thought, but I can happily say that my lamps are finally finished! Yay!
If you want to see how these lamps were made,
see Part 1 here,
and Part 3 here.
And now to the final product:
I would say, it was worth the time and effort. 
Looks great!
Diy Bedside Lamps Part 3
Edit: See the finished lamps here.
Part three is the final step of making these industrial style bedside lamps. I’m going to show how I did the concrete bases for my lamps.
See some tips on using concrete from my previous post on Diy concrete candle holders.
Top left: I used Ikea Antonius basket insert as a mold. It had the perfect size and shape and I was able make two bases with the same mold. The basket insert only cost 2 euros, so I did’n worry that I couldn’t use it anymore after making the bases.Top right: I had to drill two holes to the bottoms of the basket insert so that I could cast two 8mm screws into the concrete. The screws will attach to the lamp. I did a few test drills before the final drilling to make sure I got it right. Bottom left: I used blu tack to hold the screws in place and make the mold tight so that the concrete wouldn’t leak through. Bottom right: Concrete cast in the mold.
When the bases were dry, I slid them out of the molds and glued a piece of felt to the bottom so that they won’t scratch our bedside tables.
Here they are, finished:
Then it was time to attach them to lamps…
Diy Concrete Candle Holders
Many bloggers have made candle holders from concrete lately and because I bought a big bag (25kg!) of dry concrete for my industrial table lamp bases, I had a little extra concrete to make candle holders too.
I used some plastic turkish yogurt containers and a milk carton as molds. I followed instructions for making concrete candle holders (in finnish) from the lovely blog Esmeralda’s.
Here’s my adaptation of the instructions in english:
1. Mix the concrete following the instructions on the package.
2. Pour the concrete to oiled plastic containers and tap to smooth the surface and to remove air bubbles.
3. Press candles and tea lights into the concrete. Use small rocks as weights if needed to keep them still.
4. Rotate the candles and tea lights as the concrete dries to prevent them from sticking to the concrete (I recommend removing the long candles when the concrete is set but not dried hard).
5. Spray with water a few times a day to make the concrete dry slower and prevent cracking.
6. Let dry 2-3 days before removing from molds.
7. Add felt pads to the bottoms of the candle holders.
8. Light candles and enjoy!
Top left: I made two versatile candle holders which can hold a long candle, a small tea light or a bigger tea light. Top right: I made one candle holder that can hold three tea lights and one that can hold a pillar candle or a tea light. Bottom left: a candle holder which holds three long candles was made using a milk carton. I cut open one side of the carton and cut three round holes to it that fit the candles. I closed the mold with tape to hold it in shape while the concrete dried. Bottom right: close up on the versatile candle holders pictured top left.
Here’s how they look when the candles are lit:
Oh, what a cozy feeling these lights give! I think I’m ready for autumn darkness!
Diy Bedside Lamps Part 2
See the materials in Part 1 here.
Edit: See how to make the concrete base in Part 3 here and see the finished lamps here.
Okay, let’s see how to assemble the lamps!
First I took the wooden pieces and drilled six 5 mm wide holes. One hole to each shorter piece, 2 cm away from one end and two holes to each longer piece, one 3,5 cm away from one end and second hole 2cm away from second end.
To fit the fork joint nicely between the two shorter wood pieces, I had to carve a 2-3 mm deep dent to the other end of the piece. Then I drilled a 5 mm hole through the dent.
Here are close ups on all the joints. Top left: wing nut – wood – 2 washers – fork joint – 2 washers – wood – wing nut. Top right: wing nut – wood (long) – wood (short) – 5 washers - wood (short) - wood (long) – wing nut. Bottom left: wing nut – wood – fork joint – wood – wing nut. Bottom right: the lamp attached to the lamp arm with one screw.
And here it is assembled! Doesn’t it look great?
I still need to make the base which will probably be the hardest thing to do… Pouring concrete for the first time in my life… Yikes! But hopefully I manage and get these lamps ready and in use as fast as possible. So Part 3 coming up!
Diy Bedside Lamps Part 1
Edit: See Part 2 here and Part 3 here and the finished lamp here.
Remember how I decided to design and make my own industrial style bedside lamps?
Well, I changed my mind about how I want them to look.
I came across this lamp (from Cox&Cox)on Pinterest:
It was love at first sight. This lamp seemed perfect! Just the right materials and feel… and maybe possible to make myself?
So I searched for the materials to recreate this look… I found that the Fas lamp in Ikea has the same style metal shade and it’s only 9,99 euros per lamp. I bought two for my project. Everything else came from hardware stores. I haven’t yet bought any material for the base, but I’m planning on making it from concrete. These are the parts needed to make one lamp (without the base).
1 meter of teak batten strip (cut into two 19 cm long pieces and two 31 cm long pieces)
1 Ikea Fas lamp
2 threaded rod pieces, 5 mm thick, 4,5 cm long
1 threaded rod piece, 5 mm thick, 3 cm long
1 M8 bolt (with a matching wing nut for stability in the concrete)
1 M5 screw, 10 mm long
6 wing nuts, M5
washers
1 M8 fork joint
1 M5 fork joint
I will show the steps on how I put these parts together later! I have almost finished one lamp already, yay!
Ps. There’s also some progress going on with our sofa issue, so hopefully I can soon show our brand new living room sofa!
I am an industrial design student from Finland with a passion for design, decor, and DIY. In this blog I will share my diy projects and more. Feel free to comment, I would love to hear your thoughts!
Hope you enjoy and please visit again!
