It's time for some DIY - Make Your Own Floor Lamp

I have become increasingly frustrated at the lack of interesting floor lamps on the market. They are always SO BORING! Why is this??

Since moving into our house almost 4 years ago I have been on the hunt. Floor lamps aren’t the cheapest things to buy so I want the spend to be worthwhile, rather than just filling a basic, practical (ugh I hate that word) need to overcome the problem of “it’s too dark in here”. I hate putting the ‘main’ lights of a room on in the evening, and floor/ table lamps are great for creating ambience – they make a room so much more inviting and luxurious.

After months of searching I came across this lamp which I love and is now perfectly at home in our living room. It was a bit on the pricey side but I thought it was worth it seeing as it was totally different to the usual lamp offering. Plus it gives of a lovely soft dappled lighting effect when it’s on, as well as looking fabulous in the daytime when it’s not.

                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only problem? It doesn’t actually give off that much light! So my search for a second floor lamp began. Why didn’t I just get a second one of the same type I hear you ask? Don’t be silly.

During my endless internet searches I came across Needcraft (www.needcraft.co.uk) who supply ‘Make Your Own Lampshade’ kits, which got me very excited... I don't get out much.

I bought the jazziest looking base I could find (a struggle in itself) which ended up being from BHS surprisingly who have a great selection of home items if anyone is interested.

Next for the shade! There are a plethora of fabric suppliers online who sell all sorts of wonderful patterned fabrics and I spent a while searching through them all but couldn’t find anything quite right. Then I noticed that Needcraft have a ‘Digital Print for Lampshade’ option... which means you can basically get anything you want on it! You can design a pattern yourself or use a photo/image – the possibilities are endless, and it only costs £15 for the print.

I wanted something really quirky for the shade and started playing around with ideas. I am seriously loving Fornasetti at the moment, but can’t quite justify their price tag so I decided to create a Fornasetti inspired design that would match the colours of my living room. This is what I came up with…

N.B. Obviously this is only something I have done for personal use (not commercial), so I can get away with it. 

So I sent it off along with my order for the lamp-making kit (I ordered the 45cm drum with metallic gold inside at £19.81 total) and waited with eager anticipation by my front door. 6 days later, it arrived. It comes with very clear instructions and probably took me around 30mins to complete.   

 

I am pretty chuffed with how it has turned out. Now all I need is a lightbulb!!

Please do comment and let me know what you think. Are you tempted to have a go yourself?

As a final note, I am sorry but I just couldn't resist...
I love lamp.