Confession: my home is in serious disarray right now as we deal with a broken toilet induced flood in our finished basment, a faulty water heater, and … gasp! … termites. Ugh. Just as I’m counting down to out of town guests for my daughter’s high school graduation in a few weeks! We’re trying to get on top of everything, but you can imagine!
All that to say that some of my planned projects this month have gone out the window while I deal with repairs. Such a bummer.
Luckily, I have this urn to lamp transformation that my son and I did together to share with you. Remember this sweet little Southern Living at HOME urn in my family room?
It’s been around awhile and I decided I wanted a little accent lamp on my family room bookcases. This was the perfect candidate!
I got both of these in the lighting department at Home Depot – less than $15 for the two. I wasn’t entirely sure I would need the harp, but bought it just in case!
We decided to use the harp as part of the assembly, because I could always remove the top part if I didn’t want it.
We just followed the directions on the back of the lamp kit… super easy!
Before we inserted the socket down into the harp base, we tested our connection. Success!
Here’s where I had to get a little crafty! The lamp kit did not come with an insert large enough for the opening of the urn. So I simply used hot glue to secure the harp base and lamp kit apparatus to the urn.
See how the arms of the harp apparatus rest against the lip of the urn? Since this little guy won’t see a ton of use, I’m pretty confident that we’re all secure! After all, I’m the only one in my household that actually turns the accent lamps off and on!
And here she is! I love the pop of red on the bookcase, and the lamp is the perfect touch since it tends to be a dark corner anyway. I’m not crazy about the blah little shade but it was $4.99 at Old Time Pottery, so I’m seeing a little stencilling or fabric in it’s future. 🙂
I’m hoping to continue progress on my months old home office revamp, so look for a post or two on that coming up– home repairs permitting!
Can you relate? Do your home repairs ever get in the way of your fun projects??
Happy Decorating!
You smart cookie you! ha…I love that! Now I want to make one. 🙂 Hi, I'm Meme for Screaming Meme. I wanted to personally invite you to my Giveaway Series. My first giveaway is beautiful slipcover. If you get the chance stop in and remember to check back and see what I am giving away next. 🙂 Hope to you see there!
Thanks for sharing your how-to make a lamp idea. Now I want to make one for my home.
Thanks!
Hey! I have a question for you. What did you use to drill a hole to put the lamp cord through the urn? I'm turning my Amira Rustic Jar (I'm a Willow House consultant as well) into a lamp. I want to make sure I don't crack it!
-Lara Izant
Hey Lara- there's no email address attached to your blogger profile, so I'll answer your question here. The cord does not actually go through the urn. It comes out from the electrical fixture itself. If you want to drill a hole so the cord comes out of the bottom of the jar, i think you could use a drill bit designed for ceramics. You might take the jar to HOme Depot or Lowes and show them. They may even drill it for you. 🙂 Good luck! Send me a pic of your lamp when you're through and I'll share it here if you'd like! heidimilton@comcast.net.
Thanks Heidi! I'm glad I checked your blog again….I don't know why my email address isn't linked! 🙂
Hey Heidi…so I have another question for you. Do you know of any place that I can get a lamp kit? I've been to a few, including Lowe's, and they had one, but the problem is that the opening to the jar is too big so the lamp kit can't sit in it at the right level. Any help you could give me I'd really appreciate!
Lara
Hi, Lara– I had a similar problem so you see that i simply hot glued the base of the harp to the lip of the urn. I would try Hobby Lobby or your local lamp or lighting store. You might even take the urn with you. Good luck!!
Wow! That looks simple enough 🙂