Scavenger Chic

No Wiring! Easy Driftwood Lamp

• By Joan
• July 23, 2015
• 21 Comments

 Aged by the sea, adrift on the ocean, each wave rounding

off the edges of the pieces of branches that once rose majestically into the sky.

Just waiting to be discovered by the aimless wanderer.

I would like to think that I have romantic driftwood, but, for the most part, my branches were never aged by the sea or ocean.  As a  matter of fact, last time I visited a beach there was absolutely no driftwood to be found.

My so called “driftwood” are mainly branches, aged by the rain, lying somewhere next to a path waiting for me to plop them into my backpack.  If the ends of my branches don’t have that so called, driftwoody look, they get trimmed and sanded.  Voila, instant driftwood.

Start with a lamp.  This one was from the local Goodwill for $7.  You could start with a lamp kit but then you would have to do wiring…and I promised no wiring. So, start with a lamp that is as straight as possible.  The knob on my lamp will eventually be hidden.

If your lamp is a shiny metal or any bold color (or any color other than black) you’ll want to spray paint with a satin or flat black.

Once you cover the lamp with driftwood you won’t see much of the lamp, but for those pieces that do show through, you’ll want the color to be minimized.

With pallet wood, or any wood that has that aged look similar to driftwood, you want to build a box to go around the lamp base. Only about 4 or 5 inches tall, nail together on 3 sides.

Slosh some Amazing Goop, or another strong adhesive, on the inside of the box and then stick that on your lamp base.

Note: You could actually glue the entire lamp together with a strong adhesive then you would just skip this step and start gluing.

Once the 3 sided box is stuck onto the lamp base you can add the 4th side of the box…again with lots of Goop. Clamp if needed. I used a nail gun to hold the box in place.

Let this dry completely.  This little box will be what we nail the first layer of driftwood to.

Usually I will complete my lamp then take the whole thing to the store and try on lampshades.  This one I did a bit differently, I bought the shade first.  I wanted to see how far up the driftwood should go before I nailed it on.

If you like this rectangular shade, it was purchased from Lowes for $25.

Picked out my straightest driftwood for the first row. This row sits on top of the base.

I don’t know if you can tell, but any edges that had to be cut were rounded with a sander before attaching.

Used a nail gun to nail through the driftwood and directly into the box. Pick out a length nail that will go through the driftwood and into the box but not hit the base.

Encircle the entire base the same way before moving onto the outer layer of driftwood.

Attach the outer layer of driftwood in the same manner as the first layer but this time you can nail directly into the previous row

You can use longer nails for this row to get through both pieces of driftwood.

My outer row was just a bit shorter than my inner row, that was just personal preference… I thought it showed off the layers better.

For this row you’ll  also want to cover up the base and once again round off any straight cuts with a sander.  The second row is a great time to use up those pieces of driftwood with personality…the ones with bends or worm holes, or deep grooves…this is the row that will be seen on your lamp.

Sticks with personality!

Before I leave you, I wanted to share with you a couple other driftwood lamps I found on the internet.

Really similar, they even used a rectangular shade. The price is not similar at all $389 + $49 shipping

Hey, I could have spray painted mine white! $480, but at least the shipping is free.

Sometimes it pays to be a Scavenger.  Stay inspired.

And if you just happen to have any extra driftwood you could always make..

Driftwood Wreath diy

Wayfair Inspired Driftwood Tree

Easy Driftwood Hurricane Lamp diy

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