Scavenger Chic

Upcycled Barrel Slats – DIY Lamp

• By Joan
• March 27, 2019
• 9 Comments

Last spring, hubby and I took a quick weekend trip to the beach with my sister and her husband.  On one of the days, while the husbands hit the golf course the wives headed for a flea market.  The flea market was really terrible but since we were already out we managed to scout out a few other local yard sales and a architectural salvage store. 

From that architectural salvage store I came home with 5 barrel staves that had been sitting out in the weather quite a long time by the looks of them.

The first two staves, with the help of a thrift store find became this wine rack.

The third barrel stave, again with the help of a thrift store find, became a candle holder.

With 2 staves left, I’m now envisioning a lamp.  This is a little different than my typical lamp.  Normally I’ll start with some king of tallish upright container…one that you could actually envision as a lamp base.  These barrel staves are tall but not quite boxy, but I think they’ll work.

To create the lamp I’ll also need a chunk of 4×4 and a lamp kit.

My barrel staves had sat out in the weather for quite some time.  Those rotten ends needed to be trimmed off.

Find the center point of the staves and cut in half.  Each of my pieces are 15 1/2″.

Sand the cut edges well and in my case I’m sanding off the gray weathering.

After sanding I stained the pieces with a golden oak stain.

The 4×4 chunk will form the center of the lamp.  I cut the 4×4 to 4 1/2″, trimming off just the top edge on all 4 sides so that the legs, when they are attached, bow outward.  This was a 15 degree cut.

Sand the 4×4 thoroughly, including all edges.

Find the center of the 4×4 block and drill a 3/8″ inch thru the middle.

Note..this picture shows the thinner part of the stave at the top, I did end up turning the stave around.

Paint  the 4×4 black.  The black will make the 4×4 all but disappear in the center of the lamp.

For all wiring, I’m going to refer you back to an earlier post, How to Wire a Lamp, with Pictures.  That post saves me a lot of typing.  🙂

Line up the tops of the staves with the top of the 4×4 and use finish nails to attach.

Because of the 15 degree cut and the natural bowing of the staves, they were only attached at the top.  Take a small slat of wood and jam it up into the space between the stave and the 4×4, use a couple more finish nails to attach.   I figured a picture could explain that one better than I could describe it.

Now the legs aren’t floating and they have a bit more stability.

Finish off those slat ends with a little more black paint so they also disappear.

Leave the slats as is or finish with whatever you have on hand.  Wax, tung oil, spray varnish, paint on varnish, the choice is yours.  

I was looking for a white barrel shade that was a little shorter than this Target find.  I didn’t particularly like where the shade hit the lamp.

If I couldn’t shorten the shade, I could make my lamp a little taller.

Back to the workshop and my junkpile where I found this metal piece.  Weightlifters might recognize it as the piece that holds weights on a bar.  We got rid of our weights years ago so this was a good time to repurpose.

Jammed a spindle down into the center of the weight thingy   (it probably has a name, but I don’t know what it is)  and drilled a 3/8″ hole, the same size as the nipple that’s threaded up thru the lamp.  If the spindle is loose, use gorilla glue to hold in place.

Rewired lamp with the weight thingy on top, and a rusty washer.

Now I like where the lampshade hits, it only needed that extra inch.

I know you need more upcycled lamp inspiration….

Until next time.

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