You can do more with a fencepost than make a fence.
It may look just like a fencepost to you, but a floor lamp is in that bit of wood, and you can make it have at least three lamps. If you like rustic, weathered, recycled items, then a fencepost that stood in the rain for a few years will fit the bill nicely. Add some decorative finishes, one or two yards of wire, a base and a few creative extras and you'll have a one-of-a-kind lamp that looks like a million dollars and costs practically nothing.
Instructions
1. Examine the fencepost for nails, splinters, splits and areas of rot. Pull out nails with pliers or a claw hammer. Smooth the wood with an electric sander, removing splinters and sharp edges without making the post look too polished and perfect. Level off one end to be the floor lamp's base.
2. Secure the post upside-down in a vise, or ask someone to hold the post for you. Position a wooden base over the level end of the fencepost, and select a drill bit long enough to go through the base and extend at least 1 inch into the level end of the post. Drill two holes though the base into the post end. Coat the post's end with wood glue, and attach the end to the base. Insert two screws long enough to tighten the base securely to the post's end. Upend the post.
3. Measure the fencepost's circumference and the length of a fairy light string. Divide the length of the fairy light string by the circumference of the post, which gives you the number of turns around the post that are possible with the length of fairy lights.
4. Attach the end of the fairy light string nearest the plug to the post with a cable clip and the hammer. Tack the wires down the post to the base with cable clips. Wind the fairy lights round the post in your chosen pattern, careful not to bunch light bulbs together. Tack the end of the fairy light string to the post with a cable clip.
5. Weight the base of the post with stones to make it sturdy, plug in the lights and switch them on. Ensure that no-one will trip over the lamp wire by either putting the lamp in a corner or covering the wiring with a mat or a specialized rubber wire protector.
6. Double the value of your fencepost fairy light floor lamp by adding a jacket. Measure the length from the top of the wooden base to the top of the post. Make four equally sized circles of wire thick enough to retain their shape and wide enough to give 4 inches of clearance around the fairy lights.
Attach thin bamboo sticks that are the length of the post vertically around the inside of one wire ring with thin craft wire. Position the wire ring 6 inches from the bottom of the bamboo. Wind the wire once round each bamboo and once around the wire ring, fitting them closely together.
Slide the second wire ring down and over the bamboo sticks so that it rests 12 inches from the first ring, and secure the bamboo to the wire in the same way. Repeat for the third and fourth wire rings. Slide this bamboo cylinder over the post so that it rests on the wooden base.
As an alternative to bamboo, use flat tin sheeting or other thin malleable metal 5 or 6 inches taller than the post and as wide as 3/4 of bamboo cylinder's circumference. Mark out a design in water-based ink in a color that is easily visible, and hammer small perforations along the lines of the design with a sharp nail and a hammer. Wipe off the ink off with a dry cloth. Alternatively, sketch a design on paper and affix it to the tin with clips or sticky tape, and punch through the design.
Hammer a hole on each side of the sheeting 1/2 way up. Bend the sheet to form a curved half-cylinder, and attach a loop of wire to one side through one of the holes. Position the sheeting on the lamp base, and pass the wire around the back of the pole, through a cable clip holding the fairy lights and over to the hole on the other side. Secure it with a wire loop.
Tags: fairy light, fairy light string, fairy lights, light string, post with, wire ring, cable clip