The Workings of a Knock-Off

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera in a rush to get to Toronto very early Saturday morning, and the lamps I'd love to recreate are not available on the store website, but I did manage to get this picture from their luxurious driftwood collection.

Fabulous? I think so, although I could do well without the rabbit fur lampshade. (Do you think they'd knock about $9000 off the price?) This of course is a floor lamp, and for my experimental purposes, I've chosen to knock-off the design in a different but similar table lamp version.

Because I'm green-conscious, I will use this broken lamp from the basement:




Our move to New York from Texas was actually quite smooth, but this lamp and a vase suffered immeasurable tragedy, and have been banished to the basement, waiting for a salvation project. So, with the help of my very handy guest, the broken lamp was gutted, and the brains to our new knock-off were born:

Rather simple process. You'll need an old lamp, a pair of plyers and a screw driver. A tip from our handy guest: mark your grounding wire, so you'll know where to reattach! The now lamp less broken vase will be used next year as a planter in the garden:

Onward and upward, with green as our theme, the driftwood collected from the shores of Lake Ontario:

Of course it's beautiful, and the shapes and sizes vary along with the texture. We have to make it useful for the lamp though, so I drilled a 3/4 inch hole in each piece:

Love that trusty power drill, and now we have our "hole-y" driftwood ready to thread onto the lamp stem:

Like so:

I'm loving the gray tones of the driftwood, and I think it will pair perfectly with a variety of textures, colors, and hues. But before we adorn our new lamp with a shade and details, we have to create a new base:

These corner stops used for baseboard molding make perfect feet :

Glued and clamped together, I'm waiting for it to dry before tackling a color choice for the wood. Of course the shade will dictate some of that decision, but for now - at least you can see the bones of the project shaping up.

Stay tuned for the reveal, and find out how it could be yours!