When Mr. Frugalista brought this trio of large hourglass wooden vases home I wasn't sure what I'd do with them. I couldn't believe the original price of $79.99 compared to the whopping $4 he paid at the thrift store. With their Scandinavian mid-century modern vibe, I thought they'd look cool stacked together and turned into a tall floor height vase. Then inspiration struck and the idea to turn them into a DIY Table Lamp instead was born.

DIY Lamp From Repurposed Wood Vases

If you follow my Facebook page, you may have seen this photo of the vases with their original price tag and the thrift store price sticker, all because they were missing two of the glass cylinder inserts.


Here is a better look at the wooden vase trio. In case you missed it, you can see what I did with the one and only surviving glass insert pictured below in my DIY Ombre Valentine Vase post.

For the lamp DIY, we used these supplies:

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience so you can see what products I used or recommend to make this project. See my full disclosure policy.

Here is how we turned the vases into a lamp:

Step 1 - Drill holes for threaded pipe

First, drill a hole through the bottom of each vase with a 1/2-inch drill bit for the threaded pipe of the light kit assembly.

Step 2 - Hole for lock nut washer

On the bottom vase, use a 1-inch Forstner drill bit to make a hole for the threaded pipe lock nut washer. This is what holds the entire light kit together.

Step 3 - Joining the vases together

In order to keep the holes lined up in all three vases during assembly, place the threaded pipe (we had to add an extension to accommodate the height of our lamp) through the vases and loosely tightened the lock nut.


Run a bead of wood construction adhesive to the top rim of the bottom vase. Slip the middle vase through the threaded pipe and press firmly for a tight bond. Wrap duct tape around the joint to hold the vases in place and repeat the step above for the middle and top vase assembly. Leave the duct tape on until the adhesive is fully cured.

Step 4 - Prep for paint

Fill the gaps between the vases with layers of wood filler and allow to dry fully between each one. Sand the joints smooth with 150 grit sandpaper. Also lightly sand the wood vases with 220 grit sandpaper to give the paint some bite.

Step 5 - Lamp base feet

To raise the lamp to accommodate the electrical cord we attached four plastic cushioned glides to the base with a hammer.

Step 6 - Paint the vases

The original plan was to give the wood just a wash of white paint and sand back a little for the original light wood to peek through. I had them all painted and ready for a new shade. The plan was to buy a large drum shade with a colorful geometric pattern.

Had I known how difficult it would be to find a shade large enough to work with the large base, I would have searched far ahead of time to order one online.

We did manage to find a large shade but our only option available locally was white linen. BORING with the white painted base. Onto plan B...


I repainted the base with mineral chalk paint in a pretty sea glass color. Mineral chalk paint does not require sealing but I chose to apply white wax both to soften the color and protect the base.

Step 7 - Light kit installation

I'm not going to do a full tutorial on how to install the lamp light kit. I should note that we purchased a tri-light bulb kit. It's important that you follow the manufacturer's instructions on the packaging.

Step 8 - The shade

Attach the shade to the harp, plug in the lamp and we're done!

Are you ready to see the wooden vases now?


Here's what the lamp looks like on. It casts a lovely soft light at night.


A closer look at the sea glass painted base.


So what do you think? When you saw the before photos of the wood vases did you see a lamp?

If you're like me and enjoy seeing the potential in old things and giving them a brand new purpose, then you may like these Repurposed Home Decor ideas and these Repurposed Furniture ideas.

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