Tutorial: Wallpaper Roller Lamp Base

July 30, 2015 2 Comments

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I've made many trips to my local antique store and every time I go I visit the same booth to look at the same thing - antique wallpaper rollers.  I've been fascinated with them for months, but haven't quite figured out to do with them until recently.  In really studying the height and texture of the rollers, I thought they would make a perfect lamp so I grabbed one and set out to make a lamp out of it!

 

In order to turn the wallpaper roller into a lamp, I needed the following supplies:

 

• Electrical Lamp Wiring Kit - I used Nickel / Silver for a modern look
  
  
• Lamp Harp Kit - 10" high in a coordinating nickel/silver finish
  
  

To get started, I sprayed the roller with navy blue spray paint.  I know many people appreciate the color of the original roller, as do I, but for this project and for where the lamp was going to be placed, I decided to keep with the plan and paint it.  I did not sand it first, however, because I wanted the original texture to come through.

 

  

 

     

 

 

For the raised designs on the roller, I decided to paint them in a contrasting color.  These raised designs are what painted the design on the wallpaper when this was used for it's original purpose, so I wanted to be able to highlight those and really make them stand out.

 

 

 

 

Once the paint was dry, I sprayed the roller with a couple of coats of clear matte enamel to provide protection to the lamp and to really seal the color.

 

For the base that the roller would sit on, I found an old scrap piece of wood from my stash that I painted the same color as the roller and sealed with the enamel.  I sanded the wood before I painted it to be sure the paint would adhere properly and to get a smooth surface.

 

 

 

 

Once the pieces have dried, it's time to prepare the base to be attached to the roller.  In order to feed the power cord through the base, I had to drill a hole through the center of the base and a smaller hole in the middle of the back of the base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because the opening of the wallpaper roller is too wide to hold the socket without it falling through, a piece of craft wood was cut the same size as the wallpaper roller, with a hole drilled through the center to feed the cord through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point, I was ready to feed the cord through.  To do this, I carefully removed the bottom of the socket with a flathead screwdriver to be able to access the wires in order to feed them through the smaller holes.  Once the cord was fed through the entire lamp, I replaced the bottom of the socket, attached the harp, and adhered the lamp pieces together.  To do this, I used a strong construction-grade adhesive that I picked up at the hardware store.  While the adhesive is drying is the perfect time to put your lampshade together!

 

 

             

 

 

Check out the play-by-play for the lampshade!

 

 

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