This Instructable is supposed to be for everyone, that is looking for a nice little nightstand lamp, that is original on the one hand, yet cheap on the other. The whole project is made from an old lamp and some scrap wood.

Step 1: What You Need

Materials:

some scrap wood
old lamp socket (I got mine from an old disassembled lamp, however you can also buy a cheap IKEA lamp and disassemble that for instance)

Tools:

wood saw/ jigsaw
Sander
glue
maybe a circle cutter
appropiate safety gear

Step 2: The Base

The first step is to mark the preferential size of your base on your wood and cut out as many pieces as you want. This step defines the looks of your lamp. You can make it round, edgy, abstract, pretty much any form you want.

Step 3: Cutting the Socket

The next step is to drill the hole, where you are going to put your electrics parts afterwards.

If you use a circular cutter like me, just mark the position where you want the hole to be. I clamped two pieces together, drilled one side, then turned it over and drilled the other side. Afterwards I repeated the procedure with the other two pieces.

Step 4: Glue Them Together

For this step i used some basic wood glue. Just coat the pieces on one side and then clamp them together.

Don't forget to wash your brush after you have used it.

Step 5: Sanding

Now you should have one nice lampbase with a neat hole inside. If the edges aren't perfectly smooth yet, you can use your sander of choice and make all the chips and edges disappear.

Step 6: Cable Tunnel

To make room for the cable, simply drill a a little hole in the bottom, from one side to the middle.

Step 7: Fitting the Electronics

This step requires some patience.You have now got to sand the hole on the inside, to make a perfect fit for the socket. However do not fix it completely yet, because you have to remove it again before varnishing it.

Step 8: Varnish

It depends on your choice of wood and taste, if you require this step. I used spruce wood, however I wanted a nice dark wood look. Therefore I have applied some oak glaze.

Step 9: Installing Your Lamp

Now after everything has dried, you can finally install the core part of your nightstand lamp.

Step 10: Bottom

Optionally you can add a neat velvet sticker to make it a little more grippy.

Sticker

Now you have finished your new lamp, in just a few easy steps, with pretty much no costs involved. I hope you have enjoyed my little tutorial an have fun making your own one.