How To Create A Beautiful Book Lamp

This is a small tutorial on how to create a decorative book lamp!  It makes a great addition to any room, a great gift and can be any style you want, as you are the one creating it.  I made the lamp as an anniversary gift for my wife.  I looked on her pinterest account and saw one for sale for over $150.  I thought it would be A. cheaper for me to make and B. More personal of a gift knowing that I worked hard to create it.

Step 1

First thing is first.  Go to a local hardware store and purchase a lamp kit.  They generally cost anywhere between 8-15 dollars.  Mine was originally gold, but I spray painted it matte black.  Next, find some books that you don't want to ever read again.  You can either find some in your home or do as I did and go to an old book store with a huge assortment of books.  The book on the top is the most important as it is the cover of the lamp.  So, I spent a little more on the one book than I did the others.  I found "the black beauty" a 1901 copy, at an antique book store.  

Comments

[Penolopy Bulnick]

That is so beautiful! And you picked the perfect boks and lamp shade. It really makes it all work perfectly!

[Alex.Mason]

Thank you so much! It took a little bit of work, but it is only because I had never done it before! But thanks again for your kind words! I wanted to find a lamp shade that was like the one that my wife liked but they were so difficult to find! So I went to an old antique store and found a "decorative bird cage" and the used some JB Weld and glued it to the top of the lamp equipment. So it took a little ingenuity to make it just the way she wanted it!

[furrrball]

Very clever, I'd never seen one of these. I'll attempt it as a Christmas gift for my husband's office using old law books (fyi, they're useless mrguy). The filament bulb is the perfect touch. It will definitely be a conversation piece in his otherwise staid environment. Thanks for the idea!

[mrguy19187]

Yeah, I guess it is just a sign of the times. My grandma refused to ever get rid of any book, every time the her local library would get rid of some, she would take them all, and her house was totally filled with books. She would even try to give them out to kids at Halloween.

[jessyratfink]

Gorgeous! I love using old books for beautiful things like these.

[Alex.Mason]

She sounds like such a sweet woman! Funny story about Halloween though. I saw the Lamp that you made for your mother and it was AWESOME. Very creative and reminiscent of the culture.

[Alex.Mason]

Thank you so much! These books could either go in a memorable lamp or stay on a shelf for 10 years, accumulate dust and then be sold at a garage sale for 10 cents! So thanks for the kind comment!

[tinker234]

do you mind telling me where you got the shade

[Loopstyle]

Good idea!! You are more then welcome to share your ideas with us at www.loopstyle.se ! Post a Loop :)

Thanks for string this idea!!

[sammiejoe]

What a disgrace! Farenheit 451! I mean seriously, if you want to destroy something choose something which has no value. Every book has value to someone who will read it and cherish it. The idea that you are destroying books, and that it has become popular in various "book art" forms, is akin to destroying culture. Do what you will but don't destroy books.

[SIRJAMES09]

it never fails....for every artist, there is a critique....and like most critique's comments, your reply is neither welcome nor accepted.

for those like yourself who have no appreciation for true art, you need to remain silent until such a time comes, when you learn what art truly is.

I bid you peace.

[Alex.Mason]

A disgrace? Your comment is a disgrace sir. This is art! Art comes in many forms. Many people do not see the beauty in it or like yourself try to degrade and offend the artist. Not only do I disagree with you, but this website (instructables) and its millions of viewers do also, as this instructable was featured! But, if you have any non-offensive or rude replies, please leave a message in my inbox.

[ahall16]

You know what I like to use old books for? READING.

[Alex.Mason]

You know what I use old books for? Making awesome lamps :)

[mischka]

beautiful lamp! Awesome. It would be a perfect lamp for a library or a book shop.

[Alex.Mason]

Thank you so much for your kind comments! I think a book shop would love something like this!

[SIRJAMES09]

AND Mr.Mason, it is that hard work & ingenuity that always seems to have a positive effect on the Ladies....especially if it's your wife. :)

I like this lamp....it's easy to make(for those with experience making lamps) & it has that "personal" touch to it.

TY for sharing Sir.

[Alex.Mason]

Thanks Sirjame! That's really nice of you and I appreciate the support!

[DRenteria16]

How do you connect the books using wood screws? The pictures didn't show this step. Do you just go through the back cover of one book to the front of the book below it?

[Alex.Mason]

It was pretty simple, I screwed the covers together. But the screws that I used were several inches long, so drilling into the covers would inevitably go into the book also. But there is more than one way to do it. Thanks for showing interest in my lamp!

[mrguy19187]

I like how this says "I love reading, I'm a book-lover" by drilling holes through a person's favorite books.

[Alex.Mason]

I am glad that you like it! I am always looking for alternate uses for things. Old books are perfect for so many things. iPod stand and chargers, clocks etc. The possibilities are endless. Thanks again.

[SIRJAMES09]

I get this strange feeling he was being sarcastic...

which is fine...everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Seriously cool project Sir!

[bigmark]

I have almost enough Stephen King hard cover book's to make a floor lamp!!!
But I'm so torn about doing it.....Love the idea!!! Great job!!!

[SIRJAMES09]

when in doubt, stop & wait....OR, do not do it.

This was something my papa always taught me. If you are not sure what to do, do nothing till you ARE sure....or change your game plan.


Here's a thought.

cut various sizes, shapes & colors of wood, paint them to look like classic books, then build your lamp accordingly.

[hlouie8]

This is FANTASTIC. I found old books around my house and made a lamp this afternoon. I bought a cheap lamp and then used it's parts, which made for an easier time. Thank you so much!

[framistan]

Drilling holes through classic books is not a good idea. When I was young, I "hollowed out" a book that i thought was a "useless book." Years later, I realized it was the ONLY BOOK my father ever gave me and I had ruined it. Not only that, but it was a fairly rare book ( Treasury of Great American Folklore by B. A. Botkin) . I spent the next 25 years looking for a similar book so i could have a copy again. I am not COMPLETELY against your lamp idea. I think you could use old math text books or other non-literature/non-classic books. You could printout fake covers from pictures captured on the internet and make it LOOK like classic books. I looked on Ebay and saw black beauty books from 1932 selling for $30 dollars. One from 1901 may be worth lots more. SOME old books are worth thousands!!! Please everyone be carefull what books you choose to destroy.

[Alex.Mason]

I guess this just shows that everybody is different. This is just an idea. Yo ucan use whatever books you want. These are the books that I chose. If you created a lamp, you could use whatever medium you would like. But I do understand what you are saying. IF I wanted to read any of the books in my lamp stack, I could find them somewhere and read them. This way, the books are admired not only for being great literary works, but also from an artistic standpoint as well. Not everything on instructables is for everybody. But thanks for the comments, I will keep them in mind the next time I make a classic literary book!

[luckyboots125]

Beautifully said...and of course, a beautiful project!

[zombiecow]

I think is brillaint I love reading but also think books can make great decor I have an old book store by my house that usually has books for two or three dollars that look antiqueish I think I shall look into getting some for this project :)

[LadyPicker]

I love this idea. One question...when you use the metal basket shade how do you fasten the lamp shade fixture to the basket? Would love to have a close up of that piece. Great post!

[wilgubeast]

If you need some good books for this project, go to your local library and ask if they have any books they need to get rid of. Those 1 cent sales move some books, but there will always be a copy of MS-DOS for Computer Scientists from 1993 that nobody will ever want.

Some books, and this is coming from someone with a Library Science background, are just wastes of glue and paper.

(Obviously don't do this to a first edition of a classic. Check eBay if you're not sure about the value of your book.)

[AlexMasonR]

Seriously cool!

[haloreachwalkthrough]

This is seriously so fun!

[javajunkie1976]

Interesting. I made something similar but I used a stack of skulls and a flicker bulb (it being Halloween and all.)

[Alex.Mason]

That sounds AWESOME! My kids would LOVE that!