A simple and cheap lamp that will also charge your phone or laptop! Works great on an end table for visitors to use and also on a nightstand to keep your phone nearby at night!

Step 1: Supplies

There are only four items necessary for this project, and all are readily available at any hardware store. The supplies needed are:

1: Porcelain lamp holder with socket - or any lamp socket if you want to make this without the charging station.

2: Lamp cord: any three prong replacement power cord will work. It doesn't have to be as heavy duty as the one shown in the picture, but that was all my hardware store had in stock. You can also use cords with built in switches and/or dimmers.

3. Edison style bulb - These are very popular and you will probably have a few different styles to choose from so pick whichever style you like best!

4. 6" piece of wood - This can be any size or thickness depending on how you want your lamp to look. I used a 6" square by 3/4" thick piece of mahogany which fit the lamp holder well.

The total cost was about $20 for all of this. All you need now is about 20 minutes and a power drill.

Step 2: Prepare the Base

In order to prepare the base we need to drill the hole for the lamp cord to pass through:

1. First I marked the center of the base, where the lamp will sit.

2. Looking at the under side of the lamp socket, I noticed the socket for the bulb sits flush with the bottom and is in the center of the porcelain base. If I drilled the hole for the lamp cord in the center of the wood, this would interfere with the lamp socket and not allow it to sit flush on the wood. I drilled the hole about an inch back from the center of the wood so that there would be enough room to pass the cord through the wood and bend it around the lamp socket underneath the porcelain.

I used a 3/8" drill bit but you may need to use a different size depending on how thick your cord is.

3. Now it's time to drill a channel on the bottom of the wood base for the cord to pass through so the lamp will sit flat on the table. An easy way to do this is to clamp the base to a scrap piece of wood and use a 3/8" drill bit to drill between the two pieces of wood.

Before moving on, it's a good idea to test fit the cord fits through both the hole and channel and that the base sits flat on a table.

Step 3: Finish the Base (optional)

If you want to stain the base, now is the time. I decided to go with a darker stain that I had laying around. Before staining, I sanded down the edges and corners of the base to give it a more rustic look. You could also use a router to put a more finished appearance on the lamp.

If you have never stained wood before, it's a very simple process and this would be a good project to get your feet wet.

1. Sand down the wood with 220 grit sand paper and then wipe the dust off.

2. Wipe a thin coat of stain on the wood.

3. Let it sit for a few minutes and then wipe off the excess. You're done!

You can put as much or as little effort into finishing the base as you want. At this point it is already functional for this project, but I decided to use a wipe on polyurethane finish in order to protect the wood and give it a more finished look.

Step 4: Wire and Attach Lamp Socket to Base

1. Run the wire through the center hole and attach the wires to the socket.

The socket should come with some instructions on where to attach the wires. For mine, I attached the green (ground) wire to green screw, the black (hot) wire to brass screw, and the white (neutral) wire to silver screw. Just bend the wire around the terminal and use a screwdriver to tighten it down.

Note: when wiring the socket, make sure the cord is not plugged in!

2. Screw the socket to the base

Position the socket where you like it on the base and then use an electric drill to screw it in place.