Pottery Barn Lamp Knockoff

I love Pottery  Barn,  I just do. While I was perusing their catalog I came along a vintage style spotlight lamp.  Coincidentally  at the time I was also  trying to stage some shelves and was having a heck of a time finding something to fill a tall thin space.  LIGHT BULB…  I needed that  lamp!   Actually,  I didn’t need a lamp,  I just wanted it  because it looked awesome…  One thing led to another… the rest is history.

Materials  Used

• Old Tripod
•  Metal Quart Size Paint Can
•  Steel Wool
•  Gray Spray Paint Primer
•  Various Metallic Spray Paint
• 1/4″ Bolt w/washer and nut

Tools Suggested

• Drill
• 1/4″ Drill Bit

 After  a little bit of brainstorming I  concluded that the Pottery Barn lamp was  essentially a metal can mounted on a tripod…  Lucky (unlucky?) for me,  my kids had been playing with my tripod a few months ago.  Needless to say, it needed to be replaced.   The  broken one would work perfectly for the lamp!  All  I needed now was a largemetal  can.  I had considered  metal  food cans,  but I really  didn’t want the metal ridges on it.  Then  it dawned on me,  they  sell  empty paint cans at Depot!  Perfection.

I began  by  scuffing up the paint can and the tripod as much as possible.  Steel wool  seemed to do the trick.  The idea is to simply scuff up the surface enough that the spray paint can properly adhere.

Next I used the 1/4″ drill bit and drilled a hole through  the paint can.

Then  drill through  the tripod. (Basically anywhere that  is accessible and somewhat  level surface).

After  the  holes are drilled,   I  used a 1/4″ bolt,  a washer and a  nut to connect the tripod to the paint can.

 At this point  I took a  gray  primer and sprayed the entire structure.  I followed up by dusting  the entire thing with  several different metallic spray paints.  I  used a technique  very similar to the  one I used on this project.

For the place that I was going to put this,  I did not need to  have it be a functional lamp, BUT  honestly if you are  set on the idea of it being functional,  it is doable!  Ikea sells a cord light kit for $5.00 that could easily  be adapted to fit  your new lamp.

 Ta-da!  There you have it a Pottery Barn-esque spotlight for a fraction of the cost!