I love the charm and kitsch of these old metal cake carriers. They remind me of a time when people would bake cakes to take to picnics. However, every time I see one in a thrift shop or flea market I pass it up because I can never think of what I would do with a cake carrier. That is, until I saw Merrilee's incredible new use for these charming old relics ...
Merrilee turned her cake carrier into an adorable lamp! And quite easily, too!
Merrillee had wanted to turn this charming cake carrier into a lamp but, at first, wasn't sure how she could do it. The inside of the carrier is yellow so when she originally tried to use the top as a shade, it would cast a gross yellow tone on everything. That's when she decided to use this:
Merrilee picked up this lamp from a clearance rack, removed the patterned laminate on the shade (and also cut the shade down a few inches), and then spray painted the base of the lamp the same color as the cake carrier. With a few dabs of glue, she secured the top of the cake tin to the lamp shade and voila! A charming bedside lamp! The white shade of the original lamp, which is smaller than the cake tin, diffuses the light enough that there's no longer a yellow tone.
And the best part is that no cake carriers were harmed in the making of this lamp. So when Merrilee tires of the lamp (or if she does decide to bake a cake for a picnic) she can simply pull the carrier off the lamp and reuse it!
To see the full process, including how she reconstructed the lamp, take a look at Merrilee's blog post: Lilliedale: Cake Carrier Lamp.
Images: Lilliedale
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I am in love. This is freaking adorable.
I think it would look more in period with a turned wood piece, but it's a cute idea.
CLEVER! I like the yellow base. :)
You do know people still bake cakes to take to picnics, right?
Not to put a damper on a very cute idea, but you're only getting downward light. I would have drilled/cut some holes in the top of the cake pan and maybe put some diffusing paper under it.
I think that'd work better as a light but kind of ruin the "didn't ruin the cake carrier" aspect, YoNella.
And Macbride, put me down as another person who didn't realize cake carriers were relics - I've used them several times this year. To, uh, carry cakes.
Kee-YOOT idea!!
In my case I would want to use the cake carrier for cakes since I bake and travel sometimes and it is such a novelty piece. The only cake carriers you can get around here are made from plastic. But I do love the lamp though, very very cute.
oh, and I just noticed you can take the carrier off the lamp and use it... now thats brilliant!
Well, it looks like in this case the cake carrier wasn't really safe for food anyway. Kudos, though I agree with others that you could cut holes to get better light.
Genius!
I don't really like it :-( Just not my style I think.
I would use the old cake carrier, in its original form as storage. Could put spice bottles in it, stack dessert plates. Could leave it on a counter, island or on commercial shelving as decor/storage.
Dear spammers, I have no interest in your #*! ed hardy, gucci, cap crap. Do you think we're complete idiots? Hello.... this is an interior design/home site.
@macbride, josiedaisy
Jason seems perfectly aware ppl bake cakes, and even suggests that Merrilee would still do so. What you're probably supposed to infer here is that Jason evidently doesn't.
Wow!!! I love it. Clever.
Awesome reuse.
Everytime I would look at this fab lampshade I would be reminded of some happy childhood memory and probably smell a chocolate cake!
Is it safe? Doesn't the metal carrier get very hot when the light is turned on?
Cute, though.
Squeee! That's a whole new level of adorable.
Dear spammers, I have no interest in your #*! ed hardy, gucci, cap crap. Do you think we're complete idiots? Hello.... this is an interior design/home site.
Mauishopgirl, "spammers" aren't people. It's automated software, which posts to comment threads in their millions without human intervention. Absolutely no thought goes into when and where they're placed, and because they cost nothing it doesn't matter to the programmers if nobody ever clicks on the links.
Unless you're a top tier hacker, there's absolutely nothing you can do to stop them, so just ignore and delete.
Oh, and the cake carrier lamp is utterly charming :)
i worry that the top of the tin would get really hot. it's uber cute, though.
I agree w/ Sussu.
I'd use it as a cake carrier, but you've gone & tossed the bottom half, so it's kinda been turned into trash, in my mind. Disappointing.
Love this!!
Now I'm in the mood for cake...
Very cool. I love your creativity!
Hi, and thank you for posting my lamp. I feel so honored to be here.
I wanted to answer a few questions that people have had...
No it does not get hot, the bulb is far enough away from the metal that even after having it on for a while never heats up.
@misskitty79- of course I didn't toss the bottom, it is acting as a tray on my desk. :)
There are no holes drilled in the top because I did not want to ruin the integrity of the piece. I have used it to carry things in the past and I might want to do it again someday.
Peace and Crackers!
This is super adorable. Totally an idea worth stealing.
Thank you blandwagon for that helpful info about the technical automated aspect of spamming.
I was being sarcastic however, which doesn't always translate well in writing :-)
I totally love the original shade on the lamp you bought. where did you get it?
A little too country for my style, but darned cute all the same!
Well done!
Now...why didn't I think of that??? ;-)
I'm all for keeping it as a cake carrier, or pie or cookies, or anything that can be taken and shared. I had my mother's Revere cake carrier for decades and recently gave it to a friend because I have a Tupperware version that is more practical for me. It can be turned upside down and used as a big bowl for caramel corn. You can see, I love to cook.