This Expensive-Looking Lamp DIY Uses an Unexpected $2 Thrift Store Find

You never know what you’re going to find when you walk into a thrift store. So when Instagram user Deanna Dunn stopped by her local secondhand shop and stumbled upon a bunch of wooden vases, although random, she had a feeling she’d just struck gold — and what she ended up making with them looks so high end, you’d think it was a store-bought lamp. 

“I walked into the thrift store today and saw all these wooden vases. When I started to mess around with them, it reminded me of this lamp that I saw online for over $400, and these were only $2 each,” Dunn said in a recent video she posted to Instagram.

She picked up nine of the vases and then headed over to the lighting section of the store, where she scored a basic floor lamp for just under $3. Then, she took everything home and worked a bit of magic to create a bobbin effect for the base.

“I was a little nervous to cut the cord, but I did this so I could drill holes through the vases and just thread them [on] the lamp,” she said. “I screwed the bottom back on and glued the vases together, then all I had to do was add the plug replacement. I still can’t believe that these materials turned into the cutest lamp I own for less than $30.”

“You are a genius, I like it! A lot!” one person commented on Deanna’s post. Another said, “Oh my, love how it turned out!! Yours looks even better.”

Those vases were incredibly specific and likely donated in bulk after being used for an event like a wedding — so you may have trouble sourcing a set of identical styles at your local thrift shop. But if you need to try out this bobbin-style floor lamp DIY for yourself as soon as possible, these wood vases from Walmart could be interesting to play with.

This budget-friendly project proves that it always pays off to think outside the box, especially when shopping at the thrift store. It couldn’t be more true that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure!