How To Hack a $10 IKEA MELODI Pendant Lamp

IKEA’s MELODI pendant lamp is a really great blank slate — there are a million ways to tweak and hack one to make it yours. Weave the plastic shade with natural round reed get a contrasting mix of materials that’s both organic and modern.

• IKEA MELODI Pendant Lamp
• Natural Round Reed
• Scotch Tape
• Spray Paint (optional)

Tools

• Drill & Bits
• X-Acto Knife
• Measuring Tape
• Pen

1. Wrap the tape measure around the diameter of the lamp and put an odd number of pen marks on the shade. Space them evenly around the circle.

2. At each mark, drill a series of overlapping holes, essentially making one big hole.

3. Using your X-Acto knife, cut out any remaining plastic, trim off the jagged edges, and make the holes as smooth and uniform as you can.

4. Once the holes are complete, paint your shade if you like. To get a good result, I used Rustoleum spray paint in a satin finish and chose a navy blue color as close to the wallpaper as possible. It took a good three coats to get it completely covered without any of the white showing through. Let it dry completely in between coats.

5. Insert one end of a reed in one of the holes, and tape to the inside of the shade. Then, with the other end of the reed, start weaving the reed in and out of the holes going around the shade. When you get to the end, either tuck the end inside the lampshade, or tape it in place.

7. Start another reed where the last one ended and continue weaving until the reed fills up all the entire hole.

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