Here’s How to Customize the Iconic IKEA Donut Lamp
The most popular IKEA find in Apartment Therapy’s tours last year was not the BILLY bookshelf, if you can believe it. It was a smaller, more circular find: the IKEA VARMBLIXT, aka the IKEA donut lamp, which went viral on TikTok and was even sold out for a while.
The VARMBLIXT lamp is known for its round shape and orange glass exterior that resembles vintage glass, and for the fact that you can hang it on the wall or rest it on a console table or dresser — whatever suits your style and your home.
DIYer Malcom (@mindofmalcolm on Instagram) keeps his VARMBLIXT lamp on a glass end table in his living room, and he didn’t love exactly how the light looked orange when turned off but yellow when turned on, so he opened the piece and painted the LED light red.
How to Hack the IKEA VARMBLIXT
The red tint is the secret to this transformation — and while Malcom says he used nail polish without issue (thanks to the silicone tube enclosing the LED, preventing overheating), a safer bet would be using a transparent tail light repair tape.
The button Malcolm used to open up the lamp is a small switch on the side of the lamp. He says the “after” gives his living room the warmer glow he was after, and the exterior glass color that he liked before didn’t change at all.
Another Hack Idea for IKEA Lights
Don’t think that the iconic donut lamp is the only one you can transform with a bit of a tint change. Another DIYer, Wiebke Lea (who also owns the donut lamp, by the way), gave her IKEA GULLSUDARE lampshade a warmer glow by spraying coffee on it to dye it just a bit darker.
The paper lampshade is now a tan instead of crisp white, and when turned on it’s just a bit more orange-tinted. ‘Tis the season for orange glowy coziness.