A Lamp for the Porch

I wanted to use this lantern for a lamp on the screened porch so I’ll try to show the process step by step.

The first step was to find the lantern of proper proportions.
Next I scoured the local thrift shops to find a lamp nearly the same size.
It doesn’t matter what the thrift store lamp looks like since it is just used for parts.
Actually, all of the parts can be purchased at the hardware or home improvement store but it is much more economical (and green) to shop at the thrift store.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      This is the beauty that I brought home. $4.50. The lady at the checkout told me what a beautiful lamp it was. I think it was the shade that caught her eye,LOL.
I then began to disassemble, starting by removing that shade and chunking it in the trash. Then I removed the harp (the support part for the shade).
                   
If you look very closely at the part near the switch you can see the words “press here.” Press on that spot and gently pull the pieces apart.


Next, slide the outside cover off. There you will find the electrical connections.

Carefully examine the wires. One part of the wire should be completely smooth and the other part of the wire should have little ridges on it. I always try to mark the connections before unscrewing them. I used a sharpie to put an “S” on the connection for the smooth wire.  (When you reconnect the wires the lamp won’t work if you get them mixed up.)

 After marking the connection, use a screwdriver (or a butter knife) to loosen the wires. Now, remove the felt cover from the base of the lamp and carefully pull the cord out of the lamp.

 Once the cord is completely out you can start unscrewing the parts of the lamp until it is disassembled.
                                                                                     
Pretty soon you should have a bunch of parts. My intention was to simply reassemble the lamp parts inside my lantern using the long rod pictured above on the left.  However, when I put the rod inside my lantern, it was too short to go all the way to the top. So, I had to adjust.  I found my box of old lamp parts and found a very short rod just like the long one. Most of these rods are threaded the same size and are interchangeable. As you see below, the lantern already had a hole in the top. I put my little short rod in the top of the lantern and used the nut to tighten it on the inside. In the photo below on the left, I am holding that part up in the hole of the lantern because it will not just stay there until something is screwed to the top.I then screwed on the lamp part. Oops! I forgot the part that holds the harp so I had to unscrew, put the harp holder one, then put the lamp socket parts on.
                                                                          
Next comes adjustment #2. If you look closely at the photo above on the right, you will notice that the cord is not going down through the lantern but is going outside the lantern. I decided to switch to a clear colored cord to go outside the lantern rather than have the brown cord dangling inside with the candle. Hopefully this will make sense in the final photo.In order to make the wire go on the outside I had to drill a little hole for the wire to go through.
 I then pulled the wire through and tied it in a knot as shown above. This keeps the wire from accidentally being pulled back out. Now make the electrical connections again. Remember, the smooth wire goes to the screw marked with the “S”.
 After making the wire connections, put the cover back on. Remember, you may need to “press here” to get it on snugly.
Actually, this photo shows the correctly assembled lamp. You can see here the harp supporter that had to go on before the socket holder. I didn’t realize that I had left it off until I was ready to put the shade on so I had to unscrew everything to put it on.
 Now we’re ready for the harp and shade.
        


Here she sits in her new home!
I’ll be linking to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.