DIY Bedside Lamp

Ever since I had my own room, I fancied having a bedside lamp which I could use for reading and then switch off just before dozing off; no need to shoot the light! (brilliant idea by Mr. Bean!). After the wedding when I was redoing Puneeth’s bachelor room into something more pretty, for the lack of a better word, I was absolutely sure of fulfilling my old childhood wish. Now that was a time when all of our money had already gone into the wedding and redecorating (actually decorating, there was no “decoration” before :P) the room was on a shoe string budget. The bedside table was an old kitchen shelf with a new coat of paint, the shoe cabinet (for my enormous collection of footwear) was commissioned to the local carpenter and left without lamination to reduce the cost and for the distressed look (unintentional but a pleasing result :P), the laundry basket was a Fabindia knock off with a regular basket etc etc (you get the drift right). So I decided to go the DIY way for the table lamp too. Out of all the useless recycled gifts we got in the wedding (no offence to anyone who actually gave one of them :P), there was a bamboo vase (thank you Vishal) which I converted into the base for the lamp. Now both Puneeth and I are not too keen on flowers (real or artificial) and so as a result vases too and we would never have used it as a vase ever anyway. And while we are on the topic, I feel bouquets are a real waste of money, I don't know what to do with them and they are so impersonal, more impersonal than giving cash I feel (ya I am shamelessly hinting that next time give me cash rather than bouquets :D). Anyway, I procured a lampshade from Fabindia (c’mon I had to indulge my Fabindia craving somehow) and put them together for my own nifty lampshade (yappadi J)

Steps:

1. Scour for a base for the lampshade (vases, wine bottles, old lamps etc).
2. Buy or make the lampshade (they come quite cheap, around 250 onwards).
3. Buy bulb holder, a plug and some wire.
4. Make a hole in your base of the lamp for the wire to pass through.
5. You might have to do some jugaad to keep the bulb holder in place if the mouth of the vase is wider. You can use an old cd/dvd as it already has a hole in the middle or you can make a hole in a discarded plastic lid by using a candle to melt the plastic. There are many options, see what works for you best. I used the lid of an old ashtray for the same. 
6. It’s pretty easy once you have figured out how to keep the bulb holder in place, just attach your wire to the holder and the plug.
7. Plug your lampshade in and enjoy a nice book J

This is what I feel like doing when I am all cozily tucked in bed only to realize the light has been left on :D

Eye Candy - "LOVE" Yarn Bottle

Where - Lifestyle, Oasis Mall, Bangalore

Psst...Awesome DIY idea! :)

DIY - Funk the Junk

We don’t have to be art connoisseurs or spend a bomb to decorate our homes. All we need is an eye for aesthetics and even the oddest of things like a rock or an old bottle can be prettified innovatively. From driftwood photo frames to disposable plastic spoons lamp, the internet is filled with DIYs galore. Just take a cue from them and let your creative juices flow J

                I found these wooded petal like things fallen from a tree around December 2012 when I was waiting at a bus stop. I collected a few thinking I can arrange them in the shape of a flower and paint them or just fill up a cute basket with these to display somewhere. I never got the time to do any of that and they lied in a plastic bag forgotten till I found them again while I was cleaning up my wardrobe. That’s when it struck me that their shape is similar to that of a boat and thought of creating a small one with a mast. The cloth for the mast came from a cotton cloth which my Mom had used to pack a pickle jar when I came back from Vizag last. She keeps old cotton sarees, towels, curtain linings etc for such things and now I too have a small collection from the umpteen homemade pickle and ghee bottles I have carried back to Bangalore from home. They are soft and worn out and remind me of home. So whenever I see this little boat I am reminded of this and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling J (too seeped in nostalgia na…*sigh*). Anyway getting back on track (I digress a lot), the stick is from a broom, break it with your hand keeping a little part of the roughage in the end so that you can stick it with feviquick to the wooden petal. You can make a variety of them with double masts, little flags on the masts, masts with stitching detailing etc. 

                I saw this rock on the road side and my mind immediately went to an image I had seen in one of the décor blogs here. I painted the little fishies with acrylic paint and tada, cute paperweight is ready in a matter of few minutes. And psst…the plate is called a “donne”. A nearby temple serves prasadam in it and I brought it home :P (after devouring the prasadam of course).

               This Vat 69 bottle is courtesy Puneeth’s chuddy buddy gang. The moment I saw that matte finish bottle, I immediately thought of colorful chalks  J. I wasted no time and called dibs on the bottle as well as the case it came in (the case now holds my first aid kit, do I see someone cringing?? haha, at least I did not use it to keep bangles according to my original plan). The pinwheel is from the Avarekalu mela. Planning to put a money plant in the bottle. Or maybe convert it into a lamp, there are so many options J. So pick up that junk you were about to throw away and junk it up I say :D