Desk Lamp

A small multipurpose desk lamp that serves as a source of light, but has a little drawer to store anything your heart desires (as long it's less than 7.75 inches long, 2 inches tall, and 2.5 inches wide).

For this project you will need the following materials...

- Wood

- Lightbulb(s)

- Lamp cord/socket

- Felt sheet

- Wood Glue

- Hot glue sticks

and these tools...

- Table saw

- Jigsaw

- Drill

- Sandpaper

- Hole saw

- Ruler

- Pencil

- Hot glue gun

- Clamps

We will start out by measuring and cutting our wood, it should be 0.5 inches in width. For the basic structure of the lamp, you’ll need to cut out a top, bottom, two sides, and a front and back.

Bottom and Top:

4in x 9in

Sides:

4in x 5in

Front and Back:

6in x 9in

For the drawer you’ll need to cut out a few more pieces, a bottom, two sides, a back, a front, and a handle (handle is optional).

Bottom:

7.75in x 3in

Sides:

3in x 2in

Back:

6.75in x 2in

Front:

2.75in x 8.25in

Handle:

0.5in x 3in

Now you have to make a few more cuts for the drawer, wiring, and the light bulb. You need to make cuts in the front piece of the basic structure to fit the drawer, a cut in the back of the structure for the cords, and a cut in the top for the light bulb.

For the front, cut out a rectangle with a length of 8 in and a height of 2.5 in. The rectangle will be 0.5 in from the bottom and 0.5 in from either side.

For the back, drill a small rectangle for the wire to go through, in the bottom right corner, roughly an inch from the bottom and an inch from the side

For the top, using a hole saw with a diameter of 1.5 in, cut the hole 3.75 in from either side and 1.25 in from the front.

You will now be assembling the drawer.

Use wood glue to place all the pieces together and be sure to use clamps to hold all the pieces together.

Using wood glue, glue together the sides, top, and bottom. Be sure to use clamps to secure the hold!! After waiting at least 15 minutes for the glue to dry, place the lamp socket and wire through the top hole and out the back rectangular hole. You can now glue down the back and front pieces. Once again, you must use clamps to hold the pieces together!

Using a hot glue gun, glue the lightbulb socket into the hole at the top of your desk lamp to make sure it stays in place. And that's all you have to do for the electrical aspect of the project.

You can also add felt to the bottom of your desk lamp in order to avoid scratching your desk!!

Finally, once all the glue has dried, you can place the drawer in the hole.

Now, if you want, you can add a lamp shade to your new creation! All you need now is some 1/8" dowels, fabric (you can choose the color), and hot glue with your hot glue gun.

First, drill four 1/8" holes that are about 1/8” deep on the top of the lamp in each corner to stick the wooden dowels in. Drill these holes about half a centimeter from each side at every corner.

Then cut your 1/8" dowels into pieces that are 7” long and stick one in each hole that you drilled.

Now cut a piece of fabric (26 1/2” by 6 1/2”) and hot glue the long edges of the fabric, folding them over about a quarter of an inch “hemming” the fabric without actually sewing.

Once you’ve cleaned up the edges, glue the short edge of the fabric, with the folded over fabric facing inside, to one of dowels by glueing from the top of the dowel to about an inch above the bottom. Continue this process to all of the other dowels, wrapping the fabric around all of them until you get back to the first one again. When you get back to the first dowel, before you glue the short edge of the fabric down, fold and hot glue the short edge over about a quarter of an inch, just like you did to the long edges of the fabric earlier. Finally, hot glue this edge to the dowel you began at.

Uou May need to add extra dowels to the top for extra support (7 1/2”, and 4 1/2”).

Now you can customize your desk lamp!! You can paint or stain the wood and add a personalized flair to make it your own. You can now put in the lightbulb and use your new desk lamp.