Categories: Decorating & Design

Create a Wine Bottle Pendant Lamp on the Cheap

Are you looking for a way to decorate your apartment or home on the cheap? Do you have access to an empty wine bottle or two? If so, you may want to consider making a wine bottle pendant lamp. Depending on what tools and craft supplies you already have at home, making one could cost you as little as $15. In my experience, wine bottle pendant lamps are also extremely easy and quick to create. Here’s how to do it:

Supplies Needed

In order to complete this project you will need a bottle cutter ($19), fine grit sandpaper ($2), a pendant light kit ($13) and an empty wine bottle. If you don’t want to use fine grit sandpaper, a Dremel ($35) outfitted with a wheel grinder ($8) will do.

Prepare the Wine Bottle

Begin by washing and drying the wine bottle. You may opt to remove the wine bottle’s label or keep it in place. However, if you do decide to keep the label, I’d suggest treating it with a non-flammable sealant like Mod Podge ($4). Otherwise, it’s apt to become discolored over time.

Once that’s done, use the bottle cutter to remove the bottom of the wine bottle. Do not throw the bottom of the wine bottle away because it can be used for other craft projects. Instead just set it aside for now. Proceed by sanding down any rough edges that may exist along the cut line with either a piece of fine grit sandpaper or a Dremel. Then wipe away any sanding residue from the bottle’s surface.

Run the Wiring

Continue by removing the pendant light’s cord from the canopy and running it through the bottom of the wine bottle. Next, position the pendant light’s socket inside the neck section of the wine bottle. Then pull the remaining cord through the wine bottle’s neck and reattach it to the pendant light’s canopy. Keep going by attaching the pendant light’s canopy to your ceiling. Instructions for installing the pendant light’s canopy should be included in with its packaging.

Other Options

If you are concerned about hard wiring your wine bottle pendant lamp to the ceiling, you could opt to make a wine bottle swag lamp instead. Both are designed to hang from a ceiling and get assembled in the same way. However, a swag lamp does not get hard wired into the ceiling. It gets plugged into an existing outlet instead. Thus, you’ll have to stare at a cord running across your ceiling and down your wall.

Of course you could opt to camouflage the cord with the aid of a swag chain or other decorative elements. The choice is yours. You can typically purchase swag lamp sets from specialty retailers like Shandell’s or Cost Plus World Market. Prices for the sets tend to range from $10 to $30 depending on what type of cord or socket finish you want. In general, cloth cords and specialty finishes typically cost more than plastic cords and silver sockets.

Source: Personal Experience