How to Build a Liquor Bottle Lamp (Cheap)

I have used two separate techniques to construct lamps out of liquor bottles: one using a lamp kit and shade from the store and one using the parts from a used lamp. I prefer to take apart an old lamp to construct my new liquor-styled one simply because it is cheaper, so that is the technique I will discuss here.

What you will need: A cheap used lamp, a new or used lamp shade, a light bulb, and a Phillips screwdriver, a knife or drill, and the empty liquor bottle of your choice.

The first step is to pick a liquor of your choice, preferably one with an attractive bottle, and drink it gone!

After your bottle is empty, be sure to wash it out with water and rinse all alcohol from the inside of the bottle. Allow it to completely dry. Once you think it is dry, I suggest taking a blow-dryer to it just to be sure.

Next, take the lamp apart carefully. Every lamp is essentially the same, and it is pretty straight forward. The pieces I laid out in one of the pictures are the only pieces you will need. What is important is to take your specific lamp apart carefully, and set the pieces down in order that they go together if you aren’t very handy with putting things back together. Essentially, all you are going to do is put the pieces back together as they were, only using your bottle as the home.

Next, take the lid to your liquor bottle and using either a drill or small knife (be careful), poke a hole through the lid just big enough to fit the threaded rod through (your threaded piece may not be as long as the one I have pictured, but there will be one nonetheless). This step is important as you don’t want to make the hole to big and cause a loose fit. Just once you can poke it through with a snug fit, use the base of the light bulb (which will screw on top of the lid) to catch the threat and screw it on snug. Now you have the lid of the liquor bottle with the threaded rod going through and coming out on both sides of the lid, and on top of the lid the base of the light bulb is screwed on snugly to the lid. The lid should be able to screw directly on to the bottle, although you won’t do that just yet.

Next, use your knife or drill (if your bottle is a glass one, you will need a drill with a glass bit-here I used a plastic bottle so I could use a knife) to poke a hole near the bottom rear of the bottle. I use the little piece from the base of the used lamp to guide the size of the hole, and once the piece fits in the hole its good. Once you get this piece, feed the plug in cord (raw-wire end first) through the bottom hole and up through the mouth of the bottle (I have this pictured). It helps to hold the bottle upside down when doing this so that gravity will help the cord toward the mouth.

Once you get the cord through the mouth, feed it through the threaded rod and now you must wire it to the screws of the light bulb base. MAKE SURE THE LAMP IS NOT PLUGGED IN. You would have had to loosen these screws to take the lamp apart in the first place, so you should know how to put them on. Wrap the raw wire ends around the screw and secure the screws tightly onto the wire. Once secured, push the excess wire down into the lid so that you can place the base snugly down and screw on its cover.

Once the cover is on, place the lamp shade on and screw in your light bulb.

Now test it out!

With lighter bottles, such as the one I have pictured, it might help to place sand or something like it in the bottle once your cord is through to help weigh it down.

Remember: simply put the used lamp back together the way it was just through your bottle.

Good luck!!