Japanese inspired shoji lamp

Materials: Ikea TEXTUR floor lamp

Description: My initial goal was to get a shoji type lamp to light up my living room, but because none that fit my taste were available in my country at reasonable pricing, I resorted to the next best thing: Making it myself.


I wanted to keep the hassle to a minimum, so I set out to find an actual lamp for the base. I found the Ikea TEXTUR floor lamp to fit my visualization the best.

I bought a couple of pine strips (~2x2 cm) for the four legs and cut them down to 180 cm in length. I used a slightly thicker piece (~2x5 cm) for the cross base in the middle. I rounded the corners of the legs, pre-drilled two holes for each, through to the base, and screwed the whole thing together.

After sanding the abomination (along with the silvery plastic ring sections of the TEXTUR lamp), I bought a metal primer and some black metal paint: I went with metal paint because I needed it to stick to the plastic.

I gave the whole thing primer twice with a small roller (the plastic rings became a bit gritty though, so I primed those a couple of times more and smoothed the surface with a fine sanding sponge). Then I gave the whole thing black painting, also with the roller, till it was nice and even. Three or four layers I think.

Then I assembled the TEXTUR lamp inside the construct (and removed a metal weight plate in the foot, that I deemed too heavy).

I also replaced the dimming slider with an ordinary switch, because the bulbs didn't seem to get the full effect, even on maximum. There's five LED bulbs in it, each 2 Watts and emitting 140 lumens of light.

This baby sucks a whopping 10 Watts!

~ Martin Malmer, Denmark