DIY Lighting Project: How to create your own light post

Are you looking for a fun and creative project this fall? We love lighting projects, especially the ones that spark conversation and show creativity in their design. We are always searching for the next big idea for a project using our lights here at Birddog Lighting. Steve, one of our customers in California, graciously shared pictures of his project with us. Below are some tips on how to create something similar to what he built.

The materials used to create this unique accent light include:

• 3 rolls of ½ inch rope light in blue, yellow, and green (or any color of your choice)
• 26inch by 3inch PVC pipe
• Bricks (to build the post)
• Wire (enough to stretch from his power source to the lights)
• Punched sheet metal (aluminum would work great, but any kind will do)
• Bent metal pipes
• Cylindrical base (to attach the PVC pipe and punched sheet metal to)

To begin you will need to build your base. Secure the foundation of your base so that your fixture won’t tip over or become unstable. Make sure that you leave a hollowed out center so that you can run your wires through it. As an alternative you can attach the wiring to the outside of the post by using a metal pipe to protect the wires. This would be a great option if you have a pre-existing post that you are adding this fixture onto the top of. If you are wiring it through the center make sure that you have plenty of wire pre-run to the area so that you don’t have to try to do this after you have built the base. Attach your bent metal pipes to the top of your post.  You may want to use a metal cap on the top of the post to make this easier to do (see the above image.) You will need to run power down each of the pipes so be sure to have that in place before you attach the pipes to the post. At the end of each pipe you will need to secure your cylindrical lamp base. Then, begin to work from the inside out. Attach the PVC pipe to the lamp base and carefully wrap rope light around the pipe to illuminate the formation. The wire from the pipe can then be attached to the rope light that is wrapped around the PVC pipe. Now, create a fancy metal casing by using the sheet metal. You can create any design that you want into the metal, in this example holes were evenly punched out of the metal to create a uniform look Feel free to experiment with the size and design of your holes to create the look that you want. Once you have created your design form the metal into a cylinder to cover the rope light and PVC piping.

Once the lighting fixture is created, we highly recommend hosting a dinner party to show off your creative new design! Don’t forget to send us pictures of your creations, we love to share them with others to help inspire more creative works of art!