DIY Outdoor Solar Light Floor Lamp

You can easily make an outdoor solar light like this one or give it your own design spin. Follow my easy tutorial to create a cozy solar light for your outdoor space.

Our new Outdoor Solar Floor Lamp has been one of my all time favorite upcyle projects. It was not only  fun to craft but very budget friendly as well and that’s always nice, isn’t it.

I was shopping for something else when I happened to find that piece. THIS is the lamp I was shopping for last month! I’ve actually had this project in the planning stage for several years but couldn’t find the right lamp to suit me. You never know what you’ll find in a thrift store, right!

Tell me I’m not the only one who goes in a thrift store and asks if they’ll take less for something! You can’t do that at Goodwill but I was shopping at one of my favorite local thrift stores which is closed now.

This floor lamp was priced around $12 but I offered $7 and she said yes! Score! I’ve looked at a LOT of floor lamps in thrift stores for the last couple of years and this is the only one that really struck a cord with me. (pun intended) It’s horribly ugly, I know but it’s perfect for my outdoor solar light project.

Supplies

• Thrift store floor lamp
• Rust-oleum Spray paint Seaside
• Rust-oleum Spray paint Real Orange
• 3 Solar lights (Dollar General)
• E6000 glue

The Process of Creating an Outdoor Solar Light

Clean the light

The very first thing I did was give it a good cleaning. I make a bucket of warm soapy water, grabbed a cleaning cloth and went to work.

Everything you buy at a thrift store needs to be cleaned before you use it or make it into something else. Cleaning only takes a few minutes.

Cut the cord

Then I cut the cords off which was kind of fun! Men are not the only ones who enjoy tearing stuff up, right! The cords went up the inside of the pole. After cutting each light cord, I then removed the cord from inside of the pole stand.

Remove the sconces

I took the lamp apart so I could use two different colors of spray paint. It seemed like painting the sconces a different color would add a little more whimsy which is something I enjoy in outdoor decor.

It was pretty easy to take apart since it is held together with just a few small screws.

Paint

Bright fun colors, perfect for summer made this outdoor solar lamp a fun decor piece to sit by on summer evenings.

If you have a box, tear it apart and use it to sit you lamp on for outdoor spray painting. A tarp will work too. The goal was not to paint the grass, we have so little grass anyway.

My two spray paint colors are Rust-oleum Seaside and Real Orange both in Gloss. I applied two coats each. If you don’t have one of those Spray grip attachments, I do recommend it to make the job a little easier on your wrist and fingers.

Do you tend to paint several projects at one time? Those thrift store cake pans are another project in the works. You can see that finished project here. It’s a Two-Tier spinning craft storage tray.

Attaching the lights

The solar lamps are from Dollar General and I used them exactly as they were with no changes other than to glue them to the lamp. I really just lucked up on those solar lights in the right colors. The design was a perfect fit for this project. These have on/off switches which is nice for saving the battery. Yes, solar lights do have batteries.

A little dab of E6000 just on the inside edge of the lamp shade is all it took to hold the shade onto the prongs.

I bent the prongs in just a little to make the shade fit.

The tiny little bulb doesn’t put out much light at all. We enjoy it for mood lighting sitting outside at night. Since we have warm weather all but a couple months of the year, we get to enjoy sitting outside at night quite a bit.

We’re very happy with how our ‘new’ Outdoor Solar Light turned out. It’s a really fun whimsical addition to our porch decor.  Because there is not cord, we can easily take it into the yard if we choose to sit under a tree for a while.

Wouldn’t it be fun to have this conversation piece as a part of your campsite! I can just see it sitting under the RV awning between two chairs, can’t you?

Our new Solar Floor Lamp is one of my favorite upcycle projects that I’ve done. I love the whimsical colors and was blessed to find the perfect solar lights. 

The total cost was just under $20, not counting the paint. The paint goes into my stash, I’ve already used the blue on something else.

MORE DIY SOLAR LIGHT PROJECTS

DIY Solar Directional Deck Lighting, a hanging sconce light makeover.

An Old Lantern Repurposed Into Solar Lighting

DIY Solar Chandelier for the front porch

10 Ways To Create Curb Appeal

7 Useful Ways To Repurpose Jars