DIY Kelly Wearstler Inspired Linden Lamp

Hi friends!! I have always loved doing DIY projects but lately have not had the time. With everything going on, my school district is taking a “wellness break” until April 27th and that’s given me lots of free time! I finally was able to get a few DIY projects done around the house. The one I’m sharing today may be my favorite DIY ever!

I have coveted Kelly Wearstler’s Linden Table Lamp for years but the $925 price point is definitely not in my budget as much as I’d like it to be lol. I recently came across Design Loves Detail’s blog post on her DIY for this lamp and ordered the supplies right away! I had to tweak her instructions quite a bit to get it to work for me, which I’ll explain later. I am super happy with how it turned out and the whole thing cost me around $70!!!
Such a good look for less!

To be completely honest, I had a few {ok maybe several haha} hiccups along the way. BUT that’s why I’m sharing this so you don’t make the same mistakes I did! Once I worked out the kinks, I know what not to do next time and it’ll go perfectly.

Supplies Needed
–Lamp Base + Shade
–1.25″ Wood Beads {3 packs needed}
-Sand Paper
-Measuring Tape
-Sharpie
-Gorilla Glue or Hot Glue Gun + Glue Sticks
-Painter’s Tape
-Black Spray Paint

Project Notes
Since my lamp was glass, hot glue did not work well at all! Half way through attaching the wood beads, most of them fell off lol. It wasn’t funny at the time, but now I can laugh about it! I also had a good amount fall off while the spray paint was drying. I was about to give up! I ended up re-attaching the ones that fell off with Gorilla Glue and so far they are sticking. I know the other blog posts I’ve read who did this DIY {there are several if you search “DIY Linden Lamp”} used hot glue, and that may work fine if your lamp is not glass! If you use a glass lamp, I’d recommend finding something that will bond wood to glass!!! Just to be extra safe. Also, the wood beads I used are flat on the back and I’d DEFINITELY recommend using ones like that! Soo much easier to work with!

Instructions
Step One: Cover the cord and any hardware with painters tape to keep spray paint from getting on those areas when you paint it. Lightly sand your lamp if needed.

Step Two: Use a marker to mark where the wood beads will go. For my lamp, I did 9 vertical rows with 4 beads per row. I spaced them 2.5″ apart horizontally and 3.5″ apart vertically. I started my bottom row about 2″ up from the very bottom.

Step Three: Use your adhesive of choice to attach the wood beads onto each mark on the lamp. Be careful the amount of glue/adhesive you use so that it doesn’t show behind the wood bead. If you use hot glue, don’t forget to go back and remove any glue strings that are noticeable once it’s completely dry! I forgot to do that and wish I would have removed them.

Step Four: Spray paint your lamp and make sure you spray at all different angles to get good coverage! I used 1 can of gloss black spray paint for my lamp.

Step Five: Once the paint was dry, I used a clear topcoat to seal everything! Once everything is completely dry {I probably waited a good 24 hours to be safe}, CAREFULLY remove the painter’s tape {I’d suggest using a tiny razor to score between the tape and paint so that the tape doesn’t pull off the paint – another mistake I made!}. Attach your lamp shade and voila!

I am soo happy with how this project turned out! I’d say it would only take a couple of hours to do {I spread out the steps over a few days} minus allowing time for the paint to dry! It honestly was super easy once I figured out what not to do haha! The whole thing cost me around $70 but the majority of that cost was from purchasing the lamp base + shade! You could definitely cut costs a ton if you thrifted a lamp or used one you have!

If you decide to try out this DIY, please let me know!! I would love to see it!
XO, Shelby