DIY A One-Of-A-Kind Lamp By Using Old Toys

There are a lot of things you could do with a handful of old plastic farm or zoo animal toys. You could give them to the kids next door. Donating them is also a good choice. Certainly, you've probably stepped on them in the middle of the night and thrown them in the trash bin as a result. However, you've probably never thought about making them into a one-of-a-kind lamp. 

If making this themed DIY-conversation piece appeals to you, then get the ball rolling by gathering up at least a half-dozen or so plastic toy animals. They can be any kind of critters — farm, zoo, or jungle. If you have old ones that have most of the paint scratched off, you can use this project as an excuse to repurpose them. You're going to repaint them anyway with something like the Rust-Oleum Specialty Metallic Spray Paint.

You'll also be giving a cheap lamp a luxurious upgrade during this project. Look for something like the CHLORANTHUS Store's cordless table lamps. It isn't so important that the lamps are cordless; they just need to have a solid flat base on the top and bottom. The plastic toy animals will rest on that with the help of some E6000 craft glue. If you find a lamp that is powered by electricity, that's also okay for this DIY. 

If the plastic animal toys are dirty or have stains on them, give them a scrub with soap and water. Oil or grease on their surface might prevent the paint from sticking to the toys, so be sure that they're squeaky clean. Once that's done, you'll "build" a tower of plastic animals that wraps around the base and pole of the lamp. This you'll glue on with the E6000. If you've done this correctly, it should look like the animals are climbing the post.

Allow the glue to dry for up to 24 hours before you spray paint the base and post of the lamp, along with the plastic toys. This will give the bottom of the lamp (minus the shade) a shiny metallic look. It unifies everything and makes the animals appear as if they were made by pouring gold into a mold. However, you're not limited to gold paint for this. Using a product like Krylon White Onyx Coarse Stone Texture Spray Paint transforms the base of the DIY animal lamp into faux stone, giving it the appearance of being carved from rock or making it look like plaster that was poured into a mold. Or you could paint it with Rust-Oleum Aged Iron Multi-Color Textured Spray Paint to make the lamp seem as if it had been forged out of wrought iron.

This creative home decor idea practically begs you to work with a theme. If you'd like to be a bit more intentional about its design, you don't have to use old plastic toys to create the base. You can select some new ones that fit a theme, like Zoopal's North American woodland animals or the Zippytots Store's wild safari animals. 

And the shade for the lamp doesn't need to stay plain, either. Stencils that complement the lamp's design theme offer one way to go. For example, pair the safari animals with stencils of plants you'd see on an African plain or match up tigers and other jungle animals with the appropriate kind of fauna. If you're not up for a stenciling project, think of this project as an innovative way to use up old wallpaper. Conversely, if you have some leftover fabric that would match your decorating theme in some way, consider covering the lampshade with the material instead. You probably just need a glue gun to get the job done. But don't forget that stencils, wallpaper, and fabric can affect the lamp's lighting ability.