DIY Mod Lamp

Chic Mod-Lighting

At Color Cord Company HQ in Colorado, winters always get us dreaming of warmer pastures – namely, laying out poolside in Palm Springs, soaking up some rays, and warming up our homes with mid-century modern lighting design. 

With those mod vibes in mind, we came up with this simple and elegant DIY lamp. Check out how we brought this mod lamp to life with a few simple materials and our favorite lighting essentials.

Materials

It doesn’t take much to make a mod lamp — just these few materials:

• Wooden Dowels
• String or Twine
• Decorative Wood Beads
• Light Cord
• Light Bulb
• Socket Cover
• Cord Grip

We want you to make this mod-lighting design your own, so choose a light cord in the color and length that best suits your personalized design and explore our selection of light bulbs to discover all the unique shapes and sizes we offer — including Edison-style LED bulbs. You can also browse a few different dowel sizes. While we used ones that were 24” long, you can use anything from 10” to 5’ to create something with a unique touch.

If you don’t want to buy all the pieces for your lighting individually, check out our plug in pendant light kits to get everything you need in one go.

How-To Mod

Using only the materials on our list above, we created this subtle, modest mod lamp for placing on our desk or on the floor. We bought our supplies from the local craft store — which proved to be the most time-consuming part of making this lamp! Because once all of the components have been gathered, it’s as simple as bundling the three dowels with your pendant light cord and securing them all together with your chosen string material. 

For our smaller table lamp, we used ¼” wooden dowels at 24” long, natural twine, and decorative wood beads to complete the mid-century modern look.

Alternative Ideas

If you’re not sure a mod lamp is right for your aesthetic but you like the framework of our DIY lamp, you can try a different look with just a few changes. For a more rustic take on this tripod lamp, you can go bigger and create a floor lamp. Use slightly wider and longer dowels; about ½” wide and 4’ long. Choose a suede cord instead of twine and pair it with decorative mint and magenta string for securing the bundle. Finally, we placed the wooden beads with rubber grips only on the feet of the dowels for a little more stability.

To fully complete this rustic look, we paired our simple lamp with a reclaimed teak farmhouse bench and vintage Turkish wool rug courtesy of World Effect.

Go Boho

Are you a boho-lover with an eclectic take on interior decor and lighting design? Transform this chic mod-lighting look into something a little more colorful and vibrant with these alternatives. Instead of plain dowels and beads featuring natural wood hues, spice up your look with some color. Now add a contrasting hue with your lamp cord, and you’ve got a feast for the eyes. To add an extra pop of personality, you may want to swap out the twine for a woven string that has some fringe or bead details. Now your mod lamp is totally boho!

Make It Your Own

This mod lamp is our most simple and versatile DIY project yet. With a plethora of Color Cord Company colors, patterns, and finish options, along with tons of dowel and string options from your local craft store, the possibilities are practically endless. What ideas do you have to enhance this modular design? How will you make it your own?

We would love to see your take on these mod lamps, so please share with us on our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr pages!