House of Hawthornes

Vintage. Thrifting. Gardening.

Vintage Thermos Lamp Tutorial

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I have a real love affair with vintage Thermoses, so when I found this sexy blue one at a yard sale a few weeks ago I knew I wanted to do something fun with it. Like repurposing it into a Thermos lamp!

And it was really quite easy.

Super easy DIY tutorial for turning a thermos into a lamp

Thermos Lamp Tutorial

Supplies needed:

  • Thermos – vintage is good, new is just as good (did I just say that?)
  • Make-A-Lamp Kit by Westinghouse
  • Drill with 3/8″ drill bit
  • 3/8″ rubber grommet
  • Safety glasses – Be safe. Keep your eyeballs.

I found this Westinghouse Make-A-Lamp Kit At Home Depot.

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Westinghouse Make-A-Lamp kit used in DIY tutorial for turning a thermos into a lamp

Warning – you will suddenly want to make every last thing in your house into a lamp after seeing how easy it is to do this. Hide the wine bottles. Hide Aunt Edith’s heirloom china teapot. Hide the dog for that matter.

In case you’re not sure what a grommet is, it is a rubber thingie you insert through a hole to protect your electrical cord from sharp edges.

Grommets used in DIY tutorial for turning a thermos into a lamp

Yes, I have a whole box of them. Never know when you’re going to need a rubber grommet (like twice in the last five years).

Before I get all Bob Vila on you and go through the steps, we have to discuss thermoses. The thermos I had found at the yard sale was broken. When you picked it up, you could hear glass rattling around. That’s why I used it for this project.

Some older thermoses are lined with glass on the inside like mine was. Other thermoses are lined with stainless steel or plastic.

DIY tutorial for turning a thermos into a lamp

Since mine was lined with glass, I needed to get rid of the glass before drilling into it or I’d have a real mess (and safety hazard) when my drill hit the glass section.

So I just broke the rest of the glass with a screwdriver, put the lid back on, shook it up to break the glass bits into even smaller pieces and then poured out the glass shards. Please be very very careful when breaking the glass and removing the glass from the thermos. Very, very careful.

If you do not have a glass lined thermos, this step is, of course, not needed. OK, so on to the real tutorial.

DIY tutorial for turning a thermos into a lamp

Instructions:

Step 1 – drill a hole for the electrical cord

I marked the spot I wanted to drill with masking tape just in case the bit slipped. I didn’t want to gouge Mr. Blue’s gorgeous body.

Drilling into thermos - DIY tutorial for turning a thermos into a lamp

A 3/8″ drill bit was used for the hole.

Drilling into thermos - DIY tutorial for turning a thermos into a lamp

Yes, I have ugly thumbs.

Megan Fox and I both have these abnormally short thumbs. We have soooo much in common!

Step 2 – drill hole into the top screw on cap with the same drill bit

Drilling into thermos lid - DIY tutorial for turning a thermos into a lamp

You’ll notice I sliced off the rest of the red stopper before I drilled the cap. Not necessary, but I thought it would be easier to drill if it didn’t have the red part on it.

But really, it’s plastic. Plastic is pretty darn easy to drill anyhow, so feel free to leave the red stopper on.

Step 3 – insert grommet into hole to protect the cord.

DIY tutorial for turning a thermos into a lamp

Step 4 – Run the cord up through the hole you made

DIY tutorial for turning a thermos into a lamp

and out the top.

DIY tutorial for turning a thermos into a lamp

At this point, the cord and the socket are not attached to each other.

Step 5 – Tie a knot for strain relief approximately where the cord is going to be sitting at the bottom of the container.

This is just an added safety thing, so if the lamp cord gets accidentally yanked on one day, by let’s say your dog, it won’t come undone from the socket.

DIY tutorial for turning a thermos into a lamp

Step 6 – Add some stones to the bottom of the thermos to give it added weight.

It’s not super tippy on its own, but still could use a little bit of poundage to it. I grabbed a pack of stones at the dollar store, before realizing my driveway is full of gravel that would have done the same thing.

Step 7 – Grab your Make-A-Lamp kit and read the instructions.

Really. Read them.

They do a much better job of describing how to attach the socket to the bare wires and then onto the top of the screw on thermos cap than I ever could here. It is a very simple process though. I promise.

So after you screw a couple things on and tightening it to the cap and yada yada yada, you’re ready to put a light bulb in it and plug ‘er in.

DIY tutorial for turning a thermos into a lamp

Wait, no. I’m sorry, you can’t plug it in.

DIY tutorial for turning a thermos into a lamp

Because I took the lamp out to the PARK to take photos of it 🙂 You’ll have to wait until you get back to civilization to light it up.

I did think the picnic idea was a cute one. But after I got there and set it up, I thought “This doesn’t make sense – who has a lamp at a picnic?”

DIY tutorial for turning a thermos into a lamp

And BTW, the park ranger WILL stop and look at you strangely if you bring a whole set up out to the park to take photos.

I have no idea what he thought I was doing (photographing naked squirrels???), but it was probably a whole lot more exciting then what I was actually doing.

Super easy DIY tutorial for turning a thermos into a lamp

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I really love it! Curious if you put anything inside to give it more weight? Is it stable enough to put out and not worry about it tipping over? And are you going to incorporate the matching cup in with this at all? Thanks, Barb

    • I forgot a step!!! Thanks for reminding me. Yes, I put pebbles from the dollar store in the bottom to give it a bit of weight 🙂 I’ll add that in to the post now.

  2. This is possibly the cutest idea ever. I just got 3 thermoses from an auction on Sunday. Now I want to make them all into lamps.

  4. Such a fantastic makeover! An old thermos actually looks super-sharp now as a lamp base! Love it! (And yes, it’s always funny when people look strangely at us setting up our photos, right? LOL)

  8. COOL!!! I haven’t even read the post yet! I couldn’t wait to comment. This is just the coolest thing! I found a large red plaid thermos and was wondering why I ‘need’ to keep it. Well now I know…I am SO copying you! It would be perfect in my vintage camper!!! So excited! Thank you! And now I’ll go back and read your post! 🙂

  12. The Thermos lamp is great! I might need to do this project. But I had to laugh over the thumb stuff! Too funny! My best friend in grade school, Alisa, had (still has) those same thumbs! I can picture them perfectly. And she was always trying to hide them.
    Erica 🙂

  14. I love your Thermos lamp, Pam!! I’m pinning this because I’m pretty sure I’m going to “borrow” this idea. I second what Taryterre said. You could start an Etsy shop with your lamps!

  15. Ok so you’ve read my blog enough to know I could NEVER make this.
    But I adore this!
    So this means you need to make ME one.
    Thank you so much!!!

    🙂

  16. I have about 25 different things I want to make into lamps, and two of them are old thermoses! You did a great job, and I think that maybe, just maybe, I can do it.

    Thanks for the enlightening info!

  18. What an awesome idea! There is a certain type of paint brush that I need that only Home Depot seems to carry so I’ll just grab this lamp kit while I’m at it! Oh, and a box of a million grommets. I’m sure they’ll last me as many years 🙂 I can’t wait to try this. I decided that after I take my 4th of July decorations down, I am going to do a vintage camping display. This will be perfect!

    BTW…my sister has the same thumbs!! Wonder if you all are related?

    ~Erica

  20. Great idea, thanks for sharing. Love the bed ticking sailboat in the background. Do you have a full shot picture of it? I’d love to see what it looks like.

  21. This is a great repurposing idea, Pam! Your contagious sense of humor makes the tutorial one of the best I’ve read lately! Thanks for making me smile while learning something new!!!

  23. This is fab! I know what you mean about making lamps out of almost anything. I have been using what ever I can find and making some great lamps. I think my kids are afraid I’ll put lampshades on their heads! : )

  24. Oh, when I saw this, I thought, Pam has hit a home run with this one. I don’t share your Thermos obsession so I will pass, but this would look cute in a man cave or camp. I bet there will be lots of copies of this idea. Thanks for sharing about grommets, never knew about them but now I do, thanks!

  25. You must do something with the cup! You could put a string through the handle and dangle it on the side of the lamp, and maybe a little something could be put in it. Or, it could sit along side the thermos lamp where a small collection of somethings could be added. I’m sure you will think of something! Wonderful project!

  29. I was wondering if you used a regular size buld and lampshade??? I am having trouble finding a small enought lampshade which will go on a regualar bulb

  30. Hi Pam!
    Just want to let you know I loved your lamp so much I made one of my own…blogged about it with a link to your post here so others can do the same.
    THANK YOU for giving us such clear instructions!!!
    ~Betsy
    (betsyrichardson.blogspot.com)

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