How to make a dollhouse floor lamp that really lights up!

A floor lamp battery operated tea light.

        Don't throw away any old doll stands folks! Because these may be easily transformed into floor lamps for a dollhouse and you can make them actually light up by including battery operated tea lights. These stands are best used when they are "weighted" at the bottom, so that they will stand upright properly. 

Supply List: 

• recycled doll stand
• a straw that fits over the pole of the doll stand 
• paper condiment cup or a Dixie brand drinking cup
• white school glue
• hot glue and hot glue gun
• sandpaper
• rubbing alcohol
• acrylic paint
• stickers or watercolor paints (optional) to decorate the shade
• scrap cardboard
• battery operated tea light
• Mod Podge

Left, Ask an adult to cut a small hole the size of the top tip of the doll stand in the center of your
 lamp shade's bottom cardboard piece so that the shade has a place to attach to the narrow pole
 of the stand. Center, Draw around the battery operated tea light on top of a thick cardboard to
cut the correct size of shade base for the lamp. Right, See what cardboard layers look like from 
the side view.

Left, I want to cut-away the bottom of the paper condiment cup so that I may attach the nicer 
edge of the rolled cup opening to my shade. Right, So you can see that I needed two condiment
cups to make this shade larger than the tea light's circumference. So, I just over lapped the small
opening with a second cup to make the shade's pleated paper continuous looking. 

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Wipe down the recycled doll stand using rubbing alcohol; this removes oil from your skin that repels paint applications. 
2. You may need to further sand the stand to rough it up for painting.
3. Paint the recycled stand to match the furnishings of your doll's home.
4. Mod Podge these parts to help prevent scratching on the metal surfaces.
5. Draw around the battery operated tea light on top of a thick cardboard to cut the correct size of shade base for the lamp approximately 1/8 to 1/4 inch larger.
6. Carefully cut the bottom of a condiment cup off. This will become your floor lamp's shade.
7. Hold the cup upside down with the cut-open bottom facing up and glue the edges at the original bottom directly onto the cut cardboard round. 
8. Finish the cardboard round with a trim or ribbon. Glue this carefully to the outside edging to cover the cardboard nicely. I just used a plain white paper ribbon for this lamp.
9. You may also choose to paint the cardboard on the bottom of the shade the same color as the stand parts as well.
10. Ask an adult to cut a small hole the size of the top tip of the doll stand in the center of your lamp shade's bottom cardboard piece so that the shade has a place to attach to the narrow pole of the stand.
11. I also glued a straw to the bottom of the shade piece to further secure the shade to the stand. The shade fits snugly over the pole during play but when in storage I detach the shade from the pole to keep the fragile shade from rough handling. 
12. Insert the tea light through to top of the shade to light up the floor lamp. Turn it on and off as desired.
13. You can also make a floor lamp using paper Dixie cups instead of condiment cups for shades.
14. Decorate the lamp shades if you wish with any kind of paints, stickers or markers as well or leave these unadorned if you prefer.

See More Doll Lamp Crafts: 

• Doll lamps made from recycled parts and decorative papers 
• An authentic tiny kerosene lamp for our Pioneer, 18 inch dolls here. 
• How to make a camp lantern that really lights up for your American Girl Doll! 

Authentic shade designs from the Deco period for students to copy
if they wish for their own dollhouse lamps.