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West Elm Inspired Tripod Floor Lamp {Knock Off Decor Series}

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 Hi friends! I hope you are smack dab in the middle of a fantastic weekend! I’m really excited to share my West Elm knock off lamp with you today!

We have been busy DIYers around here, which has paid off because today is the first day of my Knock Off Decor Series and I am so excited about it! One, because it is my first ever series, but also because all of those awkward moments taking photos of the lovely things I see in stores, only to get the stink eye from the people working there will finally pay off! Do you ever do that? I almost always enter a home decor store ready to  shop for take pictures of what I can recreate. This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Click here for my full disclosure.

West Elm is one of my favorite stores and when I was browsing around in there a few months ago, I fell in love with their wood tripod floor lamp. Then I immediately fell out of love with it because it was $250 bucks. Then I fell in love with the idea of recreating my own very similar one. And so my DIY West Elm knockoff  version was born and I’m going to show you how we made it for just under 40 bucks! Isn’t it pretty?

knock off west elm tripod floor lamp

I think I came pretty close to the one that inspired it all don’t you?

West Elm Knock Off Wood Tripod Floor Lamp

So are you ready to make your own? If you can make a few cuts with a saw and do a little bit of drilling, you can do this project. I’ll walk you through it and give you some little tips along the way so you can avoid some of my mistakes.

Supply list:

How to make a West Elm inspired tripod floor lamp
  • Three 3/4 inch square, 6 ft. long pieces of wood for the legs of the lamp. Get wood that looks nice and smooth especially if you are going to leave it natural like I did.
  • 1/4 inch metal cable clips to attach the metal ring at the bottom. (I found these at the hardware store next to the cable wire.)
  • a lamp kit (Amazon affiliate link)
  • 6 inch brass nipples (found right next to the lamp kit)
  • a pack of nuts and washers for lamp parts (also right next to the lamp kit)
  • a 4 inch piece of scrap wood that is about 1 1/2- 2 inches thick to hold the top of the legs together and to hold your light. I used MDF board from the trash can in the back of the home depot.)
  • a can of spray paint to paint your metal pieces and the cord. I used Krylon Gold Metallic spray paint (Amazon affiliate link)
  • 3 screws to attach the legs
  • a lamp shade and bulb
  • the top metal ring of a 16ish inch lamp shade. It needs to be one with 3 prongs like the one in the photo above. (I found mine at the Salvation Army for 3 dollars and ripped out the top ring.)

How to build a Wood Tripod Floor Lamp:

Step 1: Spray paint the top ring of the lamp shade that you ripped apart, 3 cable clips and screws that go with them, and your cord in the color of your choice.

Step 2: Cut each of your wood legs to 55 inches at a 5° angle at the top and bottom making sure that the surfaces of the ends are parallel.

DIY Tripod Floor Lamp West Elm Knockoff

Step 3: Decide the placement of your bottom ring and attach the cable clips.

Have a buddy, hold up your cut legs in the position that they will be on your finished lamp while you hold the ring in place toward the bottom and mark where the cable clips will go.

You want to make sure that your lamp will be steady so be sure that the legs are not too close together. My ring was 15 inches and the ring ended up being 15 inches from the bottom of the legs. If your ring is a little bit smaller, you will need to move it up to keep the tripod wide enough.

Once you have marked where your ring will go, attach the cable clips to the inside side of each leg.

DIY Tripod Floor Lamp West Elm Knockoff

This part gave us a bit of trouble but here is what finally worked.

Step 4: Create a triangle to hold everything together.

Cut a triangle out of your scrap piece of wood that is 3 1/2 inches on each side. Then, mark 3/4 of an inch in from each point on all sides and cut each point off at a 10 ° angle.

Pre drill a hole for the nipple of the light kit in the center of your triangle too. (We didn’t do this and realized that it would be easier to drill this hole before attaching the legs…whoops!)

Step 5:  Attach the legs.

It is really important to pre drill your holes and go slow because you are working with small pieces of wood and you don’t want them to split.

So, pre drill holes (at a little bit of an angle) in each side of your cut triangle and each outside edge at the top end of your legs. Then, attach each leg with a screw, going slowly so you don’t split the wood.

pinching brackets

Step 6: Attach your bottom ring.

Place your bottom ring into the cable clips and press the clips in with your finger to hold them in place.

pinching brackets

Step 7:  Assemble the light kit.

Follow the instructions on the package of the light kit to attach it to your tripod lamp. I had the bottom of the 6 inch nipple pretty far down to add detail in the finished product. It will depend on your lamp shade, but you want the lamp shade to just cover the wood triangle part at the top.

Step 8: (optional) Stain your legs.

I rubbed a coat of teak oil on my legs just to bring out the natural color of the wood a little bit. I really liked the natural color though so I didn’t stain them. Plus I like the contrast of the wood tones when it is next to the Rustic Floating Shelves that we built.

Step 9: Add a shade and you are done!

I recovered a large lamp shade that I found at a thrift store for $5. It had a textured fabric on it originally, but I was still able to make it work and I’ll be showing you how I did it later this week.

So here she is in all her beauty! I love the simple details that the metal brings and may I just say this tripod lamp looks perfect against the subtle pattern of the DIY Sharpie Wallpaper!

So what do you think? Did I get it pretty close to the inspiration?

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Comments

  1. Danielle says

    I can’t wait to try this DIY but I’m not sure I fully understand Step 2: Cut each of your wood legs to 55 inches at a 5° angle at the top and bottom making sure that the surfaces of the ends are parallel.

    What do you mean 55 inches at a 5° angle at the top and bottom? Are you able to show pictures of it?

    Thanks so much!!!

    Thanks,

    Reply

  2. Alison Royal says

    Sorry weird question, where’s the wallcovering behind the lamp from? I’m in love.
    The lamp looks so great by the way! I want to make it!

    Reply

    • Corey says

      Hi Alison. Ha! It’s actually not a wall paper but it is a totally inexpensive DIY that is actually really easy. I drew those hexagons on the wall with a silver sharpie. You can read about exactly how I did it in this post.

  3. Anjou says

    Your lamp base looks incredible! Kudos!

    Any suggestions for substitutes for the 3-prong lamp shade ring? I’m having trouble finding that particular style…

    Reply

    • Corey W. says

      Hmmmm… that’s hard since it has 3 legs and it needs to come together in the middle. If I think of something in the next few days I’ll let you know for sure.

    • Corey W. says

      Hi there! What a nice bro you are! The size will depend on the lamp/ light kit that you use. You’ll want them to match in size so that they attach. Have fun! This is a great project!

  6. Melody says

    This is wonderful. I wonder if you might share how you get a 5 degree and 10 degree cuts. I have a hand saw, I could buy a mitre box , would that do it?

    Reply

    • tinysidekick says

      Great question. I used a chop saw, but this project could easily be done with a hand saw and yes you would need a mitre box. I’ve used one before and they are really easy to figure out. Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you back 🙂

  9. Joan B. says

    I love this! AND I think I will make one too! I have the perfect spot. I may look at adding a painted copper tube or something in the middle to enclose the cord or find a way to make it taut. Just love this and thanks for sharing! Now following on Bloglovin!

    Reply

  10. Joan B. says

    I just love this! AND I think I may try it! However, I would either add a painted copper tube to enclose the cord or run it under the leg or somehow make it taunt. This is genius and so fun! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  11. rea says

    Hi Corey, thank you so much for sharing this project over at The DIY’ers last week. I’d like to let you know that this project is on my top three favorites! I’ve pinned it and talked about it on my fb page. Yay!

    If you haven’t link up your latest project, come by and join the fun! huggies,
    rea

    Reply

  12. Katie says

    Hi Corey! Love this idea!! What a great project! Thanks for linking up at DIY Sunday Showcase yesterday!! Hope you’re having a great weekend!

    Reply

  14. Lauren says

    Gorgeous! I don’t think I’m brave enough to try a lamp knock off, but just seeing your creativity in this is inspiring. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  18. Amy W says

    I love this wonderful West Elm light and you did an excellent job making yours… we must both have WE knockoffs on the brain! Thanks for sharing at our link it or lump it party this week.

    Reply

  24. Angela @Angela Says says

    I love it! I have made my own head board and my own king sized duvet cover from expensive designs I loved and have saved roughly $300 in the process. I’m excited to see what else you DIY in this series and see if it’ll convince me to do more myself. 🙂

    Reply

  25. Alexis @ Persia Lou says

    This is so awesome, Corey!!! I LOVE it. I have been wanting to do some kind of DIY lighting for a while now and this is awesome inspiration. Can’t wait for the rest of the Knock-off series.

    Reply

  28. Tania says

    I love it, you did a great job! I actually have a real tripod that I picked up at a thrift store for $5 that I’ve been planning on making into a lamp, your awesome tutorial will help me I think!

    Tania

    Reply

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