Make a vintage style IKEA Piano Lamp

After purchasing a new digital piano with a classical upright piano design, I needed a matching piano lamp.

The piano has high gloss black finish, a classic piano lamp in brass or silver would fit nicely.

The available piano lamps I found were either very simple design, plastic or of a very expensive German brand.

So why not try to look if IKEA had something which can be used? I found the picture light, ÅRSTID in the IKEA catalogue.

I went to the local IKEA store and the design looked ok for the price, and had a flair of vintage.

Then, I took a turn in the kitchen department to see if I could find something which could be used as a base to the piano lamp.

There, I found some different trays, lids etc, I selected a wood lid from the 365+ series, Bamboo 15×21 cm.

Here’s a look at the finished hack.

IKEA Parts:

Picture light – ÅRSTID, IKEA
IKEA 365+, Lid, rectangular, bamboo 15×21 cm (6 x 8.5”)

Other Parts:

Wood screws – counter sunk head; 2 nos. 4.2 x 19 mm (Or similar)
Wood screws- counter sunk head; 4 nos. 3.5 x 11 mm (Or similar)
Steel plate, 115 x 160 mm, 4 mm thick.
Spray paint – Black, fast drying.
Shrink tube, 2 nos. 2 mm x 20 mm.
Self-adhesive protection felt pads, 4 nos.

Tools:

Philips screw driver, medium
Flat screwdriver, large
½” socket or 13 mm (3/8 type)
Soldering iron
Solder
Wire cutter
Wire stripper
Medium or large bench vise
Heat gun
Drill
Drill bits — 2, 3, 5 and 8 mm.

Related: INREDA piano light

Piano Lamp construction instruction:

The instructions are divided into two parts.

Lamp – preparation and adjustment

The original picture lamp need two modifications, 1) the base needed to be rotated 180 degree and 2) the lower part of the lamp arm needed to be straightened out.

In its original IKEA design, the lamp arm has two bends; one an approximately 45 degree at the base and one 90 degree bend close to the lamp screen. The 45 degree bend is to be straightened out.

1. Unscrew the two Philips steel screws holding the mounting bracket fixed to base.

2. Unscrew the two small Philips screw for the black plastic cover.

3. Pull out the small PCB

4. Cut the two wires going from the PCB to the lamp arm, about 10 mm from the PCB.

5. Use the ½” socket and a large flat screwdriver to unscrew the nut holding the lamp arm the base. The two small wires will go through the socket. Remove the nut and lock washer.

6. Pull out the lamp arm.

7. Put the lower part of lamp arm in the vise. To minimize scratches, use aluminum protection jaws and a layer of thick cardboard. Tighten the vise until the lower part of the lamp arm is more or less straight. Be careful not to damage the threads at the end of the lamp arm.

8. Put back the lamp arm into the base, now 180 deg rotated compare to the start position.

9. Put back lock washer and nut, tighten with the socket and large screwdriver. The wires goes through the socket.

10. Put the two small pieces of shrink tubes on the wires coming from the lamp arm.

11. Strip the end of the four wire ends.

12. Solder the wire ends, red to red and black to black.

13. Slide over the shrink tubes and shrink them with the heat gun.

14. Put back the PCB into the holder.

15. Put back all cables as it was from the start.

16. Close the black plastic cover with the two screws.

Related: ODDVALD piano stand

Base– preparation:

The base is made of a wooden lid to a kitchen glass jar from IKEA 360+ series. The lid is used upside down, the recessed top surface is used to hide a 4 mm steel plate to give the base more weight to improve stability.

Any other base can be used as long it is sufficiently heavy. My combined base of wooden lid and steel plate weighs about 0.8 kg.

I used the IKEA lid as it was easily available, nicely shaped and low cost. My first idea was to use a marble slab 100x150x15 mm, but it difficult to find in my neighborhood.

1. Remove the silicone gasket.

2. Drill 4 nos. 4 mm holes in the corner of the steel plate.

3. Countersink the holes with a 8 or 9 mm drill.

4. Place the steel plate in the recess of the lid and mark the holes. Pre-drill holes with a 2 or 2.5 mm drill. Be careful not to drill through the lid.

5. Attach the steel plate to the base with the four screws (3.5 x 11 mm).