If you have plants in your home and live anyplace besides on the equator, you’ve likely looked into grow lamps to nurture your precious babies. You were probably also disappointed that grow lamps don’t really vibe with your aesthetic.
Well, I have good news: You can build your own, prettier grow lamps, and there is absolutely zero electrical work involved. At the beginning of the pandemic, I swapped out all the lights in my living room for grow lamps, and it has made me (and my plants) happier.
What makes grow lamps different?
The intent of grow lamps is to mimic the effects of real sunlight on plants. They generally use a different color of light (cool) than your household lights (warm). If you compare them side by side, light from a grow lamp will appear blue and your household lights will appear yellow.
Light, in general, triggers photosynthesis in your plants, and the more light, the more this process will be encouraged. While no bulb could ever reproduce the same amount light the sun delivers outside on a clear day, grow lamps can help make up the gap inside.
Everything you need to DIY a cute grow lamp:
How to build a grow lamp yourself
Because grow lamp bulbs exist on the market, you could use one to replace the bulb almost any lamp, and aim it at your plants. Lamps with lampshades that will filter the light would defeat the purpose, but you certainly could simply swap out a bulb on your favorite wall or floor lamp and call it a day.
But I was looking to create hanging lamps and a lot of ambient cool light to shine upon bunch of plants, and I didn’t want the light to compete with any in my living room. So I started with a light kit. The kit has already done the electrical work for you: it has a plug and a toggle switch and a receptacle for the bulb, it just needs a compatible shade.
I purchased clear glass shades from all over the internet, there are more options out there than you can imagine. I started with Amazon, where I found a number of styles I liked. Home Depot has a wide variety of clear glass shades as well. I chose different styles to mix it up, but you do you.
To assemble, you add the glass shade and screw the O ring that comes with the lamp kit onto the threaded base to hold it together. Screw in your lightbulb, and you’ve created a hanging lamp. I used these hanging pulleys to suspend my lights, but you can choose any system that fits your aesthetic.
Set a timer so your plants can experience a day/night cycle
Once I’d assembled all the lamps and hung them from the ceiling, I plugged them into smart switches. After trying every single one on the market, I now swear by plugs from Meross, which are easy to set up and almost never fail or disconnect. I created a schedule for my lights on the Meross app, but you can use Smartthings, Google Home, or Alexa if that’s how you roll. My lights come on automatically at sunrise and go off at sunset.
These lights are the first thing people comment on when they visit my home—in a good way!—and the plants have benefitted from them too. And not for nothing, there’s substantial evidence that people benefit from the effects of grow lamps as well, particularly during the winter.
