13 Brilliant Ways To Upcycle Lamps & Light Fixtures Into Bird Feeders Or Baths

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Bird feeders with seed, nectar, or fruit and bird baths full of freshwater are a vital part of birdscaping to turn your yard and garden into a bird haven. Buying long-lasting versions of these backyard birding must-haves can hit your gardening budget hard, so DIYing them is often the answer for frugal gardeners. Thankfully, you can make attractive, weather-hardy baths and feeders from any part of a lamp or light fixture once removing the fabric shade. Table or floor lamp bases form a post for a ceramic serving platter bath or chip-and-dip bowl seed tray. Chandelier arms hold multiple seed bowls or hummingbird feeders. Carriage lanterns with the bulb removed become hanging bird feeders with vintage vibes.

Don't already have an old lamp or light fixture sitting in the garage waiting to be upcycled? Get one for free from friends, family, or neighbors, or request them in local giveaway groups. If you don't mind spending a little money on this DIY project, shop thrift stores, garage or yard sales, or Facebook Marketplace for cheap finds. Get two PoKat 20.5 Inch Distressed Washed White Farmhouse Table Lamps for about $26. Use the stands for your bird feeder or bath and reuse the shades on other lamps. Many light fixture upcycle ideas also use the glass dome from a flush mount ceiling light as the bowl for a feeder or bath. This Aspen Creative 11 Inch Frosted Glass Flush Mount is very affordable at about $22.

Prefer fancy over rustic features in your yard? Remove the bulb hardware and wiring from pretty much any style of curvy or ornate lamp base and glue a large shallow dish of your choice to the top using Eclectic Products E6000 Plus Multi-purpose Clear Glue, for about $12, or a similar outdoor adhesive like 100% silicone or epoxy. You can glue a glass vase between the base and dish, spray paint the entire piece one color, or leave it eclectic. Add colorful stones before filling your bath with water.

This chandelier hack will have colorful birds flocking to your yard in no time. Remove the wiring and hardware and paint the chandelier red, orange, pink, or yellow — all colors that attract hummers — and add artificial flowers. Depending on how the chandelier is made, you can hang nectar feeders from the arms using hooks and fill the former bulb cavities with nectar dishes or a Nature's Way Mason Jar Hummingbird Dish Feeder for about $6 with the handle removed. Hang the chandelier feeder from a shepherd's hook or patio cover eaves.

Get seed-loving avians to visit your backyard using an old chandelier. Instead of hanging hummingbird feeders from the arms, glue or otherwise affix small bowls or tea cups into the spots on the arms that once held light bulbs. If you decide to spray paint the ramekins, leave the interior untouched. This makes them safe for the birds to eat out of. Leave the crystals on to glitter in the sunlight or loop a string of colorful beads around the arms. Then, your bird feeder will double as garden art.

Add a little luxury to your garden design for pennies on the dollar by transforming a heavy ceramic table lamp base and any old large plastic serving dish. Remove the electrical equipment from the lamp base and, if needed, screw a block of wood to the top to create a flat surface. Grab a 2-pack of Rust-Oleum Specialty Silver Metallic Spray Paint for about $20 and spray paint both items. Glue the dish to the base using a weather-proof glue.

Want to show off your love for cottagecore to your avian visitors? Here's a gorgeous idea for repurposing an old light fixture in your yard: Pair a pretty aqua-hued glass table lamp base with a folksy hand-painted ceramic plate to create a highly decorative yet also practical bird feeder. As with other ideas, remove the wiring from the lamp base and glue the ceramic plate to the top. Situate the feeder in a sheltered spot in your garden and fill the plate with the bird seed.

Find a squat table lamp base with a hollow interior. Glue a Woodpeckers 8 Inch Unfinished Wooden Circle for about $8 onto the bottom of the base to give it more stability. Spray paint the base and fill it with concrete. Glue a large plastic plant pot saucer to the top and place your Mademax 1W Solar Bird Bath Fountain Pump with 6 Nozzles for about $14 inside. Fill the saucer with water to test the fountain, and place the bath in your garden for the birds to enjoy.

Don't exclude ornate lamp bases from your bird bath DIY dreams. While they probably won't do well exposed to the elements, you can use them in sheltered areas where braver birds frequent, like covered balconies and patios. Remove any dangly additions, like crystals or chains of beads from the lamp base, glue a wooden disc and metal tray to the top, and spray paint the entire construction in your favorite hue. Once the paint and glue have completely cured, pop your bird bath outside, fill the tray with water, and wait.

Teddy bear lamp base in hand, remove the bulb and light fixture and screw a shallow plastic or metal dish in its place. It could be a pretty glass ceiling light dome, a cute flower-shaped plastic dish, or even a small trash can lid. Add silicon around the screw hole to ensure the dish doesn't leak. You don't have to stick with teddy bears, either. This DIY would work with any animal-themed lamp base and shallow tray or dish that you can easily drill a hole through.

This DIY gives you the perfect excuse to go hunting in thrift stores for the wildest (literally) glass or ceramic serving dishes you can find. Look for yellow-hued, wave-edged dishes that give sunflower vibes or daisy-themed platters made from frosted glass. Basically, anything that will hold about 1 to 2 inches of water or a few handfuls of bird seed. Once you have something exciting, take it home and glue it to the top of an old lamp base that you've removed the cord and bulb from.

Pondering how to put a maximalist spin on your garden? You need a pearly seashell bird bath! To DIY one for your backyard birds and satisfy your lust for outdoor luxury, get your hands on an iridescent glass seashell-shaped serving platter and the most ornate table lamp base you can find. As with the other ideas in this list, remove all the wiring from the lamp and silicon the dish to the top of it. Place it outside, fill it with water, and watch the birds flock to it.

If you were good at Legos and jigsaw puzzles as a kid, this project will be a piece of cake. The hardest part is finding enough glass light bases and fixtures to create with. Once you've amassed a collection of lamp parts, all you need to do is pull out the wiring and slide each hollow part over a steel rod set into a sturdy base. You can also mix and match the fixtures with other glass items — say, a heavy glass lamp base, glass candle stick, and glass plate.

To turn a wall-mounted carriage light into a bird feeder, start by removing the wiring and bulb fixture inside the glass and metal cage. Then you can either remove the glass siding and pop a dish inside to hold seed, or glue the lantern into a bowl and use the lantern similarly to the tube in a tube feeder. Another ye olde times option perfect for upcycling into a bird feeder is a wrought iron pendant light — they come replete with a chain ready to hang from a branch or patio rafter.

It's surprisingly easy to convert a domed glass ceiling light fixture into a bird feeder. They typically already have holes around the rim to affix them to the ceiling, but if they don't, drill 3 to 4 using a dremel and rotary tool. Thread a metal ring through the holes and connect that to lengths of chain. If the fixture has a hole in the center, fill it with silicone. Once cured, hang your new feeder from a shepherd's hook or branch.