A shade for a lamp in a steam room is necessary to protect against burns and to diffuse light. With its help, they complement the interior and create a unique atmosphere in the room. You can make it in the form of a lattice or a diffusing screen with your own hands, following the instructions below. Content:
- The need for a lampshade in the bath
- Preparation for manufacturing
- Wall grille lampshade
- Corner decorative grille
- Corner diffusion screen
- Weaving a lampshade from a vine
There are many requirements for lighting fixtures in the steam room. The light should be soft, create a relaxing environment, and not irritate the eyes. At the same time, it is also important to think about safety and eliminate the likelihood of getting burns on the light bulb. Lighting fixtures in the bath, as a rule, are equipped with special lampshades, which help to "adapt" the light to all requirements.
The need for a lampshade in the bath
Traditionally, lamps are placed on the wall behind the shelf, most often in the corner. In this case, they do not irritate the eyes and illuminate the heater and the bucket of water well. A lampshade is necessary to dim bright lighting, protect against burns, and complement the interior.
Several light sources should be installed in the steam room, so that if one light bulb burns out, it does not remain in complete darkness. Each of the lamps should definitely be covered with a lampshade.
Preparation for making a lampshade for a bath
Even without special carpentry skills, you can build a lamp shade in the steam room with your own hands. The main thing is to choose the right material and decide on the model (corner or wall) of the decorative lattice-lampshade and the size of the product. It will be easier to work on templates pre-cut from paper.
It is best to make a lampshade out of wood. You can also use birch bark, bast, vine. These materials are distinguished by the most suitable performance characteristics for a steam room:
- Low thermal conductivity;
- Security;
- Ease of processing;
- Heat and moisture resistance;
- Durability;
- Durability (to protect the luminaire from mechanical shock);
- Decorativeness;
- Compliance with the overall interior.
When choosing wood for a decorative lattice, give preference to linden, aspen, cedar or larch. The last two types, by the way, emit a pleasant aroma when heated.
It is undesirable to use conifers (pine, spruce) for manufacturing. When heated, they emit a specific aroma and resinous substances that can burn you. If you nevertheless decide to save money and make a lampshade from coniferous wood, then choose a material with a shrinkage of up to 15%.
Some owners use the remains of a wooden lining, which was used to decorate the steam room, to create a lampshade. This option is also perfectly valid. In this case, the lampshade will be in complete harmony with the overall color of the cladding. In addition, you will need a fine sanding paper. When choosing fasteners, give preference to galvanized ones. They are not subject to corrosion, and therefore are optimally suited for use in aggressive environments, in particular at high temperatures and humidity.
Please note that it is important to sand the wood very well so as not to drive a splinter if accidentally touched. Also, it will not be superfluous to treat it with several layers of fire-fighting and antiseptic composition.
DIY wall lattice lampshade in the bath
Lattices can be of a variety of options: longitudinal, diagonal, straight, curved. The look depends on your skills, patience and ability to work with wood. We will look at a variant of the traditional straight wall mount model.
We carry out work in the following sequence:
- We draw the shape of the frame on paper. It can be U-shaped or C-shaped. We make two identical patterns at once for the upper and lower parts of the base.
- We outline the paper sample on wood with a pencil and cut it out.
- Sand the edges thoroughly, first with coarse-grained, then with fine-grained paper. When sanding, we try to keep the same dimensions of the upper and lower parts.
- We retreat 1 cm along the outer contour and draw a line with a pencil, repeating the bends of the base. We do this on two details.
- We retreat another 1 cm from the drawn lines and repeat the procedure on both products.
- We mill a groove 1 cm wide between two lines. Its depth should be about 0.2 cm.
- Starting from the edge of the groove, we make recesses 0.5 cm deep, 1 cm wide in increments of 1 cm. Repeat the procedure on the second product.
- Cut thin slats from wood with a cross section of 1 cm2… Their height should correspond to the desired height of the lampshade. The number of prepared "rods" of the lattice is equal to the number of recesses made.
- We carefully sand every part with coarse and fine sanding paper.
- We insert each element into the recess and, if necessary, tap with a wooden mallet so that it enters the hole to the end.
- Install the second part of the case on top. We direct every detail of the lattice to the corresponding recess. We hit the top element with a wooden mallet. Please note that the top and bottom of the frame must be parallel to each other.
You can install such a lampshade on the wall using galvanized self-tapping screws. If desired, you can cut curved or spiral parts of the product in the same way.
How to make a decorative corner grill for a bath
If you do not know how to use a milling machine or cannot get it, then there is another way to make a lampshade for a lamp in a bath with your own hands. This will require galvanized fasteners. It is advisable to use self-tapping screws. In this case, the caps must be deepened into the wood to avoid burns.
We make a lampshade following these instructions:
- Cut out the blank of the lower part of the trapezoidal frame on paper. The side edges of the figure should come close to the walls in the corner of the steam room.
- Transfer the pencil drawing to the wood and cut it out.
- Grind thoroughly first with coarse-grained paper, then with fine-grained paper.
- We cut out three strips 1 cm wide, 0.5 cm thick, and the height required for the lamp.
- We nail along the edges and in the middle, connecting the upper and lower parts of the frame.
- Next, you need to measure from the middle plank to the extreme distance and cut the planks of the same width and thickness. The length must match the measurements taken.
- We fasten the strips with self-tapping screws from the inside to the middle and extreme crossbar on both sides.
- We fill the slats from above and below along the lattice.
If desired and there is free time, the planks can be fixed not horizontally, but diagonally in different directions on each side.
Manufacturing of an angular diffusing screen in a bath
The interior of the steam room will complement the interior of the steam room with a do-it-yourself lampshade for the lamp in the bath in the form of a kind of scattering screen. It is not at all difficult to make it, the main thing is to decide what shape the diffusing hole will be.
Next, we work in this order:
- We prepare a piece of a thin board or wooden lining, the width and height of which corresponds to the parameters of the future lamp.
- Draw the shape of the diffusing hole in the middle. It can be a maple leaf, an abstraction, a figure of a naked girl, a fabulous Leshy, or any arbitrary image. It is important that it is not too small for sufficient light penetration and not too large so as not to dazzle the guests in the steam room.
- Cut a through hole along the contour of the picture.
- We sand the wood with fine-grained paper.
- Three bars with a cross section of 4 cm2 we knock down with galvanized fasteners in a right-angled triangle, where the length of the hypotenuse should correspond to the width of the workpiece.
- In the same way we knock down the second element. We sand wood.
- We attach the triangle from above and below to the previously prepared screen with self-tapping screws.
- We fix it to the wall with galvanized fasteners.
The canvas on which the pattern is cut does not have to be rectangular. You can use an inverted bow shape, a trapezoid shape, or just curved lines.
Weaving a lampshade from a vine for a bath
Weaving from a thin vine needs more effort and time, but we will consider the simplest version of a lampshade. We will take willow twigs as a basis, since they are quite flexible and strong.
We weave a lampshade, adhering to the following algorithm of actions:
- We steam the rods so that they become more pliable in processing.
- After drying, we take three wooden and strong stand-up rods. Their height should correspond to the expected height of the luminaire.
- We fix them in a strictly vertical position.
- We take the first rod, start it at the first rack, hold it in front of the second and again behind the third.
- We bend it and similarly carry it out in the reverse order.
- We repeat the action until the end of the twig. We take the next one and weave in the same order.
- Weave to the top of the racks. We get a kind of canvas.
- From above and below along the width of the canvas, we nail a thin strip with a section of 4 cm2.
- We nail two more planks of such a section to the base at an angle of 90 degrees to each other, so that a triangle is obtained.
- We repeat the same procedure from above. For this purpose, we use galvanized fasteners.
- We fix the lampshade in the corner of the steam room.
Having improved your weaving skills, you can make a semicircular model or a lampshade of other fancy shapes.
How to make a lampshade for a bath - watch the video:
You can independently make an original lampshade for a lamp in a bathhouse without special carpentry skills. Choosing the right material and following the instructions will greatly simplify this process. Do not forget that before installing the diffusing screen, the lamp must be installed in a sealed cover with a protection rating of at least IP 55.
