Post Solar Lights Using Glass Chandelier Bowls and Dollar Store Lights!

How I made post solar lights on either side of my back gate on my deck by upcycling chandelier glass bowls. Awhile back I posted on how I made hanging solar lights out of four glass chandelier bowls and some dollar store items. I only had room for four hanging solar lights but I had six of these glass bowl shades so immediately I got to work figuring out how I could put them at the top of my posts!

I went directly to the plumbing department at my local fleet store and purchased two one inch galvanized pipe nipples in 1 and 1/2 inch lengths. I then purchased four 1 inch floor flanges, one for under each bowl and one for inside each bowl. (I’ll explain how I ended up only using two floor flanges and took the rest of the plumbing parts back lol) I attached one flange to the top of each post using outdoor deck screws and then screwed my nipples into them before setting the glass bowl over top.

And then I realized that that was NOT going to work at all. I knew I should have taken my glass bowl with me into the hardware store!

So the plan was to screw on the second flange down over the nipple inside of the bowl making a sandwich that would guarantee the bowl would NEVER move again. This sounds so dirty but honestly they just didn’t make short enough nipples lol So I skipped the nipple and the second flange and just Gorilla glued my bowls down over the top of the flange that I had screwed to the post. It totally worked fine! From there all I had to do was set in and glue my little dollar store solar light into the center of each flange! And with that my post solar lights were complete!

I had made the decision when I built my deck to cut off the posts on either side of the back gate and have always felt like I needed something there. I think these post solar lights flank the gate nicely and really make the entire situation look more nice and deliberate!