Upgrade Your Dollar Tree Outdoor Solar Lights With A Clever DIY

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If it's too dark to admire your gardens, walkways, and other outdoor spaces after the sun goes down, that's a pretty good sign that you need to light up your landscape. There are lots of great places to score bright outdoor lighting. However, if you're on a budget and a fan of customized projects, you're far better off lighting your outdoor space with an easy Dollar Tree DIY. The YouTube channel Glue Guns & Roses shared a brilliant and uncomplicated idea that combined basic wooden dowels and solar lights to make taller, modern-style lights for outdoor areas.

This brilliant idea is a lot simpler than it looks. If you already have Dollar Tree solar lights on hand, it's incredibly easy to upgrade them. And if you don't already have them, alternative styles are released throughout the year, such as the Seasonal Collection Halloween Solar Stake Lights. Regardless of the design, these lights cost around $1.50 each. You'll also need a wooden dowel, such as the Hello Hobby Wood Dowel for just $0.78, with a diameter that's narrower than the solar light, as well as a can of spray paint.

Each light costs less than $5 to make, and you can craft any number that befits your landscaping needs. In addition to being low-cost and easy, these lights have a simple style that's easy to blend with most landscape designs. Arrange them as a cluster of lights, lined up symmetrically (6 to 8 feet apart) along a walkway, or sporadically placed around the yard.

You'll need one dowel per solar light designated for an upgrade. One can of spray paint should be more than enough to cover the narrow wooden stick and, if necessary, part of the solar light stake. Start by spray painting the dowel rod. If you have the traditional Dollar Tree solar lights, you'll need a black paint to match the dowel to the stakes. This is the easiest approach, since there's no need to paint the solar light bottoms. 

Use an outdoor paint that will also work as a protective sealant from rain and humidity, such as Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch 2X Ultra Cover Spray Paint. Give the dowels at least 20 minutes to dry before jamming them into the dirt or grass where you intend to place them. If the ground is too tough, water the area to soften it up. Try to insert at least ⅓ of the dowel below ground to ensure stability. Then place the solar light on top, tucking the open bottom over the wood dowel. You won't need any adhesive or bonding materials to stick the pieces together, as the dowel rod should fit inside the solar light stake.

At this point, your outdoor lights are complete. Keep in mind that the solid black wood dowels aren't the only way of going about this project. Paint the DIY wood stakes in different bright paint colors for a more whimsical look. You can also dress up the plain fixtures by putting them in DIY solar light display boxes. Glue Guns & Roses flipped Stemless Glasses over their solar lights to give the project a classy look.