desk lamp makeover

I finally got around to finishing up my thrift store lamp and lampshade that I stumbled upon a few months ago. The lamp sits on my desk and there are a lot of colors and patterns in the vicinity, so I wanted to keep this pretty neutral. However, it ended up a little too neutral!

Here’s the before again… most definitely a lamp from an 11-year-old boys baseball themed bedroom. At least that’s where I’d envisioned it.

It didn’t have a shade when I bought it but I found a clearance one at Target for $5.08. You’d think they could just make it five bucks, that eight cents really makes a difference.

I bought the shade knowing that I wouldn’t use it as navy blue, it was the most inexpensive so that’s why I grabbed it. I went through my leftover fabric stash at home and found a great off white linen that I had leftover. I cut it to fit the shade, with a little left to make a smooth seam in the back and a little longer on each end to make a smooth seam at the top and bottom. To start I wrapped the shade in the fabric and hot glued it down.

I left the extra fabric on the top and bottom so that I could I fold it over to make a smooth seam without any fraying, etc. I used a dab of glue to hold it in place against the other side of the fabric.

I then hot glued around the very edge of the shade, in small 3-4 inch increments, and tightly pressed the fabric over the edge until it was secure.

The shade came out pretty good, especially since I haven’t covered a shade in about three years. I wanted to paint the actual lamp a light gray color. It was a Krylon spray paint called Pewter Gray and it looked like a very light, soft gray. Well, the can lied. It came out a very light, soft blue color.

I was super bummed, especially because I used the same paint for something else that I wanted to be light gray, which is now light blue. For now it’s staying the way it is. Maybe it’ll grow on me?

I love the overall look of the lamp much better, the color just wasn’t exactly what I was going for. And I think the neutral linen shade would look better with a darker (not lighter) lamp color. So, there may be some tweaks in the future.

I also think I might want to experiment with jazzing up the linen shade a bit more. I used the linen because it was what I had but maybe adding some stripes or zigzags or something?

Not sure yet. For now though, I’m happy it’s not straight out of a child’s room! The final cost for the project was:

$6.00 – lamp

$5.08 – shade

$3.99 – paint

Free – fabric

For a total of $15.07. Not bad for a new desk lamp!

recent finds and projects…

I’ve been in the middle of working on a few random, small projects here and there. Many of them involve paint though, so my operation was halted this weekend when it was 20 degrees and way too cold to paint outside. When it’s too cold or too hot outside you risk the paint not drying properly and evenly. So, I’m hoping today or tomorrow is a little warmer so I can get some painting done.

In the meantime though, thought I’d share what I’m working on. First, my favorite is this $6 lamp I picked up at the thrift store.

I’ve been hunting for a lamp for my desk for a while now and this one was perfect. I loved the detail and the curves of the base. Though, I think it was most definitely straight out of an 8-year-old boys room and it had a baseball themed lampshade or something. So I’ll be making that over with a nice coat of paint. It came shadeless so I set out to find one. I eye spied this one in Target and it was on clearance for just $5.08. (Forgot to take the plastic off the shade. It won’t normally reflect/shine like that!)

I think it was on clearance because the base was missing from it. It was the exact shape and size I was looking for. I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to keep it navy blue or jazz it up.

I’ve also been back working on this chair. We went back and forth on fabric and colors for the longest time and finally found something that works great with the rest of the living room. Here’s a sneak peek of what we chose…

Not my typical choice of fabric but I’m loving how it’s looking on the chair.

And in other fun find news, we scored this amazing antique side table at Goodwill for $6.99!

Al spotted it and it was perfect for right next to our new couch…!

We decided to sell the other couch we had (for more money than we bought it for!) because it just fell too large in the room. We picked this one up at the Jordan’s Clearance center. It’s so much more comfortable, fits better in the space and allows room for a side table, which we couldn’t fit with the other couch.

So, that’s my weekend update. Hopefully I can get some painting in soon!

bedside wall lamps

After years of always having a lamp on my bedside table I decided it really annoyed me. The table is just too small for a lamp and the other things too. However, wall lamps aren’t cheap. I started shopping around sales, thrift stores, Craigslist, but I was having a hard time finding styles small enough for the wall space. Or, finding two that matched.

Over the summer I was at a street fair in Boston with my friend Kaitlin. We had a booth of our own, but we’d take breaks to go explore the other vendors. At the end of the street was one man with a huge set up of awesome antiques. I eye spied some wall lamps from a mile away. They were beautiful. Needed some updates on the shades and a good cleaning but I loved them. I had a feeling they were quite pricey though.

But see, when you shop like me you go 30 min before closing and get a great deal because they want a sale, not to have to pack it up and take it home. So, I got them for $20 total, $10 each! I was expecting them to be about $40 each or so.

I was ecstatic. They were the perfect size, I loved the detail and I loved that they were white. I tried so hard to salvage the beat up shades but it just wasn’t going to happen. There were holes, they were ripped and they actually allowed a lot less light to get out because they were so dark.

I found two perfect sized shades at Lowe’s for $6 each. I’ve yet to decide what I’m going to do with them…paint them, fabric them, leave them white?

For now though, it’s such an improvement from the dark, cardboard gold ones. And for a total of $16 per lamp I have no complaints at all! What’s your opinion on wall lamps, love em’? Hate em’?