Lamps, Lamps, and, oh yes, more Lamps

One thing you never, ever have to buy new.

A lamp is one of the easiest things in the world to change and very readily available now that brass has packed up and headed out of town.

If you missed my first two lamp posts, you can find them here and here.

The first lamp came from my grandmothers back porch.  It's a gorgeous lamp with a lot of detail.  The brass just didn't go with anything that I had goin' on, so I pulled out my sandpaper, clean metal primer, and Pewter Gray spray paint.  I refinished them the same exact way I did all my doorknobs.

For the shade, I used some spray adhesive to attach some drop cloth.  The colors blend perfectly together.  And the coolest part about this lamp?  It's got a little switch down at the bottom that you twist to turn it on!

This is also a pretty decent view of my next refinishing project. It's a working record player cabinet that is about to get the works!  When I switch picture angles, you can also see 3 more lamps that are in process :o)  I promise I'm not a strange lamp-lady! 

This one I found in my mom's closet.  I did it awhile back, but I wasn't sure how I felt about it so I didn't share it.  As it turns out, I love it... it just took a little while to grow on me.  (Can I say "it" any more in that sentence? I counted six...)

I sprayed the lamp with a color called "Bright Idea".  If you want to see a much cooler lamp in that color, go see Amy at A Little Piece of Heaven.  I think that's my favorite lamp...ever!

For the shade I used a Tutorial by Stephanie Lynn on how to make faux curled rosewood.  Her wreath is gorgeous and I was originally going to cover the entire shade, but I burned myself 1 too many times and decided to create a pattern.  I really heart it now.

I think of lamps as the icing on the cake.  It's a cheap way to stick your signature in a room.  It takes maybe 10 minutes to spray paint a lamp and I can't tell you how many conversations they start.  It's usually the first things people notice in a room.  Go to goodwill and find a $5 lamp with a fun shape and see what happens.  It's easier than you think :o)

My next attempt?

via Under the Table and Dreaming

But I can't find that stinkin' paint anywhere!?  Any suggestions?

Have a great night!

Katie

Partying Here:
The Idea Room
The Shabby Nest
Tatertots and Jello
Be Different, Act Normal
One Artsy Mama
Under the Table and Dreaming
Craft-O-Maniac
Yesterday on Tuesday

The Lights of my Life

I sometimes have expensive taste. True Story. So when I found this shade from anthropologie I knew I would have to choose between it and the electricity bill. 

And while I love this lampshade, it would have been completely useless if I had no light to see the silhouettes in the first place. So I let it go.

Then something beautiful happened. Someone gave me these 70's touch lamps with an accordian shade. You'll have to take my word that there were two :-)

I know, right?! (I hope you can see where this is going.) And while they were rockin' the accordian shade, I knew they had a much more beautiful life ahead of them. A life that somewhat resembled another lamp that I had once seen...

• First things first, I took off those shades and pulled out a can of white spray paint and rocked those lamps' little brass world. I did not take a picture, but I'm sure you can picture the aftermath :-)

• Then I moved forward to the shade. (At this point you could just start with a new cheap white shade, but why waste this one?!) I ripped off the trim on the top and bottom and removed the accordian part from the outside of the shade. I was left with a plastic carcass. I used spray adhesive to glue some plain white muslin to the shade and trimmed the top and bottom. (Sorry I didn't take pictures of these steps!)

• At this point I had to figure out how to recreate those beautiful painted frames and I am NOT a freehander, so I went to the best place I knew... google... and found a frame clipart that I liked. I blew it up, printed it, and taped it to the inside of the lampshade. Using the light to make a shadow, I traced the frame where I wanted it using a thin sharpie.

• I then painted in the lines with black acrylic paint and a small brush. (While this seems like tedious work, it is WELL worth it in the end)

• Then came the hard part.... what did I want in the frame? I could just google silhouette and find a cool picture of two faces that turn into a vase when you stare at it long enough OR a picture of an old witch who turns into a beautiful young woman. But then a lightbulb came on (hehe) and I realized....

I have two girls who are the absolute lights of my life.


"Boog" who is every bit of 3 1/2.

and "Bear" who is a little over 2.

Why wouldn't I put these two beautiful girls in a lampshade!?

• To get their silhouettes, I took a profile picture of each of the girls. It doesn't have to be perfect, just enough to get the detail of their profile.

• At this point, if you are familiar with any photo editing software, you could use that to make a silhouette OR you could just skip that step and move on :-)

• You need some stencil paper. I purchased mine at the craft section at WalMart for really cheap.

• Place the stencil paper on top of your picture (you may need to print it out first :-) and trace around the outside using a thin line sharpie. You should be left with something that looks like this...

• Use a small razor blade to cut out your silhouette. You can use this stencil for multiple things now, which is cool.

• In order to get the silhouette only when the light is on, you have to attach the silhouette to the inside of the lampshade. To do this, just cut a piece of white fabric about the size of your frame and use your stencil and same black acrylic paint to paint your silhouette onto the fabric. I just lightly tapped my brush around the edge first and then filled in.

• Once that dried, I sprayed it with spray glue and glued it to the inside of the lampshade centered on the frame. I hot glued some plain black ribbon to the top and bottom of the shade, but you could add any kind of trim.

And this is what I came up with. Two framed silhouettes of the two most beautiful little girls in the whole world. And they will always be 3 and 2 when I turn on the light :-)

BEFORE

AFTER

Much better don't ya think? If you are really patient and persistent, you could do multiple frames around the lampshade with different silhouettes in them, but I had all I needed in these two frames :-) If you do try multiple frames, please send me a picture... I would love to see how it turned out!



Happy lampshade-painting!



Katie

Linking up to:  The Girl Creative, Skip to My Lou, CraftOManiac, Sew Chatty,  Sarahnidipities, and Between Naps on the Porch-Metamorphosis Mondays, The Idea Room, Pinkapotamus

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