Lamp Renovation

It's that time of year again, when we all start scrambling for gift ideas for our family. In an effort to save money, I have decided to make as many gifts as I can. Of course, I love to give gifts that are from the heart and that show that you care. And what better way than something home-made that you can be proud to give to someone special. 

 During my last visit to my in-laws house, I saw that they had an older lamp that had seen better days. It wasn't a horrible lamp but it also wasn't a show-stopper by any means. Part of the lamp fixture was broken, so the lampshade was being held to the lamp with a piece of flexible wire. In a moment of genius, I thought it would be a great idea to somehow steal the lamp and re-do it for a christmas gift for my in-laws. This probably isn't the best idea for just anybody to go steal something without asking to renovate it, but I have a very good relationship with my mother-in-law so I am pretty confident that when I reveal the lamp to her she will love it that I gave it a little lov'in.

I told my husband Ryan to steal the lamp and just tell his mom that he is going to use it in his church office until he can get something else...haha. So she has no idea what I am doing to her lamp!

The first change was to fix the lamp hardware so a new lampshade would fit properly without having to be held on with horrible wire. Here is the before picture.

BEFORE:

And here is the After

AFTER:

The total for this renovation was $24.00. The supplies for this renovation included fabric glue, spray paint, a new lamp-shade, ribbon, tape, and a fine-grit sandpaper.

lampshade = $18
ribbon = $3
Rust-Oleum's Heirloom White Spray Paint = $3 (the Heirloom White gave the lamp the perfect vintage white shade)

I already had the tape, fabric glue, and sand paper on hand.

To enhance the lampshade, I glued the fabric ribbon to the base of the lamp-shade using a simple fabric glue that I got from Wal-Mart. You can also use hot glue, but the fabric glue makes the process a lot easier. (less mess)  I used pins to secure the ribbon to the shade while it dried. After 2 hours of drying time you can remove the pins.

To transform the metal base I sprayed two thin, even coats of paint. **Make sure you tape off the parts you want unpainted! (cord, hardware) Depending on the coverage, you may want up to three coats. After the paint dries, you can then start my favorite part of the process: Distressing. Distress = De-stress.  Just lightly sand, any ridges or designs that you want to highlight. The sanding gives the lamp a wonderful, vintage,  distressed finish that makes your piece look knockout. WARNING: distressing is addicting because the more you sand, the more you want to sand. At some point you need to pull yourself off the lamp and call it quits :)

Here are some close-up pictures of the paint finish.

                                           

I hope you enjoyed this lamp transformation and try it for yourself. Just maybe try it on something of your own before being gutsy like me and stealing somebody's stuff...hahaha. Merry Christmas Tina and Dan! Hope you love your new lamp as much as I do when I finally reveal it to you.