UncategorizedSunroom Lamp Makeovers May 22, 2012I love finding cheap lamps. Lamp light adds so much life to a room and creates such a great atmosphere. Enough lamps in a room are always a must for me, but that can get expensive. Then, I discovered thrift store lamps. I’ve been amazed at the awesome lamps you can find at a thrift store for $5.00 or less. Shades can be more difficult to find cheaply, but you can spend a bit on the shade when you’ve saved a ton on the base. For the sunroom, I was really trying to save money on lamps. My first find was this one: This one I haven’t done anything at all to. I planned to paint it when I got it, but then the color worked. I’m still deciding about adding some color to it, but for now, I’m happy with it. I got the base for $4.00 and the shade for $4.00. That’s about what I normally spend on a lamp base at a thrift store, but I was blown away by the shade. Thrift stores have a lot of shades, but they’re normally not a drum shade and are pleated and I love me some drum shades. But this linen drum shade was $4.00 and in pretty good condition. I had this orange lamp sitting in our basement. I bought this two years ago at Home Goods for $14.99. I used to love lots and lots of color…and at times I still do. But now, I really love it in small doses mixed with mostly neutrals. I even love orange still, but just didn’t see how this would fit into our home anymore. I knew it had to be painted, but when the time came, I hesitated to get rid of this orange that I loved so much at one time! But, I sucked it up and painted it so that I could use it in this room. It got a coat of primer, a coat of white paint, and a protective glossy coat (I normally lightly sand lamps just to rough up the surface so that the spray paint primer will adhere well. I was in a rush here and didn’t, but it worked out okay. It’s not ceramic, so I think the paint stuck a bit better). The shade was another thrift store deal – this one REALLY shocked me. It was $1.00 at Goodwill. I scooped it up immediately. Here it is in its new home: The last lamp was my Aunt Melba’s. I wanted to use it in our home and have a piece of her represented here, but the color needed to match our house. Here it was to begin with (I love the trophy shape!): I lightly sanded it to rough up the surface just a little bit. Then I primed it: Then I lightly sanded again. Last of all, it got a coat of paint. I was going for an antique silvery finish here and am not sure I’m happy with it yet. I mixed silver spray paint, some looking glas spray paint, and some taupe-brown. It was definitely an experiment. I think I will like it better if I cover the white shade. It blends in too much with the wall to me, but it’s what I had, so I used it for now. Here it is in its’ home: You’ll notice Gracie in this picture. I was taking all of these with her in the room (not a smart idea) and she managed to work her way into almost every single one. It took forever to get some without her. On this one, I just decided, what the heck…she’s cute 🙂 And there you have it…my sunroom lamp makeovers. I tell you, spray paint is my BEST FRIEND. It’s such an easy and quick makeover. At just under $4.00 a can (and one can will normally do several projects depending on the size), you can’t beat it! Do you guys love using spray paint? If you have some good spray paint projects, please share! I’d love to see: lindsay@lifeofsplendor.com. Have a great one, y’all!
Lorri says May 23, 2012 at 9:22 am Love this post! I just can’t get enough of the spraypaint makeover. Your lamps look absolutely terrific – Reply