First of all...I am sorry everyone for the lag in my posts. Unfortunately night shifts, a busy hospital and my (sometimes) poor time management has gotten in the way. I will do better!
Secondly, I hope everyone is getting out and doing "things". Things to avoid winter blues, which lets be honest, are easy to slip into when it is dark on both your way to and your way home from work. When is is dark and cold all the time, sometimes it can be hard to get motivated.
Last week I was laying in bed, looking around my bedroom and allowing the winter blues to get the best of me. More than two night shifts in a row can lead you down that path you see... You sleep when the world is awake and you work while the world is asleep. That is when I decided my bedroom needed a face lift. A lot of my house could use a face lift, but my bedroom is a mash of stuff and it feels just a little half-assed. In my bedroom, I have these two old lamps that were my grandparents. They bought them after they first got married and they SCREAM the 1960's. These lamps have lived in every home I have had outside of the house I grew up in. Every single apartment- the lamps made an appearance. I love them even though they are dated and frumpy. I like having them in my house and at this point they have migrated their way to my bedroom, living among hand creams and earrings missing their backs on my bedside tables. My room is grey, they are brown....sigh.
When I was on the phone to my mother the other day I mentioned that I was debating trying to resuscitate the lamps. She laughed and suggested I just go buy myself some new lamps that would suit the space. She was right, I could buy new lamps. That would be easy and probably would be more aesthetically pleasing, but that is not what I did...
To preform life saving measures on my old lamps I went to Home Depot and bought a can of spray paint in a colour called "ivory bisque" (off white but not a true ivory). I also bought a high gloss clear finishing spray because I wanted these lamps to shine and to look "modern" (modern is a very loose term here haha). I also went to the fabric store and looked at swatches to cover the shades in. Not finding what I was looking for, I checked out Home Sense and happened upon two lamp shades that were near perfect! Grey, polka-dotted and drum in shape. I layed a tarp on my dining room table and I went to it. After a few quick rounds of good CPR, my lamps ended up costing around $40.00 between paint and shades. Not too shabby and I am happy with the outcome. I got to keep my old lamps and was able to stream line my bedroom. Win -win! Happy reviving all!
-m
. Want to try spray painting a lamp? Here are some basic steps to follow..
- Gather equipment - what you are spraying, your paint, some newspaper or plastic and some painters tape.
- Unplug lamps (obvious?), remove bulbs, shades and knobs.
- With painters tape, cover any place you don't want to spray. Shove plastic or newspaper into the top where the bulb goes to protect it.
- Secure your space with tarps or paper- remember spray paint travels far! Windows are also a bonus for ventilation...that stuff stanks.
- Shake, shake, shake your cans and spray with nozzle a few inches away from lamp. Spray is short bursts to avoid nasty drips. A little sponge brush can be used to smooth those out if they do occur between coats.
- My lamps required three coats (drying between each).
- When you are happy with your coverage and the last coat is very dry to touch, spray with clear gloss spray- otherwise your lamps will have the finish of the spray paint you picked (matte, satin etc. your own preference, I just wanted it to be glossy like glass!).
- Allow to dry and dress up with the shade of your choice. Target and Home Sense usually have decent selections. You can also cover existing shades with fabric for an extremely custom project.
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