If it doesn’t move then paint it! I have already talked about my obsession with painting. Well, I have been a bit stressed out lately with volunteering projects and upcoming birthday parties to plan and money issues (don’t we all have money issues). Anyway, changing something or refreshing an existing item always helps my mood.
I have recently painted my living room. It went from brown to orange. Well, the brown lamps do not match anymore and I have been meaning to change that. What a better way to destress than to paint?!?
Here is the before lamp in action. It is not the best picture of the lamp, but really, who takes pictures with the lamp in mind. This is the new orange ombre paint job. I’m going to eventually have shades of grey in the room (the floor will get painted and I hope to reupholster the furniture), so the brown lamp had to go.
Here is the lamp out in the yard all taped up and ready to be primed. I made sure to wash it really well to get all the dust out of the cracks. I wanted the paint to adhere properly. I just used an empty plastic flower pot to stand it up out of the grass and…
…sprayed away. I did 3 very light coats of primer. If you get too heavy with spray paint then it will drip.
By that evening it had dried enough for me to do the next step. MOD PODGE! I love mod podge! For this project I took an old book that had no value and that we would never read again and I ripped a few pages out. I went to town getting those on the lamp. G happened to hop in the shower when I started and I was able to finish before he got back out. So, don’t let the time hold you back from experimenting with mod podge.
I only did the middle section because I was going to paint the rest of the lamp a nice dark grey color. I let the mod podge set over night to dry and then after I took the boys to school I taped over my work. I didn’t want any paint on this part. I’m sure there was an easier way to cover this part but I had the tape on hand and, well, it worked.
Two light coats of a dark gray glossy spray paint…
a little drizzle, and a mad dash to get the lamp in the house before all my hard work got ruined….
….and I now have an awesome lamp that totally clashes with it’s former lamp shade! I need to get a new one of those still!
Cost of project…$3.44 for the gray spray paint. I had all the other supplies already.
List of supplies to refinish a lamp….
Lamp
Spray Primer
Spray Paint
Painter’s Tape
Old Book
Mod Podge (this comes in all sorts of finishes, I used a high gloss one)
Time to refinish lamp….
Not counting drying time – 1 hour.
Counting drying time – 1.5 days
I will watch garage sales this spring and summer to find a nice white lamp shade that needs a new home.
And a gratuitous aren’t my kids/weeping cherry tree, beautiful, picture!
