A couple weekends ago, I went thrifting for a table lamp. Since I had no idea what I was going to do with it and also since I had no idea how my attempt would turn out, I bought one lamp with a clear cord and a shade already attached {instead of buying two lamps with various degrees of inspiration and intimidation}.
{Sorry, I didn't take a "before" picture. Lame, I know.} The original color was kind of an Eeyore-blue... aka depressing. Also, it went with nothing already in my living room, so paint was in order. The shade was an off-white; again, not my fave. So I knew that this was a total makeover.
The mirror on my mantle is painted "geranium" from Martha Stewart's collection, and I decided that the base of the lamp should match the mirror. Unfortunately, Martha likes to keep things moving through her collection, so geranium was no longer an option. Fortunately, I have a dedicated crafting friend in Julie, and together we searched through the clearance bucket and found something close: poppy. I figured they are both orange-ish flowers and close enough.
Julie and I turned on the movie "Austenland" {which was pretty cute and funny - a good choice for crafting} and she started knitting and I started with the lamp shade. I had purchased some scrapbook paper and began to glue the paper onto the shade. I finished before the movie did, so it didn't take too long. The pieces of paper were each $0.56 and I used four pieces.
When the movie was over, Julie and I grabbed paintbrushes and sponges and let the poppy loose. It didn't go very far. We painted one coat that night, then I painted three more coats on Saturday, and then Monday saw the fifth coat. FINALLY it looked good!
Above and below are Saturday morning, after the second coat. Still see-through!
Here's the paint I used:
I figured if it didn't work, I only paid $0.79 for it, so no biggie.
All done!
Close-up of the shade
Ta-da! I have another table, so stay tuned for potentially another lamp makeover. $10.00 for the lamp + $0.79 for the paint + $2.24 = a new lamp for less than $15!