Most of the things I took home from my mother's house had great sentiment to me, for various reasons. The value was in the feelings they stirred in me. Exhibit A: the lamp that is sitting on the antique table she had at her bedside. I imagine she read under the light of this lamp for hours.
It was in rough shape. The shade had to be as old as the lamp itself - mid 60's? I don't remember it in our house growing up, so maybe it was Jim's. That shade went into the trash right away - not sorry.
I thought about using it in the front room for this very dark and awkward nook where I always place the Christmas tree. But I hated this shade, too. So I decided to buy it a new shade, and give it a spiffing with spray paint.
The original finish.
The base had a lot of discoloration and damage. Nothing I can't buff up with steel wool before I paint.
For a hot minute I considered a hammered gold finish, but the other lamp in the room is shiny gold. And I wanted a softer gold, so I went with the Behr metallic gold. The part that took the longest was taping off her cord and the socket, then buffing out her finish and giving her a good wipe down. But start to finish, I probably spent an hour on it.
Isn't she so pretty now? I got a matching lampshade to the lamp that was already in this room - $22 at Target. The paint was $10, but I still have most of the can left. And lamps like this cost a pretty penny.
She has really lovely lines - very mid-century modern. In fact, the only thing that doesn't really "go" in this room now is that table. But it stays.
Its still pretty gloomy in here with only one lamp on and grey skies outside. But every time I see this lamp now, it will give me a cozy glow, remembering Mom.
Happy Weekend!
Gina
5 comments:
That is a lovely lamp redo!
Lovely job!!
Love it! Great work Gina. I love when we can rehab something old and make it shine again.
It looks fantastic! It wasn’t until about a half dozen years ago, that I became aware that you can paint lamp bases, although why couldn’t you? I changed the look of an old lamp base by using rubbed bronze spray paint. Once I did that, there was no stopping me, I was spray painting all sorts of things. I completely understand your wanting to hang onto things for sentimental reasons. I have a pair of club chairs in my living room belonged to my mom and dad. My mother has been gone now for a dozen years; three years prior to that she was looking into getting them recovered because the upholstery on the arms had worn through. I can’t tell you how many people have sat in these chairs, or the conversations that I used to have with my dad sitting in one of these chairs. I had intended to recover them when I brought them here, but I couldn’t do it. I feel like I have that part of my mom and dad with me all the time.
What a pretty makeover! Love the new shade and I love the paint. We just used the same Behr brand to makeover a light fixture this weekend. It worked great.
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