New Life for a Dreary Old Lamp

In my line of work I deal with the "three Rs".  At home, though, I like to use three other "Rs" - renew, rejuvenate and reuse!  I can spend hours sprucing up my home just by reusing something in a new way, moving something to a new room, or rejuvenating something in some small way to give it new life.  That is what we did recently with this old brass lamp.  Now, don't get me wrong, back in the day, this was an awesome lamp!  I remember clearly the day I bought a pair of these beauties.  I had just been named principal of my first school.  I was so excited and proud and I thought I needed a treat.  I had been eyeing these lamps at a local furniture store.  A day or so later, they were mine.  Fast forward 15 years and I no longer like brass.  Actually, I haven't liked brass in a while so somewhere along the way one of the pair disappeared. There is no telling where it is now - I am sure I probably gave it away.  The other was sitting in the attic.  I tried to sell it at a garage sale, but no takers!  My friend, Lynda, said don't throw it away or sell it.... paint it!  Well, I had no idea you could paint brass (apparently everyone knew this but me!).  

I decided to give it a try, but first I had to figure out where to put it when I finished  my project.  I LOVE lamps so I truly didn't need any more in any room of the house EXCEPT for in Seth's new bedroom.  Seth is 8 so what would look good in his room may not appeal to the masses.  I thought it turned our super for a little boy's baseball bedroom.    

This is the "before" - tired and outdated. 

Cut off pull chains and tape over the light bulb receptacles. 

We decided to use a matte black spray paint.  

Now for the shade:  We tried so hard to find a new shade that would work, but with no luck.  I actually bought two and had to return them.  (If I were doing this for the great room, I had pictured a beautiful square lamp shade with an M for our last name.)  But, as I mentioned before, Seth needed a lamp, the rest of the house did not!  So we kept looking.  Finally, my husband said, let's just buy fabric spray paint and paint it red!  At first I was a little dubious, but the idea grew on me.  After all, it was going to be used in a baseball bedroom. So.... off we went to Michael's.   Soon Jon was painting again.  

 This was a little messy and took three cans of spray paint.  

Hmmmm.... getting there :-)

Jon added baseball pulls since our little fellow is a baseball fanatic! 

Here is the completed project in his new room.  It is just perfect for Seth! For the cost of paint, an old neglected lamp was turned into one of a kind item for our little man! 

Please join in the following parties: 

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays @ http://www.linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/

Potpourri Party @ http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/


Tuesday's Treasures @ http://www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/