Unconventional Artwork

I had big plans for the shades of these two lamps.  I executed and they looked awesome…only, that was all in my head.  What actually happened is another story.

It all goes back to the curtains I whipped up for the girl’s room.

After shortening the ones I made for the window, I had a foot of so of extra fabric.  My thought was to grab some pastel pink spray paint, paint the leftover fabric, and then reupholster the not-so-perfect lamp shades, thereby putting that pattern to good use elsewhere in the room.  Out to my good ‘ole spray painting plywood I went: (Yes, the fabric was too close to the edge of the board and I knew in advance the ground would get tainted pink but lucky for me our lawn needed to be raked real bad so up with the leaves meant up with the spray paint.)

On a side note, how cool is the pattern left behind?  I’m envisioning it on dresser drawers or maybe a rug?

So, I painted, it dried, I came in, and… …not what I wanted.  For who knows what reason (maybe one too many coats?) the ‘pink’ spray paint turned out ‘peach’ and too matchy-matchy with the curtains.  It definitely didn’t look bad; I was just going for a difference in color.  So I sadly put away the now peach fabric remnants for later use.

After a little brainstorming, I came up with another, very temporary idea until I can find some fabric I like to reupholster the shades.  I drew on the shades with crayon.  Yup, pink crayon.  Putting my second grade skills into good use folks.  Here’s what I used (mind you, it was what I had on hand, a.k.a. FREE): Little Seraphia was bound and determined not to miss the action during naptime and Mommy was bound and determined to spice up these shades and not deal with a crying baby hence, my audience.  :)

First I penciled some tiny, equally distant marks around the entire base of the shade. 

Then, using the ever-so-handy tray of the bumbo seat for it’s nice curves, I traced a curved line from one pencil mark to the opposite side of the shade.  (And added to my spectators as Cecilia decided she’d had enough sleep.)

All the way around and now I had this going on:

To create a geometric vibe, I did the same thing again only backwards, causing my curved lines to overlap:

Done:

And done:

Like I mentioned above, I’m still going to reupholster these shades because they’ve got a few little dents and scratches that a nice layer of fabric will hide but at least they have a little bit of flair while I hunt down some perfect (and cheap) fabric! 

Anybody else drawn on lamp shades or other unconventional mediums lately?  It feels quite adventurous and a little bit rebellious, don’t you think?

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P.S.  I know I owe y’all an updated picture of the nursery and I promise I’ll getcha some…next week maybe?  Stay tuned.

P.P.S.  In the mood for a party?  I am!  Linking up with fellow DIYers over at Watch Out, Martha!

(Very) Amateur Electrician

Among the many hats I’ve topped off with has been a little title called “Electrician”, only recently though as I’ve taken to fixing/restoring a couple of lamps:

I found these two at a local Goodwill about a year ago for $6 each, just waiting for someone to come fix their sad state of paint peelage:

The only problem was that the paint was inside the glass bases and never have I ever messed with electrical stuff but where there’s a will there’s a way and I wanted two sleek, glass lamps so two sleek, glass lamps I was going to try to get.

So first I googled “How to fix a lamp” and came up with some helpful websites (of which I can’t remember to clue you in on in case you’re as crazy as me) and I came out with the basic gist of how a lamp was put together.  So, with my limited, newly found knowledge, I got to work.

My initial strategy was to take a picture of every single piece as it came off showing where it went so that I’d have a detailed reference to look back when putting the lamp back together.  The first lamp was a little bit of a learning experience and much more of a complicated process (due to my lack of know-how) than the second.   Long story short, I mistakenly removed the electrical wire from the long, metal tube and it involved much frustration and eventually Anthony, lots of olive oil, a wire hanger, and a mess to get it back inside. 

 

Once I got the glass base free, I scrubbed the paint out of the inside and referred back to my pictures to put the lamp back together (after the whole wire-in-the-tube-with-olive-oil-and-Anthony thing).

One lamp down, one to go. 

I’m not sure if it was the frustration with the first lamp, pregnancy, or just getting plain side-tracked, but several months and a set of twins later, I finally got to the second lamp.  This time Smarty put on her pants and kept the wire and tubing intact.  Also to make things easier I nixed the camera idea and laid out each piece in consecutive order as I removed it:

Glass base off and scrubbed out, lamp put back together and now we’ve got two of these chillin’ in the still-unfinished-but-getting-there nursery: 

The shades are another story for another day this week!  Hope to see you then!

Have a great weekend!

Shade-y Business

I wish I had progress to write about and show regarding the master bathroom mini-makeover, or even the loveseat this week, but alas, the only thing we've accomplished in the bathroom this week is ripping off the backslash and the loveseat is just chillaxin' half covered in foam.  So, we explore the tangent of a project I've been meaning to take on for a few months now but just managed to squeeze in this week.  It regards lamp shades.  Last year I scored some off-white, satin-covered, drum lamp shades for like four bucks each at a local discount store.  They were a teensy bit banged up (hence the low, low price) but nothing that a little bit of fabric and a glue gun couldn't hide...even though the 'hiding' happened several months later.  But anyway, on to the good stuff.  I decided to recover them with burlap, white burlap.  Only I found out that the 'white' burlap I ordered from JoAnn's isn't really 'white', it's more ivory.  I took it home anyway, brainstorming on how to make it white.  First, I tried soaking a small piece in pure bleach.  Fail.  It actually changed to a more tan color.  (I know, I'm as confused as you.)  Then I tried soaking another small piece in a bleach and water mix.  Fail.  No change.  I had one last option...spray paint.  Semi-fail.  My burlap turned 1/10000000 of a degree lighter.  So, I threw white to the wind and just worked with what I had.  

First, I cut out my pieces by wrapping the entire chunk of burlap around one shade, making sure it was fitted tightly around.

I then secured my tight fit with some clips and cut around the shade, leaving an inch of extra fabric around the top and bottom.

       (I really could've used another hand for this project when it came to picture taking.)

For the second shade cover, I just used my first cover as a pattern and cut away.  Behold my two pieces:

Know that they don't have to be perfect.  All excess fabric will be cut off at the end, leaving a perfectly fitted fabric cover.

Next, starting with the seam, I glued one side down.  (Side Note:  The burlap I bought had a great finished seam along the ends so I made sure my top seam was made with that pre-finished end, making the bottom seam an unfinished end that would be covered up.  You also need to make sure that your seam is straight up and down.  Before gluing, I made sure the pre-finished top seam was straight and then cut my bottom unfinished seam to be straight.  Comprehendo?  I hope so.)

Then I wrapped the rest of the fabric around, made sure it was tight, and glued the other seam down.  I might also mention that I glued my new fabric seam right over the existing seam of the shade just to keep things cool. 

On I moved to the inside of the shade where I began gluing down fabric by squeezing a line of glue into the crevice there and using the tops of my fingers to press the fabric into place,  holding them there until it dried and the fabric was firmly attached.  I worked in three inch sections so that I had enough time to glue, put the glue gun down, and hold fabric.  Had I tried to work in larger sections, it would've been hard to get the fabric down before the glue cooled and dried, leaving me with no stickage.

Little by little, I made my way around...

...until I had one side done and moved on to the next.

When I ran into a hardware rod, I cut the fabric so as to fit around the rod like so:

It was lookin' good, but my fingers, not so good:

 

After I was done gluing, I simply cut off the extra fabric inside the shade.  It still looked a little unkempt for my taste though so I think (another day, another post maybe?) I'll get some thin ribbon to cover the inside ends of the shade but for now, they're livable.  :)

One shade down, one to go.  See the difference? 

They're not much of a change in color, but they definitely scored points in the texture area.  And who knows, some applique or some sort of border might be in these shade's futures.  Who knows what I'll think of next?  :)

For now though, I'm happy with what I've got.

Total Cost:  Around $12.  ($10 for the shades and $2 for a little over half a yard of 'white' burlap (purchased with a coupon at JoAnn's)).  Not bad considering these...

 burlap shades from Pottery Barn will run you back at least $29 (the shades that are the same size as mine - large - are $59 each...ouch!)  Now THAT'S some shade-y business if you ask me!  :)

Anyway, I've got two new, long-awaited shades after completing a pretty simple project that didn't require a ton of time or energy.  The best part about this project is that you can use any fabric you want - bold, patterned, solid, textured - add appliques, ribbon, fabric flowers, or whatever lights your lamp to get a bright impact.  Haha...pun intended. 

Anyone else taken up the task of switching up a lamp shade or two?  I'd love to see them!  I have a little bit of a lamp obsession (just ask Anthony)...you can check it out by clicking on my lamps label under Hot Topics up there on there right.  :)

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So that's all folks!  I hope everyone has a great weekend!  If you're in the mood for some make-believe, a tid bit of diy, a super cute baby, and a few laughs, head on over to my sister's blog - www.patrickandfarrah.com

I Went On A Lampage - Part II

So you saw the lamps I found and I told the story of the green one turned white, but here's the story of the brass ones turned...green!  This is also the beginning of the story of the guest bedroom mini-makeover...just to keep things real.  :)



First, I taped, taped some more, covered the bulb sockets with plastic, and then primed.  A few nice and thin coats did the job.

Next came the green - Krylon's Ivy Leaf in a gloss finish.  After about five thin coats of green paint, I topped both lamps off with a couple of coats of glossy, clear acrylic spray paint (also by Krylon) for extra protection.

Before I show the afters, we must pan over to the shades.  I found two medium sized drum shades (Target brand) at a local discount store - one for $5 and one another day for $2.  On both shades, the tape holding the actual drum to the wire shade was coming off in places, hence why their present home had become a discount store, but it was an easy fix with a little fabric glue.  To add some more pizazz to the shades, I sought and found matching green ribbon to adorn them.  Again popping out the fabric glue, I glued one end of my cut ribbon to my shade (right over the shade's vertical seam), waited about 10 minutes, pulled the rest of the ribbon tightly around the shade, and then glued on the other end.  I "ribboned" both the top and bottom edges of the shade.

I glued the ribbon about a half-inch from the edge just out of personal preference, but aligning it right along the edge would also quite 'edgy', if you know what I mean.  :)

Total Investment:
2 Brass Lamps:  $6
2 Drum Shades:  $7
Green Ribbon: 50 cents
Fabric Glue:  already had
= $13.50 for two snazzy lamps perfect for our guestroom
Not bad considering this similar-looking lamp from Target will run you back $19.99 plus tax.  (I know, I'm really cheap.  Twenty bucks for a lamp is bordering expensive to me/us...)

           Lights on:                                                                                    Lights off:

Now that I've spilled the deets on my lampage, next up is the rest of the guestroom makeover starting with more pillows...I told you, I'm addicted to making them.  :) 

I Went On A Lampage

Quite literally...and this is only about half of it.  I found these three lamps at two different thrift stores.

The brass ones were $3 and some cents each and the green one was $6.  The story of the brass ones I'll tell later, but here's what I did with the green one (minus progress pictures...sorry).

First, after wiping it down, I taped off all parts that wouldn't mix well with spray paint, namely, the nickel part at the top, the entire socket, and the cord.  Then came the fun part, the spray paint.  You might be surprised to find out I spray painted it in the first place because it doesn't look that ugly.  Well, the truth is that it really wasn't ugly but I had glossy white on the brain and just had to paint it.  :)   

Here it is today:

I had to persuade Anthony to place it atop "his" dresser to add dimension, filling up wall space we haven't yet filled with picture frames...someday.

Read about other two lamps next week...and our guest room's minor makeover for that matter!  As for me, I'm in the middle of spring cleaning our kitchen - organizing cupboards, shining up stainless steel, washing the window, etc...whistling while I work!