Archives for "DIY"

So I completed my first DIY project since last summer, when I re-did my dining room chairs. They used to be an ugly grey blue with some blue-pink plaid upholstery, and I re-did them to make them look a bit more modern, though a temporary fix.
My second DIY attempt happened on this past rainy Friday afternoon. I got out of work early and decided to head to the local Salvation Army to see if I could procure an ugly lamp for cheap. I managed to get an interesting, though ugly gold lamp for about 17 dollars, then headed across the street to the conveniently located Home Depot for some paint and polyurethane.

It did have an interesting tarnished finish on it, probably from years of use, but I decided that I wanted a modern color on it, instead opting for a robin’s egg blue mixed with a bit of turquoise. To start, I cleaned off the lamp of all dust and debris and tape off the top and the cord.

Afterwards I set up my workstation out on my balcony. I had a drop cloth from a previously attempted project and just laid it out and taped it up on the balcony rail to prevent too much wind from blowing paint around. I also made the mistake of doing this project with a storm system going through our area. Luckily, my balcony is covered pretty well and though the humidity was high, my project area stayed dry.

After setting up I sprayed the first layer of paint on and let it dry about 20 minutes. Now I have to admit, I’m impatient with spray paint. I like to see the color covering the surface completely after the first coat. So naturally, I kept spraying, and I did have a small area that dripped and bubbled. Luckily, it’s towards the back of the lamp, so you can’t see it too bad. Lesson learned: Take your time.

And one more lesson learned before I show the final product…

Don’t wear your nice, every day sandals while painting. Believe it or not, the paint does in fact spray everywhere. *sigh* Any way, for the final product, I had a lamp shade that I had picked up at Target for about 29.99$, but was using it on another lamp base. I decided that I need to find a different shade for that lamp, and am using the shade on the new lamp. After some drying time, though not nearly enough (it was raining, so the lamp had to come inside), I placed it in the corner where I thought it would work nicely. Tada!

Personally I think the pale aqua and crisp linen shade work wonderfully with the green walls I have in my current apartment. It definitely puts a modern twist on an old piece. Here is a break-down of costs:

• Lamp plus original shade (which I did not use) – 17.64
• Paint and polyurethane at Home Depot – 6.78
• Drop cloth and shade were already in my possession – 0

So for a total of 24.42, I completed this project in a few hours on a rainy Friday afternoon.

Do you have any suggestions for me as far as DIY goes?