DIY Lamp Makeover!

Saturday morning, I picked up this gem of a lamp at the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore  for a mere $10.

It's not exactly... modern.  Yes, that's orange glass.  The good news is, only place to go is up, right?

So how did we get here?

Materials:
Lovely Lovely Lamp 
Spray Paint (I chose Krylon Gloss White)
Fabric
Ribbon

Tools:
Iron
Hot Glue Gun

Step One: I started off by feeling slightly remorseful about painting over the colored glass, because it was fairly nice.  But then I thought, hey, this was $10 and from the condition it was in, it was clearly being stored in someone's garage before it came to the ReStore, so I made my peace with it.  I really appreciated everyone who supported me through that difficult time.

Step Two: Spray paint.  Eat delicious salad of CSA lettuce, bleu cheese, walnuts, and craisins. Yum.  And paint.  Eat Ben and Jerry's Frozen Greek Yogurt.  Yum.  And paint.  It took me 4 coats, with a bit of craft paint touch up.  For you, I will only post the final coat picture.  I am really impatient and like to shortcut so I didn't prime it.  It probably would take less coats if you primed first.  But then that's a whole other step.  Yikes. 

 Step Three: Shade time!  It could be argued that you could work on the shade in between coats of spray paint, and while that is technically true, eating the frozen yogurt is a very integral part of the process and you have to allow time for that.  Also, if you fully coat then work on the shade, it gives the spray paint time to dry.  But it's up to you.

 

This is the shade.  It's not special.  It came with the lamp.  First I ironed the fabric, which is weird for me since I hate that part, like to skip steps, and basically everything I make with fabric has big creases in it.  BUT I ironed this.  I really needed to tell everyone that because I'm pretty proud of myself.  Then I used the glue gun, pulling the fabric taut and gluing it to the actual shade.  I didn't take any pictures of that.  Sorry.  Please try to get over it someday. I understand if you need time.

When I was done, it looked like this.

A note about the fabric: It came from Hobby Lobby and was $8.99/yd (don't forget Hobby Lobby has 40% off coupons on their website) and I grabbed the last yard and a quarter.  I have been eying this fabric, because it reminds me of the Blue Willow china pattern.

I am glad to finally have a reason to use it. It took me slightly less than a yard.  I added a teal ribbon, also from Hobby Lobby, for $3.99/4 yards.  As you can probably see from the background in these pictures, teal is a theme in my living room, and adding the ribbon tied the lamp into the room.  I also attached this with hot glue.

THEN, the best part.  I brought in the lamp, I added the shade, I took 1000 pictures, and then I rested on my laurels. 

And no, I can't explain the weird bird collages in the background. I put a bird on it! Just accept it.