Lamp Upcycle

I can't believe I've already been out of school for a week. I wish I had more to show for it. But instead I spent this past week moving and sleeping. So exciting right? No. Because I hate moving. It's just so draining. Not to mention, I'm about one empty toilet paper roll short of being a hoarder. I should really work on that. 

In between my exciting regimen of moving and sleeping, I found the time to redo one of our lamps that the fiance has been using in his apartments since undergrad. Honestly, there was nothing wrong with it. Except for the shiny brass. I never knew how much I hated the brass look, until this lamp. It's just so....shiny. I mean, just look at it. (And while you're at it, go ahead and adore my super awesome Aubie frame that the fiance got me when I graduated from Auburn. There's not much else I love more than Aubie. Except, maybe penguins).

Call me weird, I don't care. It just didn't go well with the rest of the living room decor in our future home. So, I asked him if it could be one of my projects, and much to my surprise, he didn't hesitate to tell me to have at it.

And needless to say, both of us (mainly me) are stoked at how it turned out. He's not real big on the flower I decided to add. Then again, he's not a girl. So I guess I can understand. Today's post is to show you how I did it. Because maybe you have a shiny brass lamp you don't want hanging around anymore. Who knows.

What I used:

A new lamp shade (size small)

Black ribbon

Black felt

 Pearls/beads

Black primer

Black satin spray paint

Scissors

Hot glue gun

How To:

The first thing I did was take off the lamp shade

This lamp had a harp but my new lampshade didn't require one. And I absolutely had no idea you could take it off until my father-in-law-to-be taught the fiance this nifty trick. Basically, you push up the two little pegs at the bottom and pinch in both sides until it comes off. Cool, eh?

And now, you have a regular lamp

I then took off the light bulb and taped the cord so I didn't accidentally spray paint it. And finally, it was time for the fun part. Spray painting! I did one coat of the black primer and then one coat of the black glossy. 

While I let that dry, I got busy on decorating the lampshade.

I also had to look up how to make the type of flower I wanted. I ended up finding my tutorial here and I printed out the template. Next, I traced the shapes onto my black felt with a silver pen and cut them out. I used the second largest template for my bottom petals and then cut one of each of the three smallest templates. After I cut them out, I used hot glue to layer them and used three pearls for my center. I used my black ribbon to add a trim to the top and bottom of my lamp and I just hot glued it down as I wrapped it around. The last things I did were hot glue my finished flower to the front and put the lamp shade on the base.

Funny story: While in the process of cutting my layers, the fiance didn't understand why I was cutting out clovers.  He said it looked like we were going for a morbid Irish theme. Just a word of advice - Don't ask for a male's opinion until the project is complete. They seem to have a hard time visualizing things.

We officially have a brand new lamp and I pretty much love it. And even if he won't admit it, I know the fiance loves it too. :)

Happy weekend!