{Tutorial Tuesday} Lamp Revamp

It finally snowed in Bozeman, usually we have two seasons-winter and summer. But somehow this year we got to relish in the beautiful fall weather. Now, that it has finally snowed it means I get to spend more time in the garage working on projects I have been planning all year.

My "large" project for this winter is to finish our master bedroom. It seems like every room in the house is finished, while our bedroom remains a mismatched set of items that never found an actual place in our home.

So begins the adventure!

Last week I bopped into the thrift really quickly to see if there were any treasures I could find. I found an amazing lamp. HOWEVER, when I hauled the sucker back out to my car I thought Hunk was going to have a heart attack. It is a big lamp. A big ugly lamp. I mean a REALLY big ugly lamp. It was love at first sight...the lamp I mean.

The day I got it I knew that it would go great in our bedroom and that it would be just the item to get me motivated to finish our room!

 Isn't it a sweet lamp? And didn't the revamp turn out amazing?

I love the large lamp shape....

and the intricate detail on the base.

 Sooo, after drooling over my amazing new find I got to work. First, I wiped off the shade and base to get rid of any gunk that may have been lingering. I also taped off around the light switch and bulb screw-in so spray paint would get in these places**

Then I primed the base. NOTE: Kilz primer rocks. Any other primer may work too, BUT Kilz is the best and you only need one coat. I use  Kilz Spray Paint...because is a-mazing!

Once the base had dried I then added a nice, sweet layer of yellow spray paint. NOTE 2: I use Krylon Spray paint, it rocks too. BUT, no store had the color I wanted so I went with Golden Maize Valspar Spray Paint.

I love the color, it's not to bright, and it has a soft glow to it.

 While the base dried I went to work on the lampshade. My original vision was to spray paint it white. Well, first I ran out of primer, then the white spray paint looked dingy. When I spray painted over the 70's-tastic ribbon around the top of the lamp it started to clump up. So after multiple trials and errors I finally ripped off the ribbon and just used good ole' paint from a can to cover the shade.  I ended up using Lowe's version of Ralph Lauren Sunwashed Blue.

It is such a soft, but still vibrant  turquoise/blue color.

This is a picture of the color on a wall that I found on the web. I have also used the color on a dresser, pictures frames and now on my lovely thrift store lamp shade...I haven't actually used it for it's intended purpose yet. hmmmm.

So while my two projects dried I sat down and brainstormed how I was going to cover up the hideous marks left from the ribbon that I tore off the top of the shade. I finally decided to cover the top of the lamp shade with a coordinating fabric.

I picked up this amazing Amy Butler fabric from a boutique quilt shop. I have been saving it for months trying to figure out what to do with it...it's great because it is industrial fabric so it is a more durable than quilting fabric, but less think and stiff them upholstry fabric.

 I ended up cutting a five inch wide strip of fabric that fit around the lamp shade. To give it more of a finished look I used Heat n Bond to fold the edges over to create the crisps lines I was wanted.

 Make sure to follow the directions on the Heat n Bond package carefully. When you lay the tape on your fabric always have the "paper" side facing you. When it cools make sure to pull off the paper, you will see that a think layer of sticky junk is still on the fabric...that is what you want, it is kind of like fusible interfacing.

 Once I had finished adhering the Heat n Bond to the fabric I then fold each side of the fabric over and ironed it to create two 1/2 inch folds.

Once both the base and the lampshade had dried I then used an aerosol adhesive to attach the fabric to the shade.

Walah! With a little bit of love, some spray paint and a touch of fabric I took a a $2 lamp from drab to fab!