Lamp Makeover! And Being Melissa!

You’re either going to love me or hate me by the end of this post.  I’m finally showing you, my patient readers, the answer to the age-old question:  Why does it take Melissa so long to finish projects?

I needed a lamp for my shabby chic room, so I was looking for something unique, something that I could fix up and remake because I’m cheap.  I found this at a local thrift store:

It was huge, sponge painted (!) and had the ugliest shade known to man topping it off.  Here’s a close up of the sponge painting:

But, I really like the feather details on this lamp, so I was sure with a new shade and a coat of white paint and a little distressing this baby would be a real showpiece.  Or at least something that doesn’t hurt your eyes when you look at it.  So, I bought it for $7.50 and brought it home, filled with hope and dreams and rainbows.

I started with a little spray painting.  I painted it with a flat white paint.  I couldn’t find my painter’s tape, so I used Ziploc bags and Scotch tape to cover the parts I didn’t want to paint.  That’s called being resourceful.  Or being disorganized.

I was already liking the change.  Emerald looked on with skepticism:

After my paint had a chance to dry a little bit, I got out my trusty sandpaper to distress it.  I liked the way the distressing brought out the pattern of the feathers a little more, since they are my favorite thing about the lamp.

After the base was finished, it was time to get creative with a lampshade.  I absolutely hated the 80s one that came with the lamp, so I bought one at WalMart for $14 that I thought I could dress up.

In true Melissa fashion, I was too, shall we say, frugal, to buy any trim or fabric to dress this baby up with.  I was planning to search my house and find something that I could use.  I do have a small fabric stash, and I thought I could whip something up that I would love.

Just as I was beginning to realize that I had nothing except magic markers and some of the kids’ stickers to use on this thing, I remembered some pillowcases I had just bought for $1 apiece that had some really wide, really pretty lace on them.  I pulled one out, got out my handy dandy seam ripper, and proceeded to rob the pillowcase of its pretty trim.

I used fabric glue to attach the lace to the lampshade.  It was quick and easy, and this was the end result:

And that is the end of my lamp makeover.  TOTALLY KIDDING!  Man, you must’ve really been worried about my taste level there.  Actually, I thought what I had created was almost as ugly as the original, only maybe worse because you can tell someone really went out of their way to make it look like this. SO…

I went back to the original lampshade.  Yep, still ugly.  So, having no idea what in heaven’s name I was going to do with it, I started ripping it up to create yet another blank slate.  Since I did so well with that last time.

I started thinking about the Mod Podge I had in a drawer somewhere, and I decided to look around the house for old books or something that had old looking pages to mod podge onto my lampshade.  I ran across a really cool old magazine that Chad’s sister gave him.  Look away now if you are opposed to antique paper items being torn to shreds for the sake of a possibly disastrous lamp makeover:

I had so much fun deciding what to put where!  There were so many great pictures and stories in this magazine.  Probably my favorite headline is:  “Who Says Women Can’t Write Songs?”  The magazine is from 1934.  Don’t hate me!

I was pretty pumped about the finished shade:

So, I felt really happy about my lampshade.  I’m a big believer in decorating with what you love.  Even if you’re pretty sure everyone else will think it’s weird, use what will make you smile.  You’ll enjoy living in your house a lot more!  This lamp is going to make me smile a lot!

I put the shade back on the feather-themed base, expecting a chorus of angels to affirm that I had accomplished the most clever makeover ever, but I just didn’t like it.  The base was too white and too big.  I even tied a piece of frayed fabric on it to try and make myself like it better.

So, I decided to try my awesome new shade on a lamp I already had in another room.  And, here is the finished, final, yes this is really it, lamp:

So, this has really been the story of how I bought a lamp for $7.50 and a lampshade for $14 after which I used a lamp I already had and remade a shade I could’ve gotten for free at any garage sale.  So goes it in the world of decorating with Melissa.  And now you know how it feels, as I’m sure you wish you had the past 5 minutes of your life back.  Thanks for reading!  And, if you hate something in your house, throw it out!  Your house should make you smile.  That’s my PSA of the day.

(Innocent pillowcases and antique magazines were definitely harmed during the making of this lamp.)