Friday, November 11, 2011

Whew!

I haven't been able to keep up with posts like I want to the last week or two. The morning (or rather, all day) sickness is really kicking my butt! It's amazing how it can suck the inspiration right out of you! But I'm going to try to do some posts about a few small projects I've done in the last couple months that I never got around to sharing, and I'm still planning to do some My DIY Christmas posts!

I shared awhile back about the lamp in my living room that I hate. Well, here's another lamp redo that I think turned out quite a bit better! Hubby and I have actually been working on the nursery for some time, and I've been planning it for even longer :) I have a cute little table that I'm going to use beside a chair in there and I knew I wanted a cute little, tiny lamp that was fun, but not baby-ish. I'm not doing a lot of baby-ish in this nursery. No little Winnie the Poohs or cute cartoony jungle animals. That's just not us. And I want it to be able to function pretty well past the baby stage as is.

Anyway! I was looking for this cute little lamp to put in there, and low and behold, my mother-in-law just happened to have a tiny touch lamp that she wanted to get rid of! Now, I'm not generally a fan of this style, but I thought I could paint the base and maybe find a new shade with some interest to it.



Why didn't I take a before shot with the whole lamp? No idea. This was probably three months ago, and I just don't know what was running through my head at the moment! But you'll see it in the after shots.

So I took the lamp, measured to see how big of a shade I needed, and went to the store......to find that you can't find a shade that attaches at the top in the size I needed, which I believe was chandelier size. And the way this lamp is made, there's no converting it. So, after much frustration, I came to the conclusion that I had to work with the shade that came with it. Lovely little bird pattern and all.

So I dug out my old buddy, spray paint. Ah, the wonders it can work. At first, I wasn't sure what to do with the glass panels in the shade. I wasn't sure they'd paint well. But I gave it a try, and they actually did great!



There's that pretty base! I love the shape of it and how awesome it looks painted a bright color! I'm not sure about the glass panels. They might be too white and plain. I was thinking I could tape them off and paint some stripes or chevrons or something, if I don't like it once I get it in the room.


I also love that pretty, scrolly finial. I think it looks so antique.

So there's my little nursery lamp redo. I will warn you, in case anyone wants to attempt this, when the light is on, that little bird pattern on the glass pieces does show through a little. I'm not sure if that would be fixed by painting them a darker color or not. Personally, it doesn't bother me at all. And, I'm excited to say, the touch feature still functions just fine through the paint!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

My Best Announcement Yet


That's right, there's a little one coming to Vintage Ellie! And you know what that means.....endless baby and nursery projects :) Don't worry, I've already got some coming before long!