Hey hey! It was rough getting up on this Monday, not gonna lie. It was a bit of a lazy weekend for us since my son came down with a stomach bug on Saturday. By that evening he was much better, but nothing got done around here, that’s for sure. Yesterday I caught up with some cleaning and did get a small, quick DIY project completed.
I don’t shop Goodwill like I used to for so many reasons – the biggies being that I was filling my house with STUFF that I couldn’t pass up (it would be gone if I left it!) and I was tired of that. Also, as I mentioned here, the prices there have been a lot higher over the past couple of years. I think it’s in response to blogs and power of what I’m going to show you today. ;) But anyway, I used to stop in once or twice a week. Now it’s once or twice every few months.
Last week I found a few treasures, including a pair of matching brass lamps for $10 each. I know some of you hate when I paint this shiny brass, but…I don’t like shiny brass. :) I do appreciate an antiqued brass and smaller brass pieces are some of my favorite finds. But this I do not love, so I cover it! Most of the time they aren’t in great shape anyway, especially these:
The finish was badly crackled on both lamps, but I was hoping I could cover that up.
I started with one lamp to see if it worked so I could return the other one if not. :) I cleaned them well and then used a few coats of this primer and a couple coats of the glossy white:
I was nervous at first and was pretty sure this was going to be a fail, because the crackle texture showed through immediately. But I kept on, hoping that my beloved spray paint would save the day yet again. And it did. :)
Why do I doubt you my love?:
The few coats of primer really started to fill in the crackle and by the time I was done I could barely see it. If you look up close there’s a slight texture in some spots but nothing like how it started:
I was actually quite impressed and a little surprised that it actually worked. :) I went ahead with the other one and placed them on the front foyer dresser:
I haven’t done much with it yet other than to put the tray and a few things there, but honestly, that’s how it will stay for some time. ;) Accessorizing usually takes me forever to get just right and the older I get, the less stuff I like around.
Simple is pretty to me:
Here’s a pic of this dresser at Christmas after I painted it admiralty blue:
You can see that my need for symmetry won out again. I’m not kidding, it’s very hard for me to not have two lamps on a dresser. It makes me a little anxious. :)
This feels and looks SO much better to me:
Now I’m on the hunt for two more lamp shades just like these. The ones I have on there are from the family room table:
See?? Two lamps. Ah yes.
I LOVE them on these lamps so I am hoping to find two more just like them. Which I’m finding is nearly impossible. (I’ve already looked two places.) For now I’ll leave them on there since they are the first thing you see when you walk in our house:
I have hated our tile foyer basically since the day we moved in. Our designer during the build process suggested these tiles because of the gray in them, but they have looked 100 percent purple to me since day one. :)
I’m excited that they are finally going, hopefully in May. Can’t WAIT to start tearing them out! It’s going to look so much better when I’m done. Just gotta wait for the budget to allow it. Dang.
Anyway, for now I am soothed by the sweet symmetry of the matching lamps:
Here’s another before and after to show you the power of spray paint, yet again:
Do I need to keep reminding you? Don’t worry, I will. :)
There you go! Quick (it took me about 20 minutes start to finish) and cheap ($20 plus lamp shades eventually). Can’t beat it! Do you crave symmetry like I do? I try hard to fight it (and usually love when I’m able to) but this I like this table so much more this way.