Kitschy Cool Lamp

Autumn is The Season of the Sale. 

Church sales.  Consignment shop sales. Yard sales.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...to find a deal.

I picked up a classic 70s hanging lamp at a sale a month ago in North White Plains. The Gen Xer running the sale could not have been happier to get rid of it: "It was my father-in-law's...." I bet it was.

He wanted $2, but he smilingly took my $1.

"It works, too," he bragged. "You can just go home and hang it up!"

Um, noooo, but thank you. I had other plans for my very own set item from Three's Company.

First, I stripped out all the electrical parts and put them in a clear gallon baggie (I always lose parts, so the clear bag gives me a fighting chance to find them again), so I could get down to the lamp's skeleton. I envision it in a 1979 Denver condo, don't you?

For a day or two, I contemplated taking a can of gold or white spray paint to the chain to perk it up. After wrecking two spray paint projects in two days, however, I wised up and went to the Home Depot for a white chain and lamp cord set. $14, ugh. At that moment, Mrs. Roper's favorite lamp stopped being a $1 goof project and officially became an "investment."

I used to be a perfectionist. I'd use paint stripper on every project, then sand, then prime, then paint, then sand between coats, then paint again. When I explained my method to the guys who work at Wallauer's, they suggested that I might be in overkill mode.

Now, I do things their way: I give all surfaces to be painted a thorough go-over with 180 grit paper, then clean off ALL the dust. (From the file "I Do It Wrong So You Don't Have To": do not mess with the dust cleaning part, or you will eventually see your pretty paint job magically crumple and lift away from the inner corners of your project.) Anyway, I don't mind not following my old method. I get fewer paint remover burns (Yeee-ouch!) and I get to the fun part, painting, sooner.

Early this summer, a friend asked me to paint some of her furniture a vivid fuchsia. The Wallauer's crew gladly built a custom color for me, using Benjamin Moore paint, but the price was steep: $24 for a quart. My friend didn't like their result, but I did. So I kept the can.

Just warning you: I plan to Pink Out several finds.
I think Betsey Johnson would be pleased!

I was going to take pictures and notes to explain how to attach the electrical cord and chain to the newly pinked-out shade. But, my husband was done by the time I found my phone to take a picture, so, um...next time, ok?

By the way, that light bulb was $4, too. So much for a cheap upcycling thrill.

Grouchiness aside, how's THAT for a girl's room lamp?



And, of course, it's for sale!

Copyright 2013 Tanya Monier