Guys, I think I need to break the ice and just put it out there that I haven’t written in a really, really, really long time. I can see virtual cobwebs hanging all over. Like the gross, dusty kind which you don’t even want to sweep cause it would just get even messier. Well, the thing is, my little bloggity blog needs a whole lot of TLC and I’ve been a bad mama these past few weeks :( I could give myself a whole list of excuses like – oh we were moving and oh I was setting up the new place, and oh there’s a lot of other stuff going on in my life right now, blah dee blippity doo – but at the end of the day- they’re all just validation for my own laziness.
So here I am, all pumped up, with lots of new and exciting stuff to share!
It’s been almost two weeks since we moved to our new apartment and I’ve really taken my time to get used to it. It’s just the change that threw me off for a minute and I had to really work on myself to start living and loving the new space.
Last week, my buddy (who I’m attached to the hip with) Marzia and I spent a rainy afternoon armed with gold spray paint and a will to save the world from bad design. Okay, so we were really just spray painting our lamps we got from IKEA and turning them into these gorgeous gold beauties. Now I had already warned Marzia that if you leave me with a can of spray paint, if you make that mistake, you will literally have to hide things from me to keep me from spraying them. Promise. It’s a problem I was diagnosed with in my late teens. Especially if it’s gold spray paint we’re talking about. So here we are with gold spray paint and the objective of painting two lamps. Pfft! Two lamps? Of course I didn’t stop there!
Two lamps, a glass bottle, and.. a chair later, when my spray paint can was all emptied out, we sat down to admire our little craft babies.
And guys, here’s the verdict – I’m in big, fat, sappy love with our gold spray painted lamps which only cost us $20 at IKEA! They seriously look like they walked out of a West Elm. Betcha can’t beat the price of this knock-off DIY version!
I’ve heard so many people say there’s a technique to spray painting and you have to keep a steady hand and spray evenly – well, here’s my thing –
>> I don’t have a technique, I have fun!
>> I can’t keep a steady hand, the stupid spray button is always too hard for me
>> Last, I don’t think I’ve ever sprayed perfectly even, and I honestly don’t take myself too seriously. Even if it isn’t perfect, I love and enjoy the whole process which is the most important thing. Plus, if it’s *really* terrible (which I doubt it is) you can always go over it :)
So now that we all know how awesome and easy spray painting is, and can totally transform something from drab to glam, let’s jump into what I did with one of my old IKEA lamps.
In a brief lapse of judgment, I picked up this ugly old lamp from IKEA a couple of years ago and so it made a prime candidate for a pretty makeover. And since I’ve been obsessing over Dalmatian spots, I thought what better way to combine my two loves than in this cute little project!
After taping off the cord using painters tape, I took my trusted can of spray paint (used copper by Kryolan for this) and covered the whole thing until opaque. Now here’s the interesting part, I actually sprayed water on the paint while it was still wet, so it would get an aged look! I couldn’t find a spray bottle so I just sprinkled water from a glass.
While the lamp base dried, I worked on the shade. This part was sooo much fun! I took some black fabric paint, thinned it down just a little, and painted on some splotchy spots. When that dried up, I took more paint straight from the tube and made some dry strokes over the watery ones just to give it an interesting mix of marks.
Do you see how simple this Spotted Copper Lamp was?! It literally took me less than half an hour to do the whole project from start to finish! You can do this with any old lamp you have lying around, if you don’t care for spots, make any other fun pattern! Tape off geometric shapes on the base and spray the exposed area to give it another cool look. There’s sooo much to do, you guys! Don’t forget to show me your craft babies when you make them, and tag them as #PenniesforaFortune :)
If you missed this DIY Marble Tray post, check it out here :)
Until next time, folks,
– Fariha ♥
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