Project: Lamps

Remember these?

Two lamps that were a seriously ugly shade of plood (um, plastic+wood)? Well I sanded them:

Taped them up and spray painted them high gloss black with Krylon’s paint and primer in one. Super smelly but really pretty on. I’m thinking of trying their Cherry Red next… but I digress!

Here are the lamps now:

A close up of the tops (they need touch ups):

And the bases:

I still don’t have shades. I’m leaning towards a textured neutral to balance out the gloss of the bases. This one by Thomas O’Brien for Target caught my eye last weekend:

It’s kinda hard to tell but it looks like linen and has smart looking black piping across the top and bottom. I think the drum shape would look good with the lamp bases, don’t you?

So! That’s one down… many, many, many more to go. I’ll pop up an update when I find the perfect shades. See you tomorrow! Have a great day. 🙂

Guilty Pleasures and Unlikely Inspirations

Today, I was sort of racking my brain for what to post about. Attacking it head on was doing little to get me inspired so I took a mental detour or two… had a cuppa, made myself a bite, watched two movies – Fright Night & Crazy, Stupid Love, cleaned the kitchen top to bottom, started sanding the second lamp… and still nothing.

Halfway through my initial bout of sanding I decided to put on some music that never fails to make me happy, that I can sing along to, and that has one of my favorite “pick me up” tracks on it: N*Sync’s Celebrity.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Before you go making cracks about boys bands and how all the talent in that group just starred in a romcom with Mila Kunis, hear me out. I’m not a 80’s baby, so this wasn’t the group I liked when I was a teen (that would’ve been Duran Duran). This was the group that I mocked and made fun of as a late twentysomething for being too cheesy and commercial for words… Until that ill fated moment when I’d heard The Game Is Over for the umpteenth time on the overhead at Borders Books (hard to escape when you work in the music department) and found myself dancing and singing along to it because it was so catchy. I mean, what is not to love about a break up song with video game noises in it? Wait! Don’t answer that.

Anyway, I loved that song so much that I bought the CD. And I loved the whole thing (except for the too cheesy and commercial for words ballad, Someone Like You, that even I think is gag inducing). But the icing is this little track at the end called Do Your Thing. In it Justin and JC and the boys tell me how “there ain’t no excuse for losing your feet, drowning in your defeat on this road of life”… and they’re right. There is no excuse. Get up, dust yourself off, and get back in the fight. Like I told a friend who was down recently: sometimes we have to get bloodied to gain our victories.

I feel better now. I sang my little heart out. I’m about to spray paint (my new FAVORITE thing to do) and put on some Justin. Timberlake. Not Bieber. Hey, a girl’s got to have her standards, right?

Before & After: Mid-Century Dresser

Steph at Birdhouse did a fabulous DIY on a inexpensive, non-designer mid century modern dresser. She took it from shabby and worn to a blingy, mod superstar. Here’s how it started out:

Before:

And…

After!

I love how she removed the fussy, dated gullwing pulls, went for the currently trés popular two tone look, and gave the front some kerpow with those classy ring pulls. All in all a great DIY makeover by Steph! Check out the post on her blog, Birdhouse,  for a complete breakdown of how she did it… in case you want to try it yourself.

Have a great Saturday!