Tuesday, January 25, 2011

ANOTHER Lamp!

I had a little 'situation'.  I changed the lamp in my bathroom.  The old one was a small lamp, and it used the same kind of bulb as a night light.  It was just enough light that when you go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, you don't HAVE to turn the big light on.  Perfect - except the lamp base was a couple of snowmen with BLUE accents and the shade was a faded light baby blue.  And my bathroom?  It is NOT blue - well - it isn't blue - but we still have the early 70's blue toilet and tub.  I TOLD you we're in the middle of redoing our house!!   Anywho - - I got a wild hair (actually, I have several - - going GRAY early is very predominant in my family - - and do you know how crazy those hairs are???  WILD AND CRAZY,  hmmm maybe THAT'S why Steve Martin had gray hair at a young age too....) I really didn't need to post all that, did I?  LOL..   OK OK back to my lamp story....

So I put a NEW lamp in my bathroom a couple of weeks ago, and now I have to keep my bathroom doors shut at night or I don't sleep so well.  The lamp takes an appliance bulb.  And the smallest wattage is 40w.  And it doesn't help that the ONLY lamp shade I could find that was a good size for the lamp was WHITE.  Now, I need sunglasses to put on when I get up in the middle of the night.  LOL

I decided to try to darken the shade a bit.  (I didn't take during photos because I just wasn't sure how this wild hair was going to turn out - now I wish I did)

First of all, I covered the shade with some 'Script-y' scrapbook paper.  Since I only had 12" x 12" pieces, I had to piece it.  Next time, I'll be more careful of how wide my seams are, but for now, I'm ok with this.  I learned something.  Learning is good!!  I Mod-Podged the paper to the lamp and put a coat of Mod Podge over the paper.  I painted the inside of the lamp shade dark brown (I need to put another coat on it, but was so excited, I didn't take the time last night.  PLUS - - it was late when the hairs went wild!!).  Next, I rubbed some of the paint on the outside, then wiped it off.  It aged the paper perfectly.  Now to 'finish' the edges.... 

So - I have this 'thing' for twine....  Given the choice of fancy fru-fru ruffly bows or plain twine?  I'll take the twine every time!!  I hot glued twine around the top, and looped it.  I LOVE how that turned out!!  Then I hotglued the twin around the bottom, and made a bow.  I applied my 'W' that I cut out with my cricut (Lord Fontleroy Brown is the font - the same font I used for my other lamps - look here!).

I put the shade back on the lamp and turned it on!  Love it!!





Waddayathink?? 

By the way - pretty sure that's ALL you get to see of my bathroom in it's BEFORE state...  :-)

Have an awesome day!

Hugs ~~ Suz


Posted this at:

The Girl Creative

BCD

13 comments:

  1. Your lampshade is very very cute. I never thought to use scrapbook paper to cover the really ugly one I have in my dining room, but that is such a cute idea I'll have to go to Hobby Lobby later to check out their scrapbook papers. Love the twine bow too.

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  2. I think you are one smart girl. I really like how it turned out!

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  3. Your lamp turned out really cute! I like the paper you chose.
    ~Amanda

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  4. I love it! Adding it to my list of projects I wanna do in the future.

    ~ Robyn

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  5. OMG, I just noticed you have a "wanna do" file too! Made me laugh out loud when I saw that.

    ...great minds. :)

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  6. This is so pretty! I love how it turned out.

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  7. How smart!! I think it turned out great! :)

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  8. I love the lamp and the twine, it looks like my style too! Thanks for your nice comments. I am your newest follower.

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  9. Great job! Love the script! Would love for you to come and visit me at Sew Chatty and link up to Made With Love Monday! http://sewchatty.blogspot.com

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  10. That is awesome - so stinkin' cute! I have to get some cool paper and try that as well! Nice job on your blog - I am enjoying being here!

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  11. I redid a lamp by the way and wondered if you thought that painting the inside of the shade would also prevent the old fabric that was recovered from showing through? This is my current dilemma ... I don't necessarily want to dull the brightness as much as hide the old fabric which when the light is turned on, totally shows through..what do you think?
    Stacey

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  12. Hi, Stacey -



    Thanks for visiting my blog!! I'd love to see pictures of your lamp!!



    I think it would depend on the old fabric..... How much of a contrast is there on the fabric? (is it something bold, like black and white? or is it more subtle, like brown and tan?) I think you would be able to at least tone down the fabric by painting the inside of the shade, but I'm just not sure if you can eliminate it all together. I had a similar dilemma with my first lamps I redid (see my lamp redo - redone). When I redid them the first time, I spray painted the second lamp shade before I wrapped the blue ticking striped fabric around it (I have NO idea what I was thinking.... LOL). When I redid them (again) and wrapped burlap on the shade, well, the spray paint (yep - - for some odd ball reason, I decided to use black.... Not a clue what I was thinking..... LOL) showed up behind the burlap because it's not tighly woven. So before I glued the burlap down, I covered the shade with some old off-white muslin I had. It REALLY helped.

    I think it also depends on the paper or whatever you used on the outside of it. Does the old fabric pattern add to the charm of the new covering you just applied? I wasn't really neat and I didn't make sure every square inch of the inside of the shade was covered. The inside ended up being kind of light in some places and darker in other. When the lamp is on, it makes the script look aged. It's just something to play with.

    I would love to see what you came up with!!

    Hugs ~~ Suz

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