I wasn't sure Lamp Week was really doing it for y'all, but thanks to a comment on Lamp Camp, below, I've come back from two sick days off with renewed lamp vigor ....But before I give you another tip on lamp hardware, here are some easy things you can do to spruce up your lamps at home ....
Hang things from 'em: necklaces, chandelier crystals, or in this case, a plastic bauble (that's hanging from a cheap necklace chain wound around the harp of the lamp).
Paint 'em: This buffet lamp was a boring brassy brown. When I went through a silver spray paint phase a few years ago, many accessories and pieces of furniture in my pad were on the receiving end of my spray can.
Over time the look actually becomes nicer, more distressed, as the paint wears off.
Put stuff on 'em: This was the lamp a former love went back to get for me in the thrift shop, only to discover someone else had bought it. He had a feeling one of his thrifting pals in the 'hood bought it, so he went to his house and rescued it from that man's closet for little 'ole me (see Dumpster Love post).
It's a funny little wrought iron lamp with a cut out rectangle where something once must have fit in. I still can't find a box to fit it, so here I put on old copy of "Paradise Lost" on top.
Get handy: Yes, I'm not at all handy: this was my ONE handy project and I will never do it again. I found this Pottery Barn chandelier at a garage sale for $5 - it still had the tag on it and I can see why, as there was no cord or anything, just the shell.What was I going to do with this? I went to a hardware store and bought some gold chain electrical cord (and because the lamp hardware was pewter) a can of pewter paint. I spray painted that damn wire and had the whole thing dry on my fire escape at the time. When it was done it actually looked ok, but never again ....
The gift of light: my garage sale pal Matthew gave this to me as he knew I loved it. Still trying to find a lampshade for him (the lamp, silly, not Matthew!) - a black wig or a top hat one would look way cool, but it could be hard to find something like that (unless I somehow fashion an old hat into a shade?).Any thoughts for a shade that will work on this? The lamp isn't that tall, only 8 inches to the top of the head and there's no harp hardware on it.
One last lamp hardware tip: if you have a lampshade like this and want to put it on a lamp with a harp, no fear, you can do it so long as you have one of these disc things I found with one of the thrift lamps I bought recently.
Simply put the disc on top of the harp, where the finial screws into, and voila!
0 comments:
Post a Comment