Lighting the way

With all my sewing goodies trapped in the container somewhere across town, my Mom and I decided to entertain ourselves and embrace my temporary unemployment, by hitting up a few thrift shops...

Until H and I buy our own house I'm trying to limit the amount of additional furniture I buy... but sometimes I can't resist a good deal. At 3 meters long, our art deco buffet is a whole lotta furniture, but probably one of my favourite pieces of furniture. To break up all the wood I've been dreaming of finding a funky pair of lamps to add much needed mood lighting, and a little height.

So, imagine my delight in tracking down these bad boys at our local Salvation Army thrift shop or as it's known locally, the Sally Ann (the Canadian version of Goodwill).

Since we couldn't bring most of our electrical goods due to differences in voltage, I figured I could justify the purchase. So yeah, they are big, heavy, and brassy table lamps... well 2 tone actually... so why the love?

Yup, you read that right $7.99 a piece. With new lamps costing over $200 for a pair, I figured that for 16 bucks and some spray paint I could customize them to be something spectacular for our buffet at a fraction of the price. H liked them as they were (um... yeah, no comment!), but leaving them as is would be no fun, and they were pretty scuffed up, so today I moved along with my original plan.

After picking up some metal primer and spray paint (Krylon's Ocean Breeze), I assembled the rest of the tools I'd need- painters tape, white vinegar, a rag, newspapers, and Twizzlers... okay that last one is optional!

After wiping the lamp bases down with a 50:50 mixture of white vinegar and water, taping carefully around the base of the harp and end of the lamp cord, to get a clean line after painting and finally covering the harp with more tape and newspaper, I was ready to go.

After a few thin coats of primer and they already look miles better.

Kinda like the fab floor lamp at the boutique hotel we stayed at the night of our wedding, Hmmmm.

photo credit

So now the dilemma is.... ocean blue or gloss white.... ocean blue... gloss white....