Adapt And Let Go

I had this old lamp that I didn't like anymore.

It started out as a shiny brass lamp similar to this lamp.

 I got tired of it after about 2 minutes, and spray painted it black.

Something happened when I spray painted it and the paint turned out really rough, like sandpaper. It might have been too cold. But it looked a little like cast iron, and that was kind of cool, so I left it. And grew tired of after about 5 minutes. 

 I've been coveting this lamp

from Pottery Barn.

But the $100 price tag seemed a little, well, silly to me. It's a nice lamp, and I wanted it, but I wanted $100 in my pocket more.

I thought maybe I could fake it.

So I used this to cover the lamp.

I mixed up a thin batch, and used an old brush to spread the plaster all over the lamp.

I gave it several coats, then sanded it all smooth when it was dry.

Then I gave it a coat of some darker taupe paint that we had in the garage from some project that I don't even remember anymore.

Then I sanded it again because I didn't do a good enough job the first time, and painted it with the taupe paint again. (Just keeping it honest.)

I wasn't sure how I'd achieve the really worn and chipped parts of the inspiration lamp. 

 That's what makes the whole lamp, in my opinion. I did a search, and found that
 there are kits out there you can use (I saw that Michelle at Sweet Something Designs used one) but I was almost 100% certain I couldn't find them where I live, and I didn't want to order something online and then wait a week for it to show up. 

(I'm all about instant gratification, people!)

So I pulled out the Elmer's school glue and applied a light layer in the spots I wanted to age.

(You can get some pretty extreme crackle with glue. If you want really big crackle, use a lot and don't let it dry very much.)

When the glue was tacky but not all that wet, I went over the whole lamp with some off white craft paint, being careful to only brush over the glue spots once. If you brush over it a bunch of times it won't work.

I don't have any pictures of that step or the next few because I had become convinced at this point that this makeover was destined for the landfill and gave up on the documentation process.

But once the crackle started to show up, and before the glue was really dry, I took a toothpick and lifted out some of the larger spots of the crackled paint in the middle of each spot. 

And got this.

 

It's not the same, but I liked it OK.

Then I dabbed on some brown glaze and wiped it off in spots.

I found a lampshade I liked at Walmart. I was looking for a lighter one, but they didn't have one. Of course.

(One thing you learn when you live in a place that very few places to shop is to adapt and let go of your shopping expectations. So I adapted and let go of my expectation of having an ivory colored linen-like shade.) 

 I'm glad I got the darker color. It matches the dark spots on the lamp almost exactly.

The only money I spent on this was for the lampshade. So about $15. I had everything else on hand. 

I might get tired of after another 5 minutes, but that's OK. Maybe I'll find another one I like better between now and then.

Thanks for reading!