Tuesday, October 16, 2012

From drab to fab...

Pin It     I've wanted some "chunky" lamps for our living room for a while. I loved my turquoise lamps but I thought they were a little two small for the place. Plus I added a new piece of furniture to our living room (more on this later), and the old lamps were just too much.

   So I was looking for something new. But bigger table lamps are so expensive!! I couldn't find anything in our price range. I tried thrift stores (and many of them) and classifieds but it's so hard to find 2 matching lamps I would like.

   Until last week when I found these:


   Aren't they awesome?? They were really dusty and hidden on the very back among other lamp bases and shades in our local DI (thrift store). But they were definitely in my price range. The purple one (it looks brown on the picture but it's actually dark-purple) was $8:



   And the teal one was only $5:


  The second one was a little cheaper because these are glass lamps painted inside, and the paint was damaged (not the actual lamp, just the paint on the inside):


   I didn't really care about it because I already decided to paint them on the outer side. One of the lamps is actually slightly smaller than another but it's not visible at all when they sit on different side tables in our living room.

   So I cleaned them REALLY well with soap and water and then some diluted vinegar. Then I grabbed my new favorite spray paint:


   I got it from Walmart for $3.67. It has such a beautiful hue. Love it! So I spray-painted my bases. Then I used a gift card for Wally that I had for a while and wanted to use for something special. I got shades with it. Well, I actually only had $21 on a card and shades were $15 each. But I believe it's still a great deal! After all the savings I only spent $13.5 per lamp. Here's the finished result:


    And one more before and after:


   Oh, I'm in love! And just for a comparison, a somewhat similar lamp half the size of mine costs $149 HERE. These are my kind of savings!

20 comments:

  1. You have a great eye spotting those gems through the dust!

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  2. Wow that looks great! You're making me want to go to the store and do this.

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  3. Your lamp turned out great!I have not spray painted glass items yet. It is on my list to try!

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  4. Wow.. Those look fabulous! What a great deal too!!! :)

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  5. I love the paint you chose for the lamps.

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  6. Don't you just love it when you can save money like that and do it yourself!
    I am a big believer in spray paint. I've done some pretty i,impressive things with it.

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  7. We just bought a similar lamp at Goodwill in that same blue color for my daughter's new apt. I pinned this one to show her! Love the color!

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  8. What a fantastic find, and such an easy fix. Great job on those!

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  9. I love spray paint :) I had never thought of spray painting my living room lamps until now, I can't stand them(they are that blue of the lamp you purchased). So tomorrow I am off to Lowes to buy a can of spray paint to do the lamps!!!

    Lets hope I remember to put on gloves this time

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  10. Your lamp looks wonderful and such a good find. Well done.
    Carolx

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  11. Lena, you never cease to amaze me with your creative smarts! Awesome deal too !

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  12. The lamps look great!! And what a great deal, you are going to have your home so darn cute by the time your folks arrive

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  13. Wow! Those look amazing! Nathan and I just bought a lamp for our bedroom for $20 - I want a couple more for our living room - I may have to do this! You are awesome!

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  14. You are so creative! I wish I could be like that and see something a different way to fix it up :)

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  15. Those lamps look incredible. I'm a big fan of Krylon as well. Joining from Wow us Wednesday - http://allthoseartsygirls.blogspot.com/

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  16. They look brilliant Lena!

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  17. Those are amazing! Inexpensive lamps are impossible to find, too! Thanks for linking up at Pin It Wednesday! Pinning!

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  18. in my house, and among family and friends, I am known as the "lamp lady"! :) And if you saw my storage room, you'd call me the lamp lady too! So needless to say, I truly enjoyed reading about your "lamp treasure hunt", and seeing the fab makeover! What a great transformation! You wouldn't guess it was the same lamps because the paint completely changed the look. Love it!

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