lamp make-over via spray paint

Remember when I showed you my lamp I scored at the op shop? Sure you remember, here it is. Well, after sitting on our hall table for the longest time in all its forest green glory (I hope you can 'hear' sarcasm in my typing), I decided enough was enough. This little green monster needed some help.

Having never painted anything of the ceramic variety I was a bit lost. According to the most helpful lady at Bunnings I needed to just clean down the lamp, give it a light sand, a wipe with a cloth to get all the dust off and two coats of different types of paint - Dulux Quickdry Undercoat and Dulux Quickdry Vivid White to give it the gloss finish I was after.  There was a cheaper generic brand available but I thought I'd better go with the quality choice. This after all was going to be one luxe lamp. I armed myself with some trusty blue painter's tape also to tape off the top fitting I didn't want to get paint in. 

So on the lawn I went with my cardboard box to contain the spray, my lamp, my sandpaper, my two spray paint cans and my old rag (formally known as Mr M's farmer work jeans). After a quick sand with fine sandpaper and a wipe down a'spraying I did go. Like Sherry says: 'If you are a'sprayin', your arm is a'swayin'!' Amen sister, keep it moving.

I knew the undercoat primer wasn't going to be glossy like how I wanted, and yet I still panicked and thought 'Oh my goodness what have I done, this is going to be a horrible mess with this dull hideous paint job!' I quickly reassured myself (y'know in my head, talking to myself) that this lamp as it was screamed ugly so I really had nothing to lose. Oh and I also quickly realised the lamp needed to stand on top of the box rather than in it in order for me to spray the bottom of the lamp. Genius.

I let the undercoat primer dry for a few hours, in the midst of which some misty rain descended upon Brindabella and I was madly running about with a half painted lamp to get it under the back porch. Crisis averted. Once dry, and thanks to a break in the weather, I went for the top spray coat of the gloss white.

And oo la la! Gloss white lamp at your service. Enter me doing a happy dance with Tessa on the lawn. Ooooh yeah. Straight from the pages of Belle I told Mr M. His reply? 'Belle who?'

One lampshade from Freedom later in a rustic linen later and hey presto, instant hallway appeal teamed with my vintage typewriter, a milk bottle, a peony and our hall table which we picked up at a local market shortly after moving into the ramshackle farmhouse. It's made from 100+ year old recycled floorboards and it has become quite the favourite around here. Now all my favourites can hang out together in the hall. 

Any DIY projects going on over at your place? Lamp make-over stories? I love a good rags to riches tale. 


Images by Emma Durkin for Cinderella at Brindabella