Faux Copper Lamp

I seem to have a thing for lamps lately.  If you read my blog then you may remember the floor lamp I did recently, you can see it here.  I see some very cool lamps at the thrift shops all the time. I like the older lamps that have the nice lampshades with an actual frame you can work with.

Last weekend I went shopping at Collettes Vintage flea market & found the perfect style lamp.  I loved the shape of both the lamp & the shade. Plus the shade had the good frame.  The old cord was very worn so I asked my hubby to replace it.  It's inexpensive & very easy to do.  Better to be safe then sorry.

I had a paint technique I wanted to try. It's called "Copper Verdigris".  Here is a picture of the lamp before, well kind of before. I was so excited to get started that I didn't remember to take the dang picture until I had already started painting.

This is a glazed ceramic lamp & yes I am painting it.  Will it rub off once it's dry?   Hope not, guess I'll find out.  I gave it a quick sanding for good measure.   I'm using a paint I used back in my Faux Finish days.  It's called Modern Masters.  It's a fabulous paint, their metallics are exceptional.  

It's used on the castle roofs at Disney.

So this is the color I went with,  it has a nice dark copper look to it.  It's pretty opaque so it only took one coat.

Once that was good & dry I gave it a quick coat of The Vintage Farmhouse distressing paint in "Milk Pail", my favorite color.

Looks kind of scary at this point.  Now for the fun part,  I let this dry then I did another coat of the same color but I used a sea sponge.  I wanted to give it some depth.

You want some of that copper to show thru in some places.  After that dried, I took alittle bit of a lighter blue called "Mason Jar" & sponged it on lightly.  I wanted the shape to pop so I highlighted the raised detail of the lamp.  I'm really liking it at this point, but I think it needs a little bling.  

So I added another metallic paint called "Warm Silver". Once again I applied it with the sea sponge very, very sparingly.  You just want it here & there.

Now I'm loving this!  I let the whole thing dry over night.  I was a bit nervous weather the paint was going to rub off but so far so good.  I did do a coat of spray poly first, then I did a coat of wax.  Not a speck of paint rubbed off when I buffed out the wax.  Woo Hoo!!

Now for the lamp shade.  It needed some help, the poor thing was so stained.  Do you remember the French paper I used on my last project, here?  I wanted to try this paper on a lamp shade.  I stripped off the silk fabric,

This is what the bones of the good old lampshades look like.  So many possibilities....

I used Modge Podge to glue the paper to the frame of the shade one panel at a time.  You have to be very patient with this.  I did every other panel first then went back & finished the opposite panels.

Here is the lamp all done...

I am really in Love with this now....

Notice the subtle sparkle that last metallic layer added?

Such a pretty lamp....

I hope this inspires you to try this fun paint technique.  It's easy to do & looks amazing when your all done.  I may have to try this on a larger piece sometime.   

Thanks so much for stopping by, please check us out on Facebook.  Have a great day,   Dee

Lane Hope Chest

Happy February everyone.  Hope you're all staying warm.  We have been in the deep freeze with record breaking temps & snowfall most of the winter so far.  I have never been more ready for Spring to arrive.

I have had this project on the back burner for several months now.  It's a Vintage Lane Cedar Hope Chest.  It was in pretty good shape, just needed a good cleaning.  Here's the before picture:

It had so much potential with the padded top & the trimmed out detail on the front.  

I painted the body Black, distressed it & gave it a clear wax.

My mind was racing just thinking about what I was going to put on the front.  I wanted to try my hand at decoupage.  I am the first to admit, I'm decoupage challenged.  It is not an easy medium for me.  I never seem to be able to get all the ripples out no matter what I do & this drives me crazy!!! 

I had a paper I was dying to try & this piece was perfect to experiment on.  This is the paper:

It's the Document gift wrapping paper from Ballard Designs.  They discount it after the Holidays so it was super affordable.  I just love the look.  I decided to cut the letters apart for a more filled in look, then I overlapped & decoupaged them onto the front of the chest.

I upholstered the top with a Cream colored Matlasse fabric.  It looks like a plush quilt, love it!

Here is a close up of the front.  So loving this paper.  My decoupage didn't come out to bad.  I'll keep practicing until I'm happy with it though.

Available at V Trading in Grand Blanc, MI

I love this transformation.  I can see this at the foot of some one's bed.  I have big plans for the rest of this paper, I have almost three full rolls left.  That paper is too cool to wrap presents with.  What would you do with this paper?

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Don't forget to check us out on our Facebook, see what we are doing in between posts.  Stay warm & pray for Spring!  Dee