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

Cozumel, the Color

I love Cozumel.....

 Warm tropical breezes...

The coral reefs..... 

The beautiful Aqua blue warm ocean...

Don't you just want to go there & stay forever?

Someday I hope to visit, but until then I will settle for using my new favorite color.  You guessed it, "Cozumel".  It's a color by Clark & Kensington from Ace Hardware & I love it!

This is the first piece I painted in this color:

I was in love after the first coat....

We happened to have a twin bed that went nicely with the table so we painted it the same color.....

I added a little bling, this is actually a metallic paint called "Oyster  Pearl". It didn't photograph very well, but looks very sparkly in person.

Super cute together, don't you think?

I just couldn't wait to use this color again, so I had an old phone table that needed a new look.  Does anyone even use a phone table anymore?

I found the perfect retro graphic at my favorite source The Graphics Fairy. 

Then I added a little modern spin to it:

What teenage girl wouldn't love this?

What would you use this cute phone table for?

Cozumel... someday I hope to see it. For now I will just enjoy the color.  Thanks for stopping by,  Dee

Up Cycled Drawer Table

Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful day. I am just getting my day started & wanted to share alittle project I just finished.

If you follow my blog then you know I am not shy to pick up a roadside treasure. Last month I was on my way to an upholstery class I was taking & spotted a bunch of dresser drawers out to the trash. 

I didn't have time to stop & investigate but I promised myself, if they were still there on the way back I would take a closer look.  Well, sure enough they were still there two & a half hours later, but I needed to hurry because just up the street was the garbage truck!   Quick as I could I jumped out & looked them over. They were amazing. Solid wood, some were real deep, all had their hardware. What Luck!!

I loaded up every one of those babies!  Man were they heavy. They barely fit in my mini van.  Once I got them home I started looking around Pinterest, Hometalk & blogland for some inspiration.

I wanted to make them functional & pretty at the same time. A few of them were perfect for under the bed storage. So I painted them white on the outside & a pretty pastel aqua color called "Aqua Smoke" by Behr on the inside. I sprayed the hardware black. When they were finished I hauled them up to my booth where they have sat for the last two weeks. You can see them in this picture of my booth on the right:

In my garage I had another roadside treasure just waiting to be used, it was an end table my sister picked up for me in the fall. The top was to far gone to repair, but the legs were still good. 

This was my idea:

I wanted to attach the legs to the bottom of one of the drawers I had already painted. This is the picture I took while I was mulling it over.

I took the legs off the table & sprayed them black.

Then I cut a piece of wood I had on hand to screw the legs into, as the drawer bottoms were to thin to screw into.

With some Liquid Nail & the original screws, I attached the legs to the bottom of the drawer.

How cute is that?!

It was such a sunny day that it kinda washed out the pretty color inside the drawer, but you get the idea.

What a perfect little table.....

And so portable....

This one went right back up to my booth. I would love to do this with the other two drawers I have painted.   I'll keep my eyes peeled for more roadside treasures with the legs I need. 

Here is a sneak peek at some old windows we have big plans for...

Stay tuned:)  Dee

My Shabby little Huny

It's been awhile since my last post. I've been busy with custom work & the flu bug hit my house with a vengence.  Now that things have settled down I was able to get back to painting.  Last month I picked up the cutest little table.

The couple that owned this little table were so nice. Turns out the lady also writes a blog. They own an historical home & are in the process of restoring it. If you get a chance please check out her blog here .

Here is what this little Huny looked like when I picked her up.



I knew I wanted to paint aqua on those sexy legs. Then I painted the top a nice cream so the graphic would really pop on it. I used homemade chalk paint for both colors. Then I went over to the The Graphics Fairy to decide which graphic to use.  I knew I wanted a vintage french advertisement.

I liked the words on this but I didn't like the scrolls that framed it. I just didn't fit the top properly.  I had this cute little stencil that worked perfectly. After I distressed it I gave it a coat of clear wax then a coat of dark wax. I also spray painted the pull black. I think this little table is my favorite.

Sexy legs to go with the bling!

Just the right amount of Shabbiness.

Sold

This little Huny was so sweet she sold in two hours at V Trading in Grand Blanc MI. I'm so glad I took my pictures before I took it over there.

Oh well, on to the next one.  Thanks for visiting & have a great day!