DIY On A Budget: Thrift Store Lamps!
Note: With final presentations and paper due dates coming up, I decided that this week I'd try out a Monday - Wednesday - Friday posting schedule!
I moved into my house about a year ago, and since then I've been on the lookout for fun and unique pieces to furnish the rooms. One of my favorite past times has been to visit local thrift stores or flea markets to find furniture or accessories that I can paint and update a little bit.
An easy and budget friendly way that I've been adding pops of color has been to pick up these little brassy lamps at the thrift store. I always seem to have a few cans of spray paint around the house, and after a quick coat or two of paint, the lamps take on such a different look! The most expensive part of the projects has been the shade, and in some cases an adapter to hold the shade.
After I let the paint dry overnight(6-8 hours usually), I go over the edges with a light grade of sandpaper. That way some of the brassy color shows through, making it look a little more worn.
I try to use thrifted shades as well, but sometimes I worry about whether the ones I find would be fire-safe, so I often go with Target finds (especially if they're ever marked down with Cartwheel!) Here's a look at two of the finished lamps!
Here's one more (more recent!) example of a lamp that I found last week at a local thrift store. The lamp shade is one that I found at Dirt Cheap, since I didn't have any spray paint, I used the same paint that I used on my Easter Egg Craft from a few weeks back!