just paint it white: mercury glass

Wednesday, 1 February 2012

a tale of two lamps

When I found this lamp for our sideboard, I was sooo pleased. It was my birthday and I had just finished a couple of rooms for some clients and I was feeling flush (having more money than normal !).

When I got the lamp home my pleasure dulled somewhat, because it didn't look as great as I thought it would. Although I still liked the lamp, it didn't really work for me. The shade wasn't nearly as nice lit up and the eclectic look I was going for just wasn't there.

Even though I could have taken the fabric off and maybe re-covered it in purple ( the colour my phone turns it), the base still bothered me.

On my beach junk post here I mentioned that I had a little idea for all the driftwood. Well, I have been working on it over the last few days, when I wasn't drilling or sawing or generally being noisy.

And I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I started with this -

an old Ikea lamp

And made, this -

A driftwood lampbase !

I feel it goes so much better with the Beatles poster, and I just love it. I had a budget of £10 for the shade and I found one in our town in the last shop I looked in, and it's just the right mix of rustic and contemporary.

I stuck the base onto some driftwood first, because it was a little short. I put a piece of hardboard underneath and nailed through a couple of pieces to give it some stability. Then I just kept adding pieces, while trying to give it some movement.

You can see lots of glue here !

and some below (I got a nice blister on this project!).

I just kept adding pieces, so that it worked with the wide lampshade.

I even made sure the back was ok, just in case it ever gets put somewhere where it is seen from all sides (that would probably mean a larger house - one can but dream !).

To me, the whole sideboard looks alot better and is MY version of eclecticism

(I like to analyze stuff, so this is just my own point of view !!!)

Something old - something new !

funky (Beatles poster) - shabby (frame)

rustic (driftwood) and contemporary (shade)

antique (books - well not quite, but very sentimental) and chic (ceramic buddha)

soft (dried eucalyptus) and hard (glass vase)

and of course - add a little sparkle (mercury glass)

This little mantra is what I'm using to try and bring the same feel to the rest of the house. My dear old geezer is definately into the funky and contemporary, so I need to have a bit of something for the both of us.